Poine: a study in ancient Greek blood-vengeance

[1] See Blutrache bei den Griechen, chapter i.

[2] See History of Greece (second edition), p. 172.

[3] History of Greece, vol. ii. p. 32.

[4] See Manual of Greek Antiquities, p. 407.

[5] P. 408.

[6] La Solidarité de la Famille, Book I. (passim).

[7] See s.v. φόνος, p. 439.

[8] See supra, p. 11.

[9] Loc. cit. p. 440.

[10] See, e.g., Glotz, loc. cit. pp. 56-7: ‘Les Grecs ont toujours senti et manifesté avec une vivacité extrême le bonheur de se venger. Le cannibalisme qu’ils avaient pratiqué à l’époque de la sauvagerie primitive, resta dans leur langue, s’il disparut de leurs mœurs.’ On p. 57 they are compared to Montenegrins and Arabs.

[11] Pp. 253-5.

[12] Il. xxiii. 85.

[13] Il. ix. 565.

[14] Il. xv. 334; Il. xxiv. 480.

[15] Il. xviii. 490-508.

[16] P. 516.

[17] See also J.H.S. xiii. 123-6 (1887). The view was first suggested by Müncher (1829); see Glotz, p. 116.

[18] See infra, p. 37 ff.

[19] See supra, p. 21.

[20] Op. cit. p. 162 ff.

[21] Op. cit. p. 105.

[22] Pott, Corssen, Curtius, quoted by Glotz, loc. cit.

[23] E.g. Il. ix. 131-2, ἀπερείσι’ ἄποινα.

[24] Op. cit. p. 110.

[25] Op. cit. p. 114.

[26] Compare the weeping of Hrethel, when his eldest son was killed by his second son—and no vengeance was possible within the ‘family.’ Beowulf (2464), quoted by F. Seebohm, p. 63.

[27] Il. viii. 500 ff.

[28] Il. ix. 378-386.

[29] Il. ix. 625.

[30] See infra, p. 43.

[31] See Iliad xii. 422 and supra, p. 17.

[32] Op. cit. p. 115. ‘Rien ne prouve ici que la justice sociale intervienne à quelque titre et de quelque manière que ce soit, ni pour imposer ou conseiller un accommodement, ni pour indiquer le montant de la composition.’

[33] Il. ix. 634 suggests an ‘arrangement’ by which either (a) exile absolved the clan from punishment (cf. Laws of King Edmund, Seebohm, p. 356) or (b) exile was accepted in lieu of the murderer’s share of the wergeld (cf. Canones Wallici, quoted by Seebohm, op. cit. p. 109).

[34] See Soph. Antigone, 456-7.

[35] Il. xviii. 490-508.

[36] Op. cit. pp. 473-4.

[37] See his Edition of Iliad, vol. ii. pp. 340-1.

[38] See Monro, loc. cit.

[39] P. 516; supra, p. 25.

[40] P. 312.

[41] See also J.H.S. xiii. pp. 123-6 (1887), and Glotz, op. cit. p. 116.

[42] P. 516.

[43] 490-508.

[44] ἴστωρ, see infra, p. 43.

[45] E.g. Hofmeister, Leist, Dareste; see Glotz, loc. cit.

[46] Op. cit. p. 116.

[47] P. 312 ff.

[48] For a fine illustration of Achaean ‘arbitration’ in homicide, see Euripides, Hecuba (1130 ff.).

[49] P. 258.

[50] Minoans or Achaeans.

[51] Cf. Glotz, op. cit. p. 122. Aussi celui, qui traite au nom d’une famille lésée, doit avoir pleins pouvoirs d’agir au nom de tous ou en référer au groupe qu’il représente.

[52] See Das Attische Recht und Rechtsverfahren, Einleitung, pp. iv. ff.

[53] That is, if he was proved to be innocent of the crime.

[54] See Leaf’s note in edition of Iliad (1902), p. 611 ff.

[55] Od. xv. 388.

[56] Od. xv. 429.

[57] Od. xv. 452.

[58] Il. x. 378.

[59] Il. xxi. 41-80.

[60] Il. ix. 264.

[61] Od. iv. 525.

[62] See supra, p. 10; Seebohm, op. cit. p. 123 ff.

[63] Ancient Law, p. 313. See Leaf, edition of Iliad (1902), p. 612.

[64] Op. cit. p. 119.

[65] Seebohm, op. cit. pp. 43-5.

[66] See supra, p. 11; Seebohm, op. cit. pp. 328, 356.

[67] See supra, p. 7.

[68] λαοὶ δ’ ἀμφοτέροισιν ἐπήπυον.

[69] ἀμφὶς ἀρωγοί.

[70] κήρυκες δ’ ἄρα λαὸν ἐφήτυον.

[71] Seebohm, op. cit. p. 356.

[72] Leaf, edition of Iliad (1902) p. 611; Glotz, op. cit. p. 118 ff.

[73] Op. cit. p. 118.

[74] Seebohm, op. cit. pp. 203-5; 409-11.

[75] Il. ix. 634.

[76] Op. cit. p. 129.

[77] Glotz, op. cit. p. 118.

[78] Cf. also Il. xxi. 41; Od. xv. 388, 452.

[79] Il. ii. 666.

[80] Op. cit. p. 162.

[81] Op. cit. p. 163.

[82] Op. cit. p. 29, and Plutarch, Solon, 23.

[83] P. 130.

[84] Pp. 164, 173.

[85] iii. 4. 2.

[86] Hesiod, Theog. 937.

[87] P. 173.

[88] Apollod. iii. 10. 4. Cf. Euripides, Alcestis, 1-10.

[89] Apollod. ii. 6. 2.

[90] Il. xxi. 442 ff.

[91] The same remark applies to Od. xv. 388, 452, where the ‘ransom’ and temporary bondage are connected with kidnapping by pirates.

[92] A murderer’s children are condemned to bondage for two or three generations in the Salic Law. Seebohm, op. cit. p. 164.

[93] Cf. the Chrenecruda of Salic Law by which poorer members throw the burden on the richer. Seebohm, p. 141.

[94] Seebohm, p. 328.

[95] Seebohm, p. 323.

[96] Seebohm, pp. 93-4.

[97] P. 42.

[98] P. 71.

[99] P. 129.

[100] P. 19.

[101] P. 22.

[102] Op. cit. pp. 125-126.

[103] Coulanges, loc. cit.

[104] Op. cit. p. 24.

[105] See Bk. II. chap. iii.

[106] Seebohm, op. cit. p. 129.

[107] Il. ii. 662 ff.

[108] Müller, Dorians, i. pp. 411-46.

[109] Il. xix. 99 ff.

[110] P. 64.

[111] P. 170.

[112] Glotz, p. 170. See also p. 51.

[113] See Coulanges, Ancient City, pp. 169 ff.

[114] For the exile of Amphitryon, father of Hercules, who had slain Electryon, father of Likymnius, see Euripides, Her. Fur. 15 ff. For the slaying by Hercules of Iphitus, his guest, an act which appears to bring no punishment save the vengeance of the gods, cf. Od. xxi. 27.

[115] Il. ix. 632 ff.

[116] Supra, pp. 32-3.

[117] Seebohm, p. 356.

[118] Ib. p. 109; supra, p. 9.

[119] Od. xxiii. 118-120.

[120] Od. xxiii. 133 ff.

[121] Od. xxiv. 421 ff.

[122] Ib. 526.

[123] Ib. 533.

[124] Ib. 483.

[125] Il. xxiv. 480 ff.

[126] Reading ἀφνειοῦ.

[127] H. and H. p. 253.

[128] Eumenides, pp. 104-5.

[129] See infra, pp. 111 ff., 139 ff.

[130] We should perhaps also add the ‘reminiscence’ in Il. ix. 63, where the lover of domestic strife is said to be a lawless wretch without home or phratry. It is possible but not necessary to suppose that the wretch in question was outlawed because of homicidal tendencies which continued to manifest themselves afterwards. See Leaf, H. and H. p. 251. For a possible reference in the phrase ἀτίμηντος μετανάστης (Il. ix. 648), see Ridgeway, J.H.S. vol. vi.

[131] Caillemer, art. φόνος in Daremberg and Saglio, p. 439; Philippi, Areopag und Epheten, pp. 3-4; Eichhoff, Blutrache, chap. i. p. 8.

[132] P. 48.

[133] Glotz, op. cit. pp. 164-173.

[134] P. 48.

[135] P. 302.

[136] P. 48.

[137] Encycl. Laws England, ed. Renton, vol. ix. p. 32.

[138] P. 128.

[139] Cf. the phrase si telum fugit magis quam iecit.

[140] Seebohm, p. 126.

[141] P. 71.

[142] Quoted by Seebohm, op. cit. p. 63.

[143] Seebohm, op. cit. pp. 106-8.

[144] Seebohm, op. cit. p. 103.

[145] Supra, p. 7.

[146] P. 107.

[147] See La Monarchie franque, pp. 473-4 (Glotz, p. 107).

[148] For the contrary view of Dareste in regard to Aryan races, see his Études d’histoire du droit, pp. 252-275. Glotz, p. 106.

[149] xi. 271 ff.

[150] Phoenissae, 60 ff.

[151] P. 71.

[152] Infra, pp. 171, 310 ff.

[153] Il. ix. 563-570.

[154] Cf. Il. xv. 204 οἶσθ’ ὡς πρεσβυτέροισιν Ἐριννύες αἰὲν ἕπονται.

[155] xxiii. 88 ff.

[156] νήπιος, οὐκ ἐθέλων, ἀμφ’ ἀστραγάλοισι χολωθείς.

[157] See, e.g., Eichhoff, Blutrache, chap. i. p. 8.

[158] See Xenophon, Anab. iv. 8. 25.

[159] See infra, pp. 140 f., 197.

[160] For Attic legislation, see infra, p. 213 ff.

[161] P. 50.

[162] P. 51; see infra, ch. iii.

[163] P. 50.

[164] P. 383.

[165] viii. 318, 332.

[166] Op. cit. p. 385.

[167] P. 386

[168] viii. 318 ff.

[169] vi. 160 ff.

[170] For an interesting parallel cf. Euripides, Hippolytus.

[171] The subsequent solitary wandering of Bellerophon in ‘the plain of wandering,’ and the death of his sons and daughter through the anger of the gods, is not presented by Homer as a punishment for an act of adultery of which he was not guilty (200 ff.).

[172] Infra, pp. 193, 215 ff.

[173] Supra, p. 55 ff.

[174] Infra, p. 76.

[175] Od. i. 298 ff.

[176] xvi. 400 ff.

[177] Od. xxiv. 420.

[178] Ib. 530-555.

[179] See also Od. i. 290 ff.

[180] P. 565.

[181] P. 191.

[182] Il. xviii. 336, xxiii. 181.

[183] Supra, p. 19.

[184] Orestes, 500.

[185] Infra, p. 348 ff.