Aeschylus. Agamemnon's Boots. Levine 2015

Acts, Metaphors, and Powers of Feet in Aeschylus's "Oresteia"
Author(s): DANIEL B. LEVINE

Source: TAPA, Vol. 145, No. 2 (Autumn 2015), pp. 253-280
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43830417
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TAPA 145 (2015) 253-280
Acts, Metaphors, and Powers of Feet in

Aeschylus's Oresteia
DANIEL B. LEVINE
University of Arkansas
summary: Aeschylus's Oresteia employs metaphors of the power,

weakness of human feet in order to underline the narrative's prog
disorder to reconciliation. Agamemnon's conquering foot was "Tr
derer," before he entered his palace barefoot and met his death. S
leaves a footprint at Agamemnon's grave before going inside to av
ther. In contrast to Athena's protecting feet, the Furies' "crippling"
dictive dancing" pursue Orestes until accepting "an honored seat b
of Erechtheus." In the solemn processional éxodos , instead of fran
hunters, they walk as protective spirits "feeling delight along their
I. introduction: the power of feet
THIS PAPER EXAMINES THE MEANINGS OF BARE AND S
Oresteia as they appear in contexts of power and

the feet's condition reflects a person's strength is co
ł 1 presented some of these ideas in a paper at the 109th ann

Association of the Middle West and South in April 2013,
thank the following colleagues for their encouragement and
Barbara Barletta, Nancy Bookidis, Bob Bridges, H. D. Cam
Fineberg, Laura Gawliński, Bill Hutton, David Jordan, Beth
John Oakley, Kirk Ormand, Cathy Person, Alex Purves, D
Sakellaraki, Amit Shilo, Deborah Steiner, Charles Williams
School of Classical Studies at Athens, Craig Gibson, Matthew
TAPA Readers. I dedicate this essay to my first Greek teache
I read Agamemnon over forty years ago.
1 This paper includes all references to feet and their actio
translations are the author's, unless otherwise indicated. Gre
of the Oresteia in Sommerstein 2008a.
© 2015 by the Society for Classical Studies
254 Daniel B. Levine
(Hephaestus, Achilles, Oedipus, Prometheus, Philoctetes), as Stephen Fineberg

has pointed out (2009: 283).2 More recently, Claire Catenaccio has analyzed
references to feet and gait in Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus as they relate to
Oedipuss identity, character, limitations, and destiny, as well to as the move-
ment of that play s plot (2012). This essay shows that metaphors concerning
the foots power emphasize and support the trilogy's themes of violence, re-
venge, and reconciliation. We may regard the imagery of feet and their power
as a recurring theme in the Oresteiay just as we acknowledge oft-noted motifs
of light/darkness, old/new, justice, and the net. "Reading Feet" thus becomes
a promising way to interpret the trilogy.3
Outside of tragedy and in another context, I have suggested that "images of
shod lovers and their barefoot partners evoke an ethos which . . . could relate
to issues of power and dominance" (Levine 2005: 68). Observations about
the foot's power in the Oresteia are not new, and have included those of Alan
2 Similarly, the partial nudity of female mythological characters in Greek art may indi-
cate their weakness and vulnerability in moments of great danger (Bonfante 1989: 560).
3 Methodologically, this paper resembles the work of Leah Himmelhoch 2005, Barbara
Hughes Fowler 1967, and Froma Zeitlin 1965, in that it too proposes to trace the imagery of
"a consistent and important motif . . . and to demonstrate how this motif is significant . . .
in expressing some of the most important ideas in the trilogy" (Zeitlin 1965: 463-64).
Zeitlin also notes that Aeschylus's poetic technique includes images of central ideas mov-
ing from the metaphoric to their concrete embodiments, which then "serve as tangible
symbols for the idea and the image" (Zeitlin 1965: 488). The end of the Eumenides sees the
reestablishment of healthful ritual after "[t] he final abandonment of corrupted sacrifice"
(Zeitlin 1965: 508). Himmelhoch traces the development of hippotrophic imagery "as it
paces the trilogy's movement from the chaotic, despotic world of the lex talionis to the
harmonious order of democratic Athens and its civilizing invention, the law-court system"
(Himmelhoch 2005: 264). Fowler's perceptive discussion of the images in the Oresteia
notes the "trampling foot" as one of the "figures of compulsion" in the Agamemnon
(Fowler 1967: 31, 52). This is not to imply that Aeschylus alone used such terminology;
the language of foot failure and triumph seems to have been standard in tragedy. For
example, in Sophocles' Antigone Haemon accuses his father of "trampling on the gods'
honors" (ti^áç ye tcu; Oecov 7TaTü>v, 745); the Chorus say that Antigone "fell against
Justice's high throne with her foot" (ín[/r|'òv èç Aíkcu; ßaöpov / TtpoaéTteaeç, d) tékvov,
7IOÔÍ, Ant. 854-55); they pray for Dionysus's return to troubled Thebes with a "cleansing
foot" (KaOapaío) rtoôí, Ant. 1 143); Creon groans that a god has overturned his happiness
and trampled it underfoot (o'iļioi XaK7icm]Tov àvTpémov x<*páv, "alas; overturning my
joy to be trampled upon," Ant. 1275). Sophocles does not seem to have intentionally con-
nected such references with each other or with the overall ideas of Antigone , as he had,
for example in Oedipus Tyrannus (Catenaccio 2012).
Acts , Metaphors , and Powers of Feet in Aeschylus1 s Oresteia 255
Sommerstein and others who have pointed out that the trilogy contains ex-
amples of trampling as "contemptuous spurning of what ought to be sacred"
(1989: 104; see also Taplin 1978: 80; Lebeck 1971: 74-79). He cites examples at
Ag. 372, 383, 1 193; Cho. 643; Eum. 542, and discusses Agamemnon's walking
on the red carpet (Ag, 906-65) and the Furies' claims that the younger gods
have trampled on their rights (Eum. 150, 731, 779). These scenes and others
will find closer examination below, as we track the trilogy's foot images in
the order that Aeschylus presents them.
We will show that Aeschylus's trilogy addresses these issues directly: feet
(and their coverings) evoke the three plays' preoccupation with a struggle for
authority. In Agamemnon and Libation Bearers , the descriptions of the status
of Agamemnon's, Cassandra's, and Orestes' feet as they enter the palace place
each of them in a nexus of murder, vulnerability, and deception. The Furies'
implacable, destructive, and avenging feet in Eumenides eventually find rest
when Athena persuades the goddesses to curb their destructive powers; the
final solemn procession reflects the fact that a "balance of power" has finally
been achieved.4
II. AGAMEMNON
In addition to the common word for feet (ttoOc;), the verb Tt

trample on) occurs nine times in the trilogy, consistently sho
or impiety and reminding the audience of wrongs done.5 It
in any other surviving Aeschylean plays (Lebeck 1971: 77).
in Xcikt- also depict violent acts. The Chorus of the Agam
verb XciktîÇû) in a context of sacrilegious kicking of an altar
Clytemnestra uses it to describe the fearful actions of a riotous
are wont to "kick more upon the fallen" (ròv Tteaóvta Xaicría
885). Aegisthus uses the related noun in his description of Thy
reaction to the awful meal he has just been served: he kicks ov
he curses the family (X<iKTia|ia ôeÍTtvou ... riOeíç, "kicking aw
Ag. 1601). He then warns the agitated Chorus not to "kick aga
lest [they] suffer pain from the strike" (Ag. 1624). Included in
the adverb XáÇ, "(kicking) with the foot/under foot," indicatin
643; Eum. 110, 542).
4 ror a recent insightful analysis of the (rhetorical) propitiation

EumenideSy see Rynearson 2013.
5 Ag. 373, 957, 1 193, 1298, 1357; Cho. 643, 732; Eum. 110. Cf. the com
Ag. 1434.
Violent vocabulary dealing with the feet is not the only referent in the
Oresteia. In addition to specific uses of the word pous and words for kicking and
trampling, the trilogy makes use of many other foot actions, such as standing,6
leaping,7 running/racing,8 dancing, hobbling, the making of footprints, and
the wearing of shoes - all of which may be viewed as contributing to the link
between feet and power. While many of these foot images and metaphors
relate to the dynamics of power and powerlessness, this paper will focus on
the philological evidence of how foot imagery in the trilogy moves from
representing sacrilegious violence to being a force for restored order.
In the parodos , the Argive chorus describe themselves as too old and
weak to have been able to join the expedition to Troy. A characteristic of this
condition is the fact that they must use staffs (aKrļTttpoic;, "staffs, sticks," Ag.
75) to support themselves, a notion which they reinforce immediately by say-
ing that their excessive old age (ťmeynp^v, "old age," Ag. 79) "walks about on
triple-footed ways" (TpÍTtoôac; (lèv òSoòq/ ateíxei, 80-8 1 ). In this nexus of the
foots impotence they twice compare their lack of strength to the weakness of
children (iaxùv/ iaćmaiSa, "strength of a child," Ag. 74-75; TtaiSòc; S' oùôèv
àpeuov, "no stouter than a child," Ag. 81).
In the first stasimon, the Chorus sing of the man whom a surfeit of wealth
compels to use his foot to kick against Justice's altar and cause it to disappear
(àvôpl/ XaKtíaavTi (leyav Aíicaç ßa)|i0v eie; àcpáveiav, "a man kicking Dike s
great altar into destruction," Ag. 382-84; cf. 885), a line that ominously can
refer to Agamemnon's destruction of Troy s altars.9
6 One of the first images in Agamemnon is the strength of an animal's hoof. The
Watchman famously says, "A great ox has walked upon my tongue" (ßoö<; em yXcúaap
(iéyac; / ßeßr)Kev, Ag. 36-37), lest he reveal what he should not tell.
7 In his entrance speech, Agamemnon says that the Achaeans were like a raw-meat-
eating lion, which leaped over Ilium's tower (Ú7tep0op(bv ôè Ttúpyov cbļir|aTr)<; Xéiov, "a
savage lion overleaping a tower," Ag. 827). Aeschylus chooses to characterize this animal
specifically by its power to use its legs to overleap the battlements.
8 Three examples of racing imagery stress the power of successful running: 1 ) The
Chorus declare themseves "powerful enough" (KÚpióc; eljii, Ag. 104) to sing of the pregnant
hare s "last runnings" (XoioGícüv ôpojicov, Ag. 120) as she flees the birds that devour her;
2) In describing the fire signals, Clytemnestra triumphantly associates "victory" with the
running of a race: vikql Ô' ó 7īp<I)TO<; Kai TeXeuxaloç ôpa^cóv ("The first and the last have
the victory, as it has run," Ag. 3 14); 3) Clytemnestra uses a racing metaphor to express her
hope that no impious acts will compromise Agamenon's homecoming: he still must turn
for the last lap of the double race (Ká^vj/ai ôiaúXou Oáxspov köXov 7iáXiv, "turn <round the
bend and traverso the second limb of the course" [Denniston and Page 1960 on Ag. 344] ).
9 The destructive foot metaphor also occurs in Persians 161-64 and 515-16. This im-
age of the foot's savage potential for domination is perhaps a reflection of Egyptian and
Acts, Metaphors , and Powers of Feet in Aeschylus's Oresteia 257
The play's climax comes when Agamemnon walks barefoot into his palace.
The triumphant king has entered the scene in a chariot (not on foot), with full
retinue, wearing traveling shoes - which a servant removes when Clytemnestra
persuades him to enter the palace on fine scarlet cloths. Agamemnon's shoes
both show him to be a traveler and also underline his dominance over Troy,
which he had trod into the earth. Clytemnestra calls his foot "Troy's ravager"
(tòv aòv 7tóô' (LvaÇ, IXíou 7top0r|Topa, "your foot, O lord, the ravager of
Ilium," Ag. 907). The only other time that the word 7top0r|Tü)p ("ransacker")
appears in the trilogy is when Orestes uses its plural form, in reference to the
dead Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, who were "the double tyranny of the land,
and the father-murdering ravishers of the halls" (x^pcu; xrjv ÔiTîXfjv Tupawíôa/
7taTpOKTÓvoi)c; re 5ü)|i<xtü)v 7top0r|TOpa<;, Cho. 973-74). Agamemnon's foot has
been the instrument that conquered and sacked Troy; Clytemnestra stresses
its power, even as she plans to undermine it.
The removal of Agamemnon's shoes as he leaves his chariot helps to re-
verse the audience's perception of his status from a conqueror to a weaker
position - analogous to the tenuous status of his returning barefoot son in
the next play. Agamemnon's own barefoot final steps thus presage his im-
pending death.10 No longer is his the dominant, destroying foot. Barefoot
Near Eastern art, which as Fraenkel points out often depicts the victor's foot upon the
enemy as a "brutal gesture of victory" (1950: 2.412). See also Lebeck 1971: 75: "To com-
mit an unjust or sacrilegious act is to set the foot on an object which it should not defile."
Following this association of the feet with ruin, Aeschylus employs a more poignant foot
metaphor relating to the marriage bed. The Chorus's response to Clytemnestra s beacon
speech includes condemnation of Paris's rape of Helen, and Menelaus's grief over his
kidnapped wife. The Argive elders say "Woe for the bed and the man-loving footprints"
(id) Xéxoç Kai axißoi cpiXávopeç, Ag. 411). The word axißoi - usually interpreted as the
impress of her body in the marriage bed - makes good sense as representing the imprints
of Helen's feet, the contemplation of which cause sadness in her lonely husband (Raeburn
and Thomas 201 1: 1 15). The bed imprint image recalls Sappho 16, which associates Helen
with Sappho's friend Anaktoria, whose ëpaxov ßäjia ("lovely footstep") Sappho prefers
to all other pleasures. Her poem expresses a longing similar to Menelaus's, with a similar
desire for the footsteps of an absent beloved. On the relationship between Helen and
Anaktoria in Sappho 16, see duBois 1995: 98-126 and Prins 1999: 129-30. On the erotic
longing as expressed in contemplation of gait and footprints, see Levine 2005. By using
the adjective "husband-loving," the Chorus of the Agamemnon implies that in Menelaus's
mind Helen misses her husband, too. In both Sappho and Aeschylus, then, a feeling of
helpless longing arises from the contemplation of the footsteps of the absent loved one.
10 Elsewhere I have shown that from the Archaic period, Greek art, poetry, and myth
often link a man's 7toö<; (foot) with his Ttéoç (penis) (Levine 2005: 57-59). Thus, the baring
of Agamemnon's feet here could foreshadow his symbolic castration at his death, and the
Agamemnon will proceed to the bath, where, completely naked, he will fall
victim to the net and the sword. His barefoot status shows his vulnerability
to Clytemnestra s attack.11
When Clytemnestra enters, she speaks of Agamemnon in hyperbolic
metaphors that stress his strength and importance, including a reference to
the foot as a firm foundation. She calls him the flocks watchdog, the ship s
saving forestay, the high roof s column that reaches to the foot, and a fathers
only child. The expression ū'ļ/iļXfļc; axéyriç/ cjtöXov 7toôr|pr| ( Ag . 897-98)
basically means, as Fraenkel notes, the column "which reaches down to the
ground" (1950: 2.406). Indeed, the sturdiness of the column "reaching to the
foot" reinforces the other foot-power metaphors which pervade the trilogy.12
We may note the possible significance of Agamemnon's shoe removal in
relation to ritual practice. His first speech upon arrival ends with his expressed
intention to enter the palace to perform rites to thank the gods for his return
(Ag. 851-54):
vüv ô ' sic; (léXaOpa Kal ôójiouç 89éaTioc;

èX0(bv Beolai Ttparra ôeÇicôaojiai,
oÏTtep Ttpóati) 7ī8ļi'ļ/avTec; rtycryov TiáXiv.
VÍKT1 6' ¿TTsínep ïonei' ¿(iTiéôcoc; |iévoi.
And now, going into the palace and my halls at the hearth
first I shall greet with my right hand the gods
who indeed having sent me forth have brought me back again.
And may Victory, since she favored me, remain with me constantly.
In tragedy, approaching holy places requires careful footwork. When

Sophocles' Oedipus approaches the Eumenides' sacred grove at Colonus, the
Athenian tells him to leave, fearing lest he trample or tread on something that
he ought not (ex£lc¡ Y^P X^Pov °^X àyvòv natelv, "For you possess a location
removal of his feet (and genitals?) in Cho. 439 further stresses the connection between
sexual impotence and the loss of the foot's power. On maschalismos , see note 36. 1 am
grateful to an anonymous TAPA reader for this suggestion.
1 1 Indeed, the bare feet are part of a power struggle, tor the conversation between the
queen and her husband is "put in terms of a battle between the man and the woman, a
battle which Clytemnestra wins" (Taplin 1978: 82, italics his).
12 The other time that Ttooiļ pr| appears in the Oresteta ( Ag . 1 594 ) it means basically teet
or "parts about the feet" (LS J) in reference to the brutal mutilation by Atreus of Thyestes'
children. Fraenkel 1950 1.189 translates "foot-parts." Here the helpless child's feet are
subject to their stronger uncle's outrageous mutilation. A child's bare feet are weaker feet.
Acts, Metaphors , and Powers of Feet in Aeschylus' s Oresteia 259
that is not lawful to tread upon," OC 37). In Agamemnon's case, and in light
of the numerous Greek cult regulations that prescribe ritual cleanliness and
removal of shoes,13 it makes sense that the king would approach a shrine
barefoot in order to perform a ritual.
Clytemnestra's introduction of the tapestries complicates matters. The
purple luxuriant fabric accompanies her assertion that she will see to it that
things are set up as is duly proper - with the gods' help (oùv 0eol<; ei|iap|iéva
"what is fated with the gods," Ag. 913). Agamemnon, however, asserting that
he too puts the gods first, had already implied that he would enter his house
to make offerings for his safe return (and perhaps to purify himself): toútcov
Geolai xpn 7toXú[ivr|(JTov xapiv/ tíveiv ("It is necessary to give ever-mindful
thanks to the gods for these things," Ag. 821-22), and says that he does not
wish to walk on the tapestries at all. He regards ià TtoiKÍXa ("colorful em-
broideries") as "holy ground," and (perhaps insincerely) acknowledges his
mortality by showing his awareness of his foot's power to ruin the precious
cloth: such outrage can bring divine displeasure (èní<p0ovov Ttópov, "path of
13 On bare-footedness and Greek cult practice, see Iambi. VP 18.85.5: àvimóôr|Tov Kal
Ttpòç ta îepà Ttpoaiévai, "Approach sanctuaries barefoot"; 23. 1 05. 1 3: àvimóôr|Toc; 0úe Kal
TTpoôKÚvei, "Sacrifice and do obeisance barefoot"; the Locrian Maidens at Troy (Apollod.
Epit. 6.20-22; Plut. De sera 12.557d); Callim. Hymn 6. 124-25. Epigraphical sources include
Gawliński 2006: 111,1 14-25 (Andania); Paton 1902 (Eresos); Loucas 1994 (Lykosoura);
Sokołowski 1955: 21-22 (Cius), 42 (Pergamům), 159-60 (Lindos); Sokołowski 1962:
113-14 (Delos), 233-34 (Ialysos), 219 (Eresos). On the Nike parapet at the entrance to
the Athenian Acropolis, a figure of Nike unties her sandal, which might be understood
as preparation for a barefoot entrance to the sanctuary, "especially since the other slabs
depict sanctuary activities like sacrifice preparation" (Gawliński 2006: 1 1 1 ; see also Blundell
2002: 149). Also, see Connelly 2007: 92; Heckenbach 1911: 28-30, 66, 70; Wächter 1910:
16, 21-22. Compare the Roman cult practice of nudipedalia : Tert. Apol . 40.14; De ieiunio
16.5; Petron. Sat. 44. Perhaps a similar notion lies behind the fact that it had been cus-
tomary for Romans "from very ancient times" to come barefoot (àvu7toôr|Tou;) to the
summer ludi public iy a long-time custom that Augustus and Caligula encouraged (Cass.
Dio Roman History 59.7). Relevant here is the ancient belief in the uncanny power of
wearing a single sandal ("monosandalism"), first explicated by Lowell Edmunds 1984,
and more recently by Beryl Barr-Sharrar, who writes of "its power as a talisman against
danger" and as characteristic of "individuals who are engaged in ritual" (2008: 153).
Examples of barefoot ritual piety elsewhere include Moslem removal of shoes before
entering a mosque, and Moses (Exodus 3.5) and Joshua (Joshua 5.15) removing shoes
while standing on "holy ground." Jewish law required visitors to the Temple in Jerusalem
to be barefoot (Mishna Berachot chapter 9, 5 paragraph 2). Hindu custom requires the
removal of footwear before entering holy places (Paton 1902: 292).
envy," Ag. 92 1 ), and he states that they should honor only the gods with such
stuff, asserting that it is a fearful thing for himself, a mortal, to tread (ßaiveiv)
on beautiful variegated cloths: "I tell you to revere me like a man, not a god"
(Ag. 925). The activities of Agamemnon's feet - here as elsewhere - have the
power to bring divine displeasure.
Acknowledging that his defeated Asiatic rival Priam would have trod on
such garments (ev noudXou; av KápTa ļioi ßfjvai Sokčí, "Indeed I think that
he would walk upon variegated cloths," Ag. 936), he lets himself be persuaded,
asking for a slave to remove his shoes. He phrases his request in such a way
as to reemphasize his foot s power: it dominates its shoe, which is the foots
servant: "Let someone quickly remove my great shoes, which serve as my foots
slavish conveyance" (npóôouXov ejißaaiv ttoôóç, Ag. 945). Denniston and
Page call this image of the generals all-dominating feet that make his shoes
into slaves "a grotesque metaphor" (1960: 153), but we should rather see it
in the context of the importance of feet and shoes in the trilogy. This strong
language is suitable here. It is with this powerful gait that he walks on the
tapestries, still hoping to avoid the gods' jealousy (90óvo<;, Ag. 947; cf. 921).
It is a shame, he says, to ruin his palace s silver-threaded woven works with
his feet (Ag. 947-49) - and the audience recalls that these are the same feet
that had violently beaten down Troy as its ravishers.14 In fact, his last words
in the play are, "I shall go into the palace, treading on the purple" (nopípúpcu;
Ttarcüv, Ag. 9 57). His trampling feeťs dominating steps will be his last.15
The audience also knows that Clytemnestra will soon murder the man
who enters his home barefoot, a status which to him might represent a nod
to piety, but in the audiences mind Agamemnon's bare feet may also signify
a "disarming" and thus the first step in rendering the king vulnerable to his
wife's attack in the bath.16 In this he resembles Shakespeare's Lear ( Tragedie
4.6.166-69), who at Dover commands his servants to take off his boots - an
action that as Peter Stallybrass observes, "both materializes his dependence
upon others and unprepares his body for action" (2002, 575).
14 McNeil 2005: 3 sees the removal of Agamemnon's shoes here as part of an inverted
pre-nuptial rite: "... fastening the bride's special sandals (nymphides) is reversed when
Agamemnon asks that his sandals be removed ..."
15 Treading on the purple is, in fact, Agamemnon's "supreme act of impiety" (Zeitlin
1965: 503).
16 Griffith 1988: 554 notes that characters in the Oresteia remove some article of cloth-
ing before incurring a loss of a primary trait: "In Agamemnon's case it is his power, for
he regards even the boots that he removes as servile (Ag. 945)."
Acts , Metaphors , and Powers of Feet in Aeschylus's Oresteia 261
Following Agamemnon's exit, Cassandra uses destructive foot imagery both

to describe Thyestes' crime and to characterize Clytemnestra in her upcoming
attack on her husband. Thereafter, Cassandra's own angry but ineffective foot
actions contrast with Agamemnon's momentous carpet treading.
After Agamemnon enters the palace, Cassandra remains outside and
interacts with the Chorus: first in an incomprehensible mantic frenzy, and
then more intelligibly. She envisions the Erinyes laying siege to the palace and
hymning the primordial atē of the house ( Ag . 1 191-92). Cassandra continues
by saying that the angry Furies will spit out the defiler (Thyestes) who has
trampled on (natouvTi, 1 193) the bed of his brother (Atreus).17 The spirits of
vengeance loathe the defilement - again described as a "trampling on" what
is right (Raeburn and Thomas 2011: 195). There is an expectation that the
violent use of the feet will bring punishment, and as Eumenides will stress, it
is the Furies' job to use their own swift feet to chase those who overstep the
bounds of justice.
When she predicts her upcoming death at Clytemnestra's hands, Cassandra
describes the queen as a "two-footed lioness" (ôÍTtouç Xécuva) who sleeps
with a wolf, and will kill her in the absence of the noble lion (Ag. 1258-60).
The description of her as a two-footed carnivore uses foot imagery to under-
line Clytemnestra's power to kill the wretched and helpless Trojan captive.
Cassandra depicts the queen's feet as part of the description of her destruc-
tive power.
Cassandra herself, in an attempt to remove Apollo's prophetic curse and
empower herself to speak clearly, throws down the insignia of her mantic
status and curses them (Ag. 1264-68). 18 Although the text does not specifically
say that she actually tramples' them (Sommerstein 1989: 104), the violence
of her language towards the god's symbols indicates that she is treating them
roughly. It is logical to assume that she uses her feet to stomp on the symbols
of her hated status which have fallen on the ground before her (Ag. 1266-67):
aè ^èv Ttpò ļioipcu; tfjç eîfļc; SiaęOepw.

ït* èç (pOópov • 7T£(7ÓvTa y' <í>ô' a(ieißo(iai.
I shall destroy you before my own fate.

Go to destruction; in this way indeed do I repay you after you have fallen.
17 èv (iápei ó' a7T£7rruaav/ eùvcu; àôeXípoõ rep 7īcito0vti ÔDaêveíç, "And in turn they
spit out the brother's bed that is hostile to the one trampling it" (A# 1 192-93).
18 In spite of Sommerstein's assertion about what Cassandra throws down ("prophetic
vestments and insignia"; Sommerstein 1989: 104), we should remember that, "This is one
of the few places in Tragedy where the meaning of the words is obscure without visual aid;
and it is not clear what stage-directions should be applied" (Denniston and Page 1960: 185).
Raeburn and Thomas observe, "<í)ô' suggests some physical action, such as
trampling on the crrecpri" (201 1: 204). The absence here of 7teô-/7toô-, ttcit£-,
and À.CXKT- words is an indication that Cassandra's action - whatever it was - is
not an act of impiety. She is to be a sacrificial victim, like Iphigeneia.19 Her
treatment of Apollo's insignia is not sacrilege; she does not act like one who
kicks against the altar of Justice or destroys cities, or crushes purple carpets. If,
as is likely, she uses her feet to tread on some object, we may see Cassandra's
act as an exercise of what little power she still has: her futile and frustrated
actions thus mirror the Oresteias other images of destructive feet - but in a
minor way.
We do not know what movements with her feet Cassandra makes as she
leaves the chariot, interacts with the Chorus and perhaps stops at the altar,20 but
she eventually announces that she will go and inside will bemoan her fate and
that of Agamemnon (aXX' eljii k<xv Sófioiai kcokúoikj' è|if)v / Ayajiéiivovcx; te
ļaoīpav. ápKCÍTü) ßio<;, "But I shall go even in the palace to bewail my fate and
that of Agamemnon. Let there be enough of life," Ag. 1313-14). She knows that
these steps will be her last. As she walks into the palace behind Agamemnon,
the audience knows that both are doomed. Her angry feet had damaged the
sacred regalia of Apollo; Agamemnon had kicked Troy and its altars into dust
and then walked on the purple cloths; both walk into the palace to their death.
Taplin has shown in great detail how Cassandra's path and the pathos of her
exit both recall and contrast with Agamemnon's walking on the purple cloths
(Taplin 1977: 321-22; see also Raeburn and Thomas 2011: 206). Aeschylus
has both characters enter together in a chariot21 and show superiority with
their feet - just before their murder at Clytemnestra's hands.
When the Chorus hear the death cries of Agamemnon from within the
palace, they express their impotence in a series of twelve distichs, the fifth
of which refers to their own inaction while their enemies "are trampling the
much-touted virtues of delay into the ground and not letting their hands
19 Cassandra: £7tU;r|vov (iévei/ Gepjiòv kottévtcx; cpoivícp npoGcpayiiaTi, "The execu-

tioner's block awaits [me], hot from the bloody sacrifice of the one cut down earlier,"
Ag. 1278; Iphigeneia: [Agamemnon] (íiaívojv TrapOevoacpayoiaiv/ peíGpou; TtaTpúouç
Xépaç, "polluting my paternal hands with streams of virgin-sacrifice," Ag. 209-10. See
also Zeitlin 1965: 480.
20 Taplin reasonably reconstructs Cassandra's movements in her exit and concludes,

"The quiet pathos of Cassandra's exit is perhaps unsurpassed in Greek tragedy" (1977:
318-21).
21 Himmelhoch convincingly shows how Aeschylus evokes wedding imagery by present-
ing Agamemnon and Cassandra arriving together in a chariot (2005: 283-86).
Acts, Metaphors , and Powers of Feet in Aeschylus s Oresteia 263
sleep"22 (oi ôè třjc; [leMoûç kXéoç/ néôov 7tatoí)vte<; où KaOeúôouaiv x^pí»

Ag. 1356-57). Again Aeschylus uses the metaphor of trampling (rarréio) to
characterize the might of those who have the upper hand; in fact he mixes the
metaphor ic images, showing that this combination of hand and foot embodies
their opponents' exercise of power. The words TtéÔoi rarroOvtsç (trampling on
the ground) begin the line, which ends with x^pi ("hand," 1357). Those who
are strong enough to trample their foes also have active and effective hands.
Furthering the idea that powerful feet can protect Agamenon's foes,
Clytemnestra uses the compound eļiTtateco when affirming to the threatening
Chorus that Aegisthus will protect her (ou |ioi cpoßou (léXaOpov ¿kmq è|i7iatel
"My expectation in no way treads the hall of fear," Ag. 1434 [trans. Raeburn
and Thomas 201 1: 220] ). The audience is already familiar with this tragedy's
use of nate- words, and thus could expect this phrase also to involve impious
destruction. They realize that her words are ironic: although Aegisthus's death
is unimaginable to her at the end of Agamemnon , later, when Orestes escapes
from the Furies, Clytemnestra's ghost angrily says of her hopeful and exclusive
offerings to the Furies, "I see all of these trampled underfoot" (návta tauta
'àÇ ópa> Ttatouļieva, Eum. 110). She thus wrongly accuses Orestes of using
his feet impiously, as we shall note below.23
In sum, the Agamemnon displays a consistent expression of the theme of the
foot's weakness and power. The next two plays continue the development of
this metaphor, as their foot images become even more overt and meaningful
as they appear in the trilogy's climax and conclusion.
III. LIBATION BEARERS
The Libation Bearers opens with the well-known scene at A

grave: Electra finds a dedicated lock of hair and then two sets o
one of which she likens to her own, thereby recognizing the pr
brother Orestes, who immediately appears and validates her con
164-21 1). 24 After Electra sees the hair, the Chorus foreshadows
22 Translation by Sommerstein 2008a: 165.

23 1 am grateful to an anonymous TAPA reader for this insight.
24 The present discussion follows the received text of ChoepheroU keeping
Bowen 1995: 177-81 following Fraenkel 1950: 3.815-26 has cast serious
text's authenticity in regard to Electros reference to Orestes' footprints
the basis of "language, staging and dramatic plausibility" (Bowen 1995
I find these arguments persuasive (and admit that there has likely been
with Aeschylus's original text), I am not ready to ignore lines 205-1 1 in
to foot imagery.
footprint scene by telling Electra that it would be a tearful thing if Orestes

had merely sent a lock of his hair and will not ever actually touch his native
land with his foot ( . . . ei xfjaôe x^Pacì Untore Ýaâ£l ttoSí, "if he would never
touch this land with his foot," Cho. 182). Contact between Orestes' foot and
Argive soil is a desirable event and reflects success. The cautious returning
Orestes walks barefoot on his native land; his murdered returning father had
not allowed his foot to touch the earth. In the end, Orestes' stealthy feet will
be triumphant, where his father's conquering feet had failed.
The imprint that Electra sees is clearly that of bare feet: Tttépvai tevóvTcov
0 ' ÚTtoypcupaí ("his heels and the outlines of his tendons," Cho. 209). We note
then that both Agamemnon and Orestes are barefoot before they perform a
pious act: the returning king approaches the palace with plans to thank the
gods for his victory and homecoming; and his son approaches his fathers
grave with filial piety in order to leave a lock of his hair as an offering. Whereas
Agamemnon's ostentatious "piety" in removing his shoes in the previous play
had not actually been based on religious scruple - he was in fact a trampler -
Orestes' humility at his father's grave is genuine: he lacks the self-serving
motives and sacrilege of his parents.25
25 It may be argued that Orestes removes his traveling shoes to approach the rather
awesome location of his fathers grave out of religious scruple, but although we know that
many sanctuaries required bare-footedness for entry (see note 13), there is no ancient
evidence that people customarily removed their shoes when approaching a grave. The
evidence from vases is ambiguous. Many Attic lekythoi in John Oakley s Picturing Death
in Classical Athens show shod tomb visitors. Some examples: Plate 164 (ca. 420 b.c.e.):
tomb visitors wear very prominent sandals; one is a traveler with traveling hat, one a war-
rior; Plate 146 (ca. 440 b.c.e.): shod horseman at a grave, wearing traveling hat; Plate 113
(ca. 460-450 b.c.e.): Youth sitting on a grave, wearing sandals. When Hermes appears at
graves or leading the dead, he wears shoes (Plates 91, 102, 103). Plate 94: shod Hypnos
(or Thanatos) with body of a woman (also see Plate 88). Figure 66: Akrisios at the tomb
or cenotaph of his grandson Perseus; the old man wears shoes (ca. 450 b.c.e.). Indeed,
we must keep in mind the difficulty in using vase painting as evidence of "real life," as
Gloria Ferrari has cautioned. Even the so-called "genre-scenes" of women at Athenian
fountain houses are not always what we might think (Ferrari 2003: 44-51). In regard to
such depictions - including graveside scenes - Ferrari makes the case that we would do
well to remember that such images "represent the social imaginary," and that they are
"cultural constructs" (Ferrari 2003: 51), rather than snapshots of actual practice. For an
amplified thoughtful discussion of the problems of visual representation interpretation,
see Ferrari 2002 (especially chapters 1 and 3). More recently, Robin Osborne has observed
that neither grave stelai nor sympotic vase iconography "offer a neutral window on the
world: neither gives us the view of the 'man in the street.' There is, and can be, no such
Acts, Metaphors, and Powers of Feet in Aeschylus s Oresteia 265
Orestes' humility at his father s grave might find a parallel in a contempo-

rary white-ground lekythos from Eretria depicting Agamemnon's grave, with
the labeled figures of Electra and Orestes: the former sits on the upper plinth
of the tomb, barefoot, facing her brother, who also appears to be barefoot (the
vase's damaged and repaired surface is problematic). If this Orestes is indeed
barefoot, it seems that an unknown artist working near Athens within a gen-
eration of the Oresteia' s production depicted the youth as returning shoeless,
as Aeschylus's production had most likely portrayed him.26
Later non-Attic vase representations of the twice-exiled Orestes depict
him wearing traveling boots,27 perhaps because Euripides' later tragic im-
age of the booted Orestes at Agamemnon's grave found more popularity in
subsequent years, especially in Italy. Fourth-century artists perhaps decided
that traveling gear better suited this exile that had journeyed to Argos for
revenge, and thence to Delphi and Athens for purification and redemption.
view" (Osborne 201 1: 75). He points out many limitations of using images on vases as
evidence for daily life, including the impossibility of art being able to distinguish slave from
citizen, and polluted from pure (182), and shows that in classical Athens, "[pictures and
sculptures are certainly not unmediated visual equivalents to what they portray" (216).
In Euripides' presentation of the same scene some forty years later, Electra scoffs at the
idea of identification by footprints, pointing out that the ground is really too hard to ac-
cept such tracks, and that an identification by the mark of a bare foot is highly unlikely:
how could a boy's and girl's foot be the same (Eur. EL 535)? In Euripides' play the print
is of a boot (apßü'r|<;, 532), the same kind that Aeschylus has Agamemnon wear on his
journey home (Ag. 944), since most people travelled shod. It is in line with the rest of the
trilogy's references to the powers of feet that Aeschylus in the Libation Bearers represents
Orestes' bare footprints. It is part of the tragedy's narrative plan to show the young hero
thus - an observation that later generation vase painters failed to make when presenting
this famous scene.
26 British Museum D 33. 460-440 b.c.e. Beazley 3033. For the image of Orestes on this
lekythos, see http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx. The
white that was applied to indicate Orestes' flesh appears to have worn off, but his feet
still appear faintly, as in a presumed prototype, "in a tint lighter than the background"
(Fairbanks 1907: 139), indicating that they were bare. Donna Kurtz points out that in-
scriptions indicating that the figures are Orestes and Electra are "modern," and that the
Louvre's Melian plaque (460-450 b.c.e.) of Agamemnon's children at his grave shows
that the scene had contemporary interest (Salle des plaques de Milo, Panel J; Kurtz 1975:
204; see also Jacobsthal 1931: 11, 192; Prag 1985: 51-57, 146-47). For recent surveys of
the popularity of the Electra-Orestes scene in Greek art of the fifth and fourth centuries,
see Taplin 2007: 49-57 and Bakogianni 201 1: 20-29.
27 Most notably the Choephoroi Painter's name vase, which shows Orestes clad in
traveling boots: red-figure pelike. Lucania. 380-370 b.c.e. Paris Musée de Louvre K 544.
In the basic story, Orestes is a traveler, and therefore he must dress like one.
Thus, in later art we recognize him by his boots, as well as (sometimes) by
his bloody sword, and the presence of Pylades, Apollo, the pursuing Furies,
and his mother s ghost.28
As we have seen here, though, it better suits Aeschylus's dramatic purpose
to portray the Orestes of the Libation Bearers without shoes. A barefoot
Orestes provides for sibling anagnorisis and it associates Orestes with the
poverty and lack of resources that bare-footedness frequently implies.29 The
tragic Orestes should be barefoot; it matches his supposed aporia . His lack
of shoes also stresses his supposed status as a foreigner. As Jan Bremmer
remarks in relation to the barefoot maenads in the Bacchae , "Loose hair and
barefootedness are typical signs of liminality in Greece ..." (1984: 277). So in
the beginning of Libation Bearers , the wandering Orestes is neither here nor
there. Furthermore, as David Wiles notes, Orestes' bare-footedness serves to
contrast Agamemnon's hubris with Orestes' pious desire to make a physical
connection to his home soil (1988: 84).30
28 The bell-krater by the Eumenides Painter depicts a barefoot Apollo purifying a

barefoot Orestes at the sanctuary of Delphi, surrounded by the sleeping Furies (and
Artemis) who wear traveling boots (Apulia. 380-370 b.c.e. Paris Musée du Louvre cp
710). Apollo and Orestes are on holy ground, as shown by the raised platform and the
pig-blood ritual that Orestes undergoes at the hand of the laurel-clasping god. The plat-
form is raised above the ground by a two-step base. Perhaps the contrast between these
barefoot and shod characters shows a holy/profane dichotomy that the fourth-century
painter wished to emphasize.
29 On bare-footedness as evidence of poverty, cf. the barefoot impoverished Oedipus
and his daughters (Sophocles OC 349); poor barefoot children sent into the street by
greedy relatives (Lysias 32.16); the lower class runt Aristodemus who never wore shoes
(aîKpóc;, àvimóôr|Toc; àeí, "small, always barefoot," PL Symp. 173b); the comic Socrates
and his followers (Ar. Nub . 101-4; 359-63). See also Xen. Mem. 1.6.2, 1.6.6 (Antiphon to
Socrates about his poverty and lack of footwear, and Socrates' reply). In some ways it is
similar to the nudity in art and literature that often denotes poverty and shame (Bonfante
1989: 546-48).
30 Wiles 1988: 84 also speculates that Orestes "may well have removed his shoes during
the lost prologue," but I see no reason that Aeschylus would need to show him taking off
his shoes. The parallelism with Agamemnon from the previous play and the contrast with
the shod Pylades would have been meaningful in themselves. His mention of Orestes'
barefoot status at Cho. 676 would get the attention of any audience members who had
not earlier noticed his lack of shoes. On bare-footedness as an indicator of closeness to
the earth, see Harrison 1979: 79 and Parke 1967: 26.
Acts , Metaphors , Powers of Feet in Aeschylus s Oresteia 267
It was conventional for travelers to wear sturdy shoes or sandals (Casson

1994: 75, 176-77). When Orestes approaches the palace at Argos disguised
as a Phocian with the false news of his own death, his expression for arrival
is literally "I unyoked my feet" (à7îeÇi>Yr|v 7tóôa<;, Cho. 676). Taking off foot-
wear here, as Garvie observes, marks the end of a journey (1986: 230). This
agrees with a scholiast on this passage: a7Te(i>Yr|v- třjc; óôoO, Tfjç óôomopícu;
àTtéXuaa èm rw ÇeviaGfjvai Ttap' ůjilv (£ 676: "Unyoking the feet [means] 'I
have left off from my journey [or] my travels to be hosted at your house"').
It is a comfort to remove one's shoes, to "free" the feet from their "bonds"
(the Greek word for shoes is the literal imoôr||KXTa "things bound beneath"
the feet). In Orestes' case, bare feet are part of his disguise: they imply that
he is as vulnerable as his barefoot father had been before he was murdered.31
He thus feigns a subordinate position, and with his plausible lie he keeps
Clytemnestra off guard. Furthermore, the metaphorical "freeing" of Orestes'
feet from his shoes recalls the removal of his father's shoes, which were his
feet's "slaves" ( Ag. 945; see above). The foot's "manumission" by father and son
further contrasts their different homecomings. In addition to reminding the
audience of Agamemnon's shoe-removing homecoming,32 Orestes' barefoot
presence at the palace door relates to his deception of Clytemnestra: instead
of her shoeless victim, he will be a barefoot avenger.
Before he leaves Agamemnon's tomb to go to the palace, Orestes speaks of
his plan to kill the usurper Aegisthus (Cho. 575-76 , trans. Sommerstein 2008a):
Ttplv aÙTÒv eiTtelv "TtoôaTtcx; ó Çévoç;" veicpòv

0iļ aa), TtoôíÒKei TtepißaXcov xaXiceújiaTi.
[B]efore he can say "where's the visitor from?" I'll make a corpse of him,
draping him round my swift sword.
For "swift," Aeschylus uses the Homeric adjective 7toôd)Kr|<;, literally "swift-
footed," but tragedy generally uses it to mean "swift/quick" (LSJ). However,
this intertextual reference to the Iliad allows Orestes to appropriate to himself
some of the strength of the Trojan War heroes. Also, the foot metaphor in this
context is particularly applicable to Orestes' vengeful intention to overpower
31 On nudity as a sign of vulnerability and weakness, see Bonfante 1989: 560.

Himmelhoch 2005: 289 has shown how the characterization of Orestes' feet as yoked
animals also contributes to his disguise.
32Rehmłs account of "transformative effects of the body" (2002: 170) includes the
observation that Orestes' barefoot appearance in Libation Bearers "recalls his father's
homecoming, when he removes his shoes before walking on the tapestries (Ag. 944-46)."
his mothers consort, since it too expresses the violence that characterizes
other foot references in the Oresteia.
When Clytemnestra hears Orestes' false claim that he is bringing his
own ashes to Argos ( Cho . 686), her feigned grief includes the claim that the
house s curse (Apa, Cho. 692) has now claimed Orestes, in spite of the fact
that he had the good counsel to "keep his foot out of the family's destructive
mud" (eÇo) KOjiíÇcuv ò'e0píou 7tr|'ou rcóôa, Cho. 697). Clytemnestras use of
the proverbial phrase "to keep the foot out of the mud"33 contains the added
word "destructive" to recall the House s curse. Someone who has the strength
to preserve himself wields his foot well.
Both father and son have come home after a long absence; each approaches
the same door and speaks to Clytemnestra about removing his sandals.
Agamemnon s barefoot homecoming presages his own death. Orestes' barefoot
entrance into the same hall is the prelude to his murder of Clytemnestra.34
He fools the queen, who in her ignorance says that Orestes has kept his foot
out of the family's curse, thinking that he is not involved, and therefore is
not a threat. In fact, Orestes' action does not perpetuate the curse, but is a
step towards ending it in the next play, when he gains acquittal: his foot does
eventually stay free of the mud. Clytemnestras emphasis on her son's foot and
on the house's sad history recalls Agamemnon's own victorious and bare feet
when he approached the same palace door, only to meet with the full force
of his family's curse.
When Orestes withdraws into the palace to kill Clytemnestra, the Chorus
sings a hopeful song wishing him the strength to take his vengeance. It is not
surprising that they use a metaphor that equates Orestes' task with a colt
running in a race (èv ôpójio), "on a racecourse," Cho. 796). Victory will come
to him by controlling his pace ((iérpov ... / acpÇójievov puGjióv, "preserving a
moderate pace," Cho. 797-98) over the course he runs (tout' . . . SaneSov, Cho.
798) in the course of extending his stride (ßr||i<XTü)v opeyjia, "the stretch of
his footsteps," Cho. 799). Besides recalling the race metaphors in Agamemnon
(Ag. 314, 344), in the next play Aeschylus will reverse this image of Orestes
as running to gain his goal, making the Furies take up the chase and make
Orestes flee on foot. In both cases, as we shall see, the "power of feet" theme
finds expression in metaphors of swift-footedness.
"Tucker 1901: 158-59 lists similar expressions about keeping ones foot out of the
mud and other troubles: Zen. 3.62 (TtqXoö); Psalm 40.2 [LXX 39.3 7tr|'oö iXúoç]; Aesch.
PV 279 (7ir|fiáTü)v); Eur. Herach 109 (TtpayfiaTcov), Soph. Phil. 1260 (KXaufiaTcov).
34 Taplin 1978: 123-25 discusses the visual mirroring of Orestes and Agamemnon s
returns, but does not remark on the barefoot parallel.
At the end of Libation Bearers , when appearing with the bodies of his
father's murderers, Orestes displays the cloths that trapped Agamemnon,
twice referring to their binding of the king s feet as part of his assassination
( Cho . 980-82):
ÏÔ£(J0£ ó' aure, tcovô' emiļKooi kcik<ï>v,

tò 1ir|xávr||ia, ôeajiòv àOXícp Ttcrrpí,
Tcéôaç te xeipolv Kal Ttoôolv Çuvcopíôa.
And now behold, giving ear to these evils,

the trick, the binding of my wretched father,
both his hands' fetters and the pair of fetters on his feet.
Garvie notes that this passage fits well into the themes of binding, fetter-
ing, and the hunting net, and suggests that the word Ttéôaç is perhaps to be
thought of as "a cognate of Ttoôolv, so that there is a deliberate oxymoron"
(1986: 32 1).35 Agamemnon's feet have failed him, and the fetters symbolize
both his binding and the powerlessness of his feet.36
When Orestes thereupon orders his servants to display the cloth that had
caught his father, he describes it metaphorically as an "animal trap" (ctypeuiia
0r|pó<;, Cho. 998), a funerary shroud that is wrapped around the corpse's feet
(vcKpoö TtoôévÔDTOv/ ôpoÍTT]<; KaTaoKi1V(i)|ia, "a bath curtain wrapped around
the feet of a corpse," Cho . 998-99), a "hunting net" (ôíktuov . . . / ápKUV, Cho .
999-1000), and a peplos that is so long that it entangles the feet (TtoôiaTfjpaç
TtéTtXouç, "foot-tripping peplos ," Cho . 1000). Garvie 1986: 329 notes that the
word Ttoôicrrfjpac; is a hapax, and speculates, "Aeschylus may derive the word
from TtoSíÇco, 'bind the feet' (cf. 982)."37 Taplin 1978: 81 notices "the echo-
35Onians 1954: 327-30 shows how the verb neSáo) (bind, fetter, shackle) is central to
Greek ideas of inescapable fate.
36 On nets and binding in the trilogy, see Fowler 1967; Lebeck 1971: 67-68; Ferrari
1997: 5-19. Furthermore, in the kommos that follows the siblings' recognition, Electra
and Orestes join the Chorus in lamenting Agamemnon's fate and praying that they might
take revenge. In the process, the Chorus informs Orestes of the mutilation of his father's
body: the king suffered maschalismos (¿âaxaXiaöri, Cho. 439), the placing of the mur-
dered man's severed extremities - including hands and feet - under the corpse's armpits
((iaaxóXai), thus symbolically making him unable to chase after and punish his killers. On
maschalismos in Aeschylus (Cho. 439), Sophocles (El. 445, £1iaoxaXio0r|), and (possibly)
the Odyssey (22.474-77), see Johnston 1999: 156-59. This act aims to rob the dead of the
power of his feet and hands. Thus does Orestes learn of the desperate wish of Aegisthus
and Clytemnestra to remain superior to the cadaver that they have buried: they think that
they have rendered powerless Agamemnon's formerly strong feet.
37 Garvie 1986: 329 also cites parallels in Soph. (fr. 63 avrļp kü>Xov Ttoôioõeíç, "a man
hobbled in his limb") and Xen. An. 3.4.35 and Cyr. 3.3.27 (of hobbling horses).
ing metaphors" that equate the red carpet of Agamemnon s entrance with
the fabric in which he is caught and killed. Agamemnon had been clearly
tripped up - like a body with its feet wrapped or an animal caught by his
feet in a trap - something that Orestes has avoided. By controlling the feet,
one controls the body.38
In sum, the barefoot and cautious returning Orestes of the Libation Bearers
forms a pathetic but triumphant contrast to Agamemnons nostos in the first
play. The king s feet were the power that had crushed Troy, but Clytemnestra
uses deceit to expose and hobble them. On Orestes' return, his apparently
helpless barefoot status helps to deceive his mother and allows him to take
revenge for his father in the trilogy's second play. Now it remains to show
their further development and dénouement in the third.
IV. EUMENI DES
We have seen how images of feet in the first two plays support meta
"trampling" on what is right, and emphasize the exercise of power; th
acterize Agamemnon's dominating stature and describe the disguised
When considering the Eumenides ' presentation of the Pythias feet
of the Furies and Athena, we shall see the full compass of this imag
how the trilogy transforms and integrates the metaphor, which mo
representing destruction and chaos to supporting the restored or
which the Oresteia ends. As Barbara Hughes Fowler has noted, certa
complexes" of the first two plays find completion in the Eumenides
"picks up the motives of the earlier plays and uses to bring to their c
the same symbols ..." (Fowler 1967: 67).39 Indeed, foot images in the
third play emphasize the changing role of feet as meaningful symb
38 We see the foot- trapping idea also in Prometheus Bounds where "images of
unbound feet distinguish the free from the unfree under Zeus's tyrannical rule"
2009: 285; see also Fineberg 1986), and where the lame Hephaestus who sh
Titan's legs with foot braces (7îéôcuc;, PV 6; Ttéôcu;, PV7 6) at the behest of Zeus
Kratos and Bia (the embodiments of Power and Force) is also his natural al
Fineberg's thesis - that in myth Hephaestus's return to Olympus on foot sho
"can, literally and figuratively, stand up to Zeus" (2009: 276; cf. 286, 306, 315)
the connection between the foot's power and success in the Oresteia.
39 Among these she notes the snare, the hunt, light/darkness, sickness,
archery, wrestling - and the compulsion inherent in the Furies' heavy vengef
feet (Fowler 1967: 69-70). Himmelhoch 2005 traces hippotrophic imagery th
trilogy in just this way.
Acts, Metaphors, and Powers of Feet in Aeschylus s Oresteia 271
In the Eumenideš opening scene, the Pythias distress at seeing the Furies
in Apollo's sanctuary manifests itself by sapping her strength and taking away
her ability to walk (cb<; ļirļte aojKelv ļirļte àKtaíveiv atáaiv, "so that I can
neither have strength nor stand upright," Eum. 36). In her weakened state she
must use her hands to move herself along the ground, and cannot use her "legs'
swift-footedness" (tpéxco ôè x^paív, où 7Toóü)K£Ía aKeXãrv, "and I run with my
hands, not with the swift-footedness of my legs," Eum. 37). Like Agamemnon
and Orestes in the previous two plays, her feebleness and vulnerability find
expression in terms of the fooťs disability. By contrast, the strength of the
Furies, who cause the Pythia's distress, is in their feet, the power of which they
will vaunt as the play continues.
When Apollo appears and encourages Orestes, he also combines the foot/
strength association as he tells the youth to flee to Athens, and not be weak
(|ir|ôè jiaXGaKÒc; Y^vn> "and not become faint-hearted," Eum. 74), as he
makes his way over "the earth trod as he wanders" (tfļv nXavoatißfj x9óva,
Eum.76), because the Furies will pursue him (Eum. 74-79). To strengthen the
fugitive on his journey, Apollo calls upon his brother Hermes to be Orestes'
guide and shepherd (7to|i7iaIo<; . . . ttoi|ícúvü)v, "as escort . . . shepherding," Eum.
91). Although he will have a divine companion, his perilous journey will be
on foot - with the relentless bloodhounds at his heels. He will progress in
a weakened state. Like the Pythia, his feet's weakness will contrast with the
Furies' awful strength in their relentless pursuit.
Clytemnestra's urgent speech to the Furies reemphasizes the image of the
foot as symbol of power and force. When the queen's ghost begins to rouse
the sleeping Erinyes, she tells them that her own ritual offerings had been in
vain, because Orestes has escaped and thus has trodden on her gifts with his
feet (Kal navra tauta ópa> natouļieva, "and I see all these things trodden
on with the foot," Eum. 1 10): he has run off like a fawn escaping the hunters'
nets (oi'xetai veßpoö ÔÍKi1V, "he is gone in the manner of a fawn," Eum. 111).
The young man's power and actions, metaphorically invoked by foot imag-
ery, have earlier rendered all of his mother's attempts null and void. Like his
father's powerful foot at Troy, Orestes' feet's power so far - in Clytemnestra's
view - has won him success. Her use of XáÇ and Ttatéo) in reference to Orestes'
actions associates his revenge with the impious trampling and references to
kicking at Justice in the Agamemnon , but as we noted above, he acts as Apollo's
agent, with no regard to his own interest.40
40 "Insofar as Orestes, unlike Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra, from the first chiefly
sought justice, his sufferings are the sloughing off of his secondary desires for wealth and
kingship which were his corrupt inheritance" (Finley 1966 [1955]: 266).
The waking Furies encourage themselves to get up and, "kicking off sleep"
(KaTToXaKTiaaG' ifrtvov, Bum. 141), to look for Orestes - again using foot
imagery to invoke their violent strength. Sommerstein comments on the ac-
companying choreography: "Possibly the speaker here suits the action to the
word and kicks out with one foot" (1989: 108).
As the Chorus continue to rouse themselves, they complain about the
"younger gods" (vecoTspoi 0£oi, Bum. 162), "having complete power"
(KpaToüvT£<; to Ttdv, Bum. 163) over a throne dripping with blood "around its
foot and head" (nepi nóôa, Ttepì Kápa, Bum. 165); that is, from bottom to top.
In addition to this polar expression of completeness, the Chorus here associates
the new gods' power with the strong parts of a human body: the foot and the
head, perhaps recalling Homeric "head-to-foot" expressions that concern the
corpses of Sarpedon and Patroclus (ek mpaXfjç ... èç Ttóôaç aKpouę, "from
the head to the ends of the feet," II. 16.640; èç Ttóôaç ¿k KecpaXfjç, "to feet from
the head," Ilģ 18.353, 23.169).41 By recalling images of the Iliaďs blood and
dust on the body of Sarpedon as the battle rages (II. 16), the purifying and
anointing of Patroclus's gore-stained corpse (II. 18) and Achilles preparing it
for the pyre by wrapping it from head to foot in the fat of the sacrifice for its
final burial (II. 23), Aeschylus reinforces the Furies' connection with violent
death, the shedding of blood, and the final settling of scores that reestablishes
order in the world. Such a progression mirrors the movement of the Oresteia
from the chaos of kin murder to the kosmos of Orestes' acquittal and the Furies'
new role as guardian spirits in Athens.
Once in Attica, Orestes speaks of his purification by Apollo at Delphi and
calls on Athena to be his "deliverer" (Xuxripioç, Bum. 298). His prayer invokes
the power of the goddess's foot in a military context (Bum. 292-98):
àXX' eÏT e x^Pa(î èv Tcmoiç AtßuaTiKfjc;,

TpÍTtovoç ciļiipl x£ö|ia yeveGXíou Ttópou,
TÍ0r|aiv òpBòv fļ KdTTļpecpiļ Tióôa
cpíXoiç àpriyoucr', erre OXeypaíav TrXáica
Opaaùc; Tcryoüxoc; (bç avfļp èmaKOTreî,
ëX0oi - kXúei Sè Kal 7tpóaio0ev cìrv 0£Óç -
öttox; yévoiTO Ttovôé ļioi Xutrļpio<;.
But, whether on land in Libyan places

near the stream of your native Triton stream,
she places her foot straight or covered,
41 See also Aeschylus's Xantriai [fr. 85 (169)], of the spasm that comes upon one who
denies Dionysos 's divinity: Lyssa's sting, the scorpion s dart that overcomes him "from
his feet to the top of his head" (èk ttoôcDv . . . eie; äKpov Kápa).
helping her loved ones, or whether as a bold

commander she looks upon the Phlegraian plain,
let her come - and being a goddess she hears from afar,
so that she might be my deliverer from these creatures.
Orestes invokes Athenas foot in the context of her power to help those whom
she loves. He further refers to her ability to hear from afar and to survey a
battlefield like a war commander. He also stresses her part in the victory
over the giants. Her "straight or covered foot" (Eum. 294) is a military dance
reference, as E. K. Borthwick has explained, arising from "the offensive and
defensive movements and postures associated with the Pyrrhic dance" (1969:
386). The Kcn:r|p£(pfj 7tóôa refers to "the protective covering afforded by the
shield > which pose was adopted 'under fire,' in contrast to the normal confident
marching forward òp0õ> Ttoôí" (389, italics his). Athena's mighty foot can help
Orestes' own feet escape from the pursuing feet of the Furies. He desperately
needs her foots martial power as he flees from his tormenters.42
The Eumenides juxtaposes Athenas protecting feet with the vengeful feet
of the Furies, who emphasize the strength of their own feet in carrying out
their duties of pursuing the guilty, referring to the "vindictive dances of their
feet" (ôpxr|a|!oî<; t' enupGovoic; ttoôóc;, Eum. 371) and their crippling feet
(ßapuTtetfj/ Karcupépo) noScx; aKļiav, "I bring down the heavy falling power of
my foot," Eum. 373-74), which pursue and overcome even the "long-distance
runners" (Tavi)Ôpó|iou;, Eum. 375), bringing upon them "hard-to-bear ruin"
(ôúacpopov átav, Eum. 376). They present their divine charge as expressed
42 Nowhere does he imply, however, that Athena will come by foot. One of the differ-
ences between mortals and the gods is that the former are "beings who walk upon the
earth" (xa|iai èpxo|iéviov t' àvôpamarv, II. 5.442), while divinities have no such restric-
tions. In fact, in the Iliad sometimes the gods' feet barely make contact with the ground,
or otherwise display a remarkable gait. Hera and Athena walk in little steps like shivering
doves (II. 5.778-79); Poseidon's stride reveals that he is a god, not a man {II. 13.70-72); his
feet make trees and mountains shake when he descends a mountain in only four steps (II.
13.17-20); Hera's feet do not touch the ground as she travels a very long distance (oùôè
XÔóva |iáp7tT£ 7TOÔOUV, II. 14.228); when Hera and Sleep go to Mt. Ida, their feet touch
treetops instead of the earth (II. 14.284-85); Hera darts (àíaaa)) and flies from Mt. Ida to
Olympus as swiftly as a man's thought (II. 15.80). I owe these examples to Alex Purves's
talk and handout "On Legs and Feet: Anthropomorphism from the Waist Down," at the
Center for Hellenic Studies symposium "Boundaries Between Bodies: Human, Animal,
Divine," April 30, 2006.
repeatedly by images of foot competitions - in which theirs are superior.43

Nobody can escape them by running.
When Athena does enter, she does so in a chariot {Eum. 405), which both
emphasizes her authority and contributes to the theme that had included
chariot and horse imagery surrounding the entrances of Agamemnon and
Orestes in the first two plays.44 She says that she has heard from afar the call for
help, using the same word that Orestes had employed (npócKoGev, "from afar,"
Eum. 397; cf. 297). She reasserts her powerful military leadership position,
having taken possession of Athenian land and spoils in the Troad, and says
that she has come back to Athens, "setting in motion my unwearied foot"
(Siü)koikj> řj'0ov atpuTov TtóSa, Eum. 403). Aeschylus juxtaposes her martial
valor and success with her foot, within the context of the Furies' boasts of
their own feeťs prowess {Eum. 370-76, above).45
In the next stasimon, the Erinyes also recognize the destructive power of
feet, when they caution profit-seeking impious people not to seek gain by
kicking against Justice's altar with their "godless foot" (|ir|ôé viv KépSoç iôíbv
àOéo) Ttoôi XāĶ àTÍaflç, "and do not dishonor it by kicking with a godless
foot when you see profit," Eum. 540-41). With language reminiscent of the
Agamemnon (àOécp noôi XàÇ, "kicking with a godless foot," recalls Ag. 383, 885,
1601, 1624), they assert that punishment awaits those who use their feet in this
way (noiva yap ènéaTcu, "for a penalty is set upon it," Eum. 542). Thus, the
violence inherent in the foots impious action will meet with retribution from
these avengers of violence, whose own feet can overcome every opponent.46
The foot-themed relation to cosmic vengeance finds a Homeric precur-
sor in Iliad 9, where Phoenix urges Achilles to accept Agamemnon's gifts
and return to the battle. He tells of the Prayers (Litai) and the spirit of Ruin
( Ate) that hunt down the man who transgresses and goes astray (i)7tepßr|r| Kai
43 Sommerstein suggests that dance movements accompanied these words, "and it may
be that we have here another verbal indication of the choreography and that the thematic
notion of kicking or trampling ... is once again given visible expression" (1989: 146).
44 Himmelhoch 2005 has convincingly shown that it is a mistake to follow Wilamowitzs
deletion of Eumenides 405. She shows how hippotrophic imagery is integral to the trilogy
and supports its main themes.
45 Himmelhoch 2005: 269-73 has shown how Aeschylus compares the travels of the
Furies and Athena, and how the differences between their arrivals "suggest Athena's su-
periority (and eventual victory)" (269).
46 Catenaccio 2012: 102-3 points out the connection between Erinyes and foot images
at OT 418 (ôeivÓTtouc; àpá, "terrible-footed curse").
Acts , Metaphors, and Powers of Feet in Aeschylus' s Oresteia 275
aļiapTTļ, II 9.501). As in the Oresteia , the text emphasizes their feet and their
pursuit. The Prayers are lame and halting (xcoXaí, II 9.503) as they pursue the
guilty; Ruin is swift of foot (àpTÍ7to<;, Il 9.505) "and arrives first into every
land, harming men" (90avei ôé re Ttãaav èTi'aïav/ ßXaTtToua' àvGpdmouç,
Il 9.506-7). Like the Furies of Aeschylus, nobody can outrun the fast-footed
Homeric Arrļ, who always gets her man. Phoenix next urges Achilles to scorn
neither the Prayers' words nor their feet, which both have the power to harm
him (tíjõv (if) crû ye |iö0ov èXéyî;ri<;/ nóôcu;, Il 9.522-23). Phoenix then
says that the curse of Meleager's mother brings out the "Fury who walks in
darkness" (iļepo<poīTi<; 'Epivix;, II 9.571 ). Thus, Homer has formed the matrix
for the relentless foot-stomping Aeschylean spirits of destruction and revenge.
Into this context of the Furies' powerful footwork and their exhausting
pursuit of Orestes, we note that four times they complain that Apollo and the
younger gods, like a young horse, "trample" them underfoot (Ka0i7tTtá(o|iai) .47
However, the trampling they decry is distinct from the impious justice-
destroying nate- and Xqkt- words elsewhere in the Oresteia . These implied
feet are not human; they are hooves. Rather than sacrilege, this image recalls
the youthful and untamed exuberance of colts before they have been broken
(Himmelhoch 2005: 270, 298). In the Furies' view, the young gods, like im-
mature horses, do not know what they are doing; with their feet they trespass
where they ought not, and destroy the proper order of the world. The play's
conclusion will resolve their complaint: in the end, the Furies' frenetic feet
will find peace, and they will accept the young gods' reasonable partnership
in the pursuit of justice.
In the Eumenides , Athena attempts to placate the wrath of the defeated
Furies by offering them their own place in Attica. No longer will they need to
travel the earth, seeking to avenge sin. Instead of pursuing the guilty on foot
as before, they will settle down and have "seats" (ëôpaç) and underground
"resting places" (k£U0|iü)vcu;)> to receive honor as they "sit on shining hearth-
side thrones" (XmapoGpóvoiaiv rļļievac; èn éaxápau;, Eum. 806). As Athena
repeats her offer of a resting place of honor, she emphasizes that the goddesses
will be seated: "And having an honored seat (tijiiav ëôpav) by the halls of
Erechtheus, you will gain from men and processions of women more things
than you would ever get from other mortals" (Eum. 854-57). Under this new
regime, the Furies will not need to use their violence, but will abide peacefully
47 The Furies' complaints of young horses irresponsibly trampling the old are in Eum.
150, 731, 778, and 809. Sommerstein (1989: 110) recognizes these as "a variant on the
theme of kicking and trampling."
on their underground thrones and enjoy the peoples offerings; they will have
all they require, with no more reason to run over the earth.
Such rest should come as a welcome relief to these goddesses, who had
earlier sung of their troublesome toil and weary wanderings that left them
breathless (koXXou; ôè |ić>x0oi<; àvôpOK|ifjai cpuaiã/ anXayxvov, "And from my
many man-wearying struggles my lungs breathe hard," Eum. 248-49). They
had chased Orestes as a hound chases a wounded fawn over every region of
the earth (xOovòç yàp ttõlc; 7t£7īoi|iavTai tóttoç, "for every place of the earth has
been traversed," Eum. 249) and "over the deep sea" (ímèp . . . ttóvtov, Eum. 250),
no less swiftly than a ship (251 ).48 At the play's end, "[t]heir ruthless blood-
led wanderings end in a prosperous and secure home" (Taplin 1977: 415).
The Erinyes eventually accept their new position, and for their installment
the éxodos portrays what Athena terms a grand procession (£i>kX£Í]<; Xóxoç,
"a glorious body," Eum. 1026), 49 a torchlit march of young and old women in
fine purple garments (Eum. 1027-28). The Processional Escorts exhort the
Eumenides to use their feet in a new way: to walk to their new home as ones
greatly honored ( ßä0 ' óôóv, <í) |i£yáXai <piXÓTi(ioi, "walk on your way, O great
honor lovers," Eum. 1033). Their gait emphasizes their new role as protectors:
they are to process to their new home - no longer frantic hunters of men, but
ones "feeling delight along their path" (t£p7tó|i£vai kcxO' óôóv, Eum. 1042). 50
The audience would no doubt have witnessed a marked difference in the way
that the Chorus move in the orchestra as they make their triumphant and
dignified exit with their Athenian escorts.51
48 Earlier references to the Erinyes' difficult and continuing chase: Apollo had told
the Furies that their continued pursuit would only bring them pain: où ô'ouv ôíojke Kai
7TÓVOV nXeíü) TÍ0OU (226: "So go on and chase him and place more troublesome work
upon yourselves" ), but they tell the god that they will continue the hunt: èy<b ô ' , ãyei yàp
ai'ļia ļiīļTpcpov, ÔÍKaç / |iĆT£i|ii TÓvôe qxîrra K<XKKi)vr|Yéaco (230-31: "And I shall continue
to pursue this man with vengeance and I shall hunt him down, for his maternal blood
leads me on."
49 At Eum. 46, the Pythia had described the Furies as a Oaujiacrrcx; Xóxoç ("wondrous
throng") like gorgons and harpies. At the end of the play, however, Athena's use of eÙKXefjc;
'óxo<; ("glorious throng," Eum. 1026) to describe the final procession emphasizes the
Erinyes' changed status; they are now to be integrated into the local religious pageant,
and are participants in its spectacle.
50 "The final procession ... puts into visible and concrete terms the reconciliation
between Athens and the Erinyes" (Taplin 1977: 415).
51 It is worth noting that in other plays Aeschylus uses gait to express a character s iden-
tity, mood, or intention. In Persians , the Chorus remarks to Atossa that the approaching
Acts , Metaphors , ami Powers of Feet in Aeschylus's Oresteia 277
Rush Rehm's spatial analysis of the former Furies' departure from the
orchestra further shows how their final footsteps in Athens are the beginning
of the reestablishment of proper order as they begin to take possession of
Attica, thus joining the theater's space with the surrounding countryside:
"The homecoming procession closes the trilogy with a spatial representation
of the city on the right road," and "redeems the spatial breakdown with which
Agamemnon and Choephori ended" (Rehm 2002: 100).
William Scott has pointed out that Aeschylus uses appropriate meters to
display the Furies' changing movements, which match their varied roles. In
the Eumenides, the meter of the Furies' songs (and thus their dancing feet)
begins with the chaotic iambo-dochmiac of the first two parodoi ( Eum .
143-77; 254-75), which "effectively characterizes angry confusion and frantic
disorder with haphazard, groggy movements" (Scott 1984: 113), but changes
into anapests and dactyls in the final scene, where order returns as the Furies
interact with Athena and re-form their singing into "the optimistic meter of
order" in response to Athena's anapests {Eum. 927-37 and 1003-13; Scott
1984: 126-27). Scott notes the salutary effect of dactyls and anapests (and
thus on the procession's progress) in the éxodos (1984: 133):
From being the most chaotic and unkempt chorus in Greek drama, the Eu-
menides become a proper formal chorus as they are reconciled to their new
position of honor. Under the guidance of Athena and with the music of their
escorts they are led offstage to a dactylic meter. The final line of the singers in
the last two strophes is an anapaestic marching meter appropriate for a formal
exit; but the dominant dactylic meter in this final song of the trilogy recalls the
first choral music in the parodos of the Agamemnon. ... [T]he harmony and
the order of the musical form exemplify and embody the new dispensation that
has been established in the universe.
messenger must be a Persian because of the way that he runs (xoûÔe yap Ôpá|ií](ia cpcDTÒç
IlepaiKÒv upenei jiaGelv, "For it is likely to perceive that this man's running is Persian,"
Pers. 247). At the end of the first stasimon of Seven Against Thebes , the Chorus notes the
intentions both of the approaching Messenger and of the agitated Eteocles by the way
that they run (Sept. 371, 374). Later in the play, the Scout reports that a craftsman had
decorated Polyneices' shield with an image of Justice, shown as a woman leading a man
back from exile, walking in a serious, modest way yuvr| tiç <Jü>q>póvü><; r|You|iévî],
"some woman brings him, leading him in a prudent way," Sept. 645). In Prometheus Bound,
the barefoot Oceanid Chorus tell the Titan that in their haste to visit him they had rushed
to his side without their shoes, and are thus unshod (àTtéôiXoç, PV 135). Their shoeless
state thus shows their care for Prometheus and is part of their characterization. On this
scene, see Fineberg 1986.
Although words for feet do not appear in this final scene, we may conclude
that the Furies' metrically-determined steps and the orderly gait that they
imply characterize their new role as protectors of order.
The change of pace from foot metaphors that reflect fearful acts of vio-
lence to the final scene of processional marching feet that lead the way to a
peaceful future reflects the trilogy's movement in the same direction. Words
for trampling and kicking disappear, and the choreography changes as the
Furies' feet move to the ordered meter that marks the éxodos. The Oresteia
thus concludes with the end of the fooťs violent reign, as the entire company
exits in grand procession and the Kindly Ones, possessed of new honor, take
their new status "in stride."
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Acts, Metaphors, and Powers of Feet in Aeschylus's "Oresteia"

Author(s): DANIEL B. LEVINE

Acts, Metaphors, and Powers of Feet in

summary: Aeschylus's Oresteia employs metaphors of the power,

I. introduction: the power of feet

THIS PAPER EXAMINES THE MEANINGS OF BARE AND S

Oresteia as they appear in contexts of power and

ł 1 presented some of these ideas in a paper at the 109th ann

© 2015 by the Society for Classical Studies

(Hephaestus, Achilles, Oedipus, Prometheus, Philoctetes), as Stephen Fineberg

In addition to the common word for feet (ttoOc;), the verb Tt

4 ror a recent insightful analysis of the (rhetorical) propitiation

vüv ô ' sic; (léXaOpa Kal ôójiouç 89éaTioc;

In tragedy, approaching holy places requires careful footwork. When

Following Agamemnon's exit, Cassandra uses destructive foot imagery both

aè ^èv Ttpò ļioipcu; tfjç e^ifļc; SiaęOepw.

I shall destroy you before my own fate.

19 Cassandra: £7tU;r|vov (iévei/ Gepjiòv kottévtcx; cpoivícp npoGcpayiiaTi, "The execu-

20 Taplin reasonably reconstructs Cassandra's movements in her exit and concludes,

sleep"22 (oi ôè třjc; [leMoûç kXéoç/ néôov 7tatoí)vte<; où KaOeúôouaiv x^pí»

III. LIBATION BEARERS

The Libation Bearers opens with the well-known scene at A

22 Translation by Sommerstein 2008a: 165.

footprint scene by telling Electra that it would be a tearful thing if Orestes

Orestes' humility at his father s grave might find a parallel in a contempo-

28 The bell-krater by the Eumenides Painter depicts a barefoot Apollo purifying a

It was conventional for travelers to wear sturdy shoes or sandals (Casson

Ttplv aÙTÒv eiTtelv "TtoôaTtcx; ó Çévoç;" veicpòv

31 On nudity as a sign of vulnerability and weakness, see Bonfante 1989: 560.

ÏÔ£(J0£ ó' aure, tcovô' emiļKooi kcik<ï>v,

And now behold, giving ear to these evils,

IV. EUMENI DES

àXX' eÏT e x^Pa(î èv Tcmoiç AtßuaTiKfjc;,

But, whether on land in Libyan places

helping her loved ones, or whether as a bold

repeatedly by images of foot competitions - in which theirs are superior.43

Bakogianni, A. 201 1. Electra: Ancient and Modern Aspects of the Receptio

Barr-Sharrar, B. 2008. The Derveni Krater : Masterpiece of Classical Greek Metalwork.

Blundell, S. 2002. "Clutching at Clothes." In Llewellyn-Jones, L. ed. Women s Dress in the

Fineberg, S. 1986. "The Unshod Maidens at Prometheu

Finley, J. H. 1966 [ 1955]. Pindar and Aeschylus. Cambridge, M

Fowler, B. H. 1967. "Aeschylus' Imagery." C&M 28: 1-74.

Prins, Y. 1999. Victorian Sappho. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Sokołowski, F. 1955. Lois sacrées de l'Asie Mineure. Paris: Boccard.

Sommerstein, A. H. 1989. Aeschylus: Eumenides. Cambridge:

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

the Fourth Century B.C. Los Angeles: Getty Museum.

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