Scroll I. Attica
subject heading(s): mnēma ‘tomb’; Antiope the Amazon; first
impressions of the visual kind; Antiope the Amazon as first impression;
name of Amazon Antiope as ‘rivaling in looks/appearances’; Murinē the
Amazon; Amazons as cult heroes; Molpadia the Amazon; war between Amazons
and Athenians; Theseus; abduction of Antiope by Theseus; theme of Amazon
falling in love with her abductor; Hippolyte the Amazon; Megara; lupē
‘pain’; Pindar F 174; Pindar F 175
As one enters the city, there is a
tomb [mnēma] of Antiope
the Amazon…We read in Frazer 1913 II 37 about the wording
here: “it appears that the tomb of Antiope was just inside the city-wall
of Athens”; Frazer also comments here on the relevant information
provided by Plutarch Life of
Theseus 27. I find it most significant that the tomb of Antiope
the Amazon should be the very first thing to be seen by Pausanias as he
enters the city of Athens. We have already seen that first impressions
of the visual kind are very important to Pausanias. In the case of the
temple sacred to the goddess Athena at Sounion, for example, the
traveler’s first impression of the goddess there is linked to the
view, from there, of the tip of
Athena’s spear on the Acropolis of Athens. And now, as Pausanias enters
the city of Athens, the very first thing he says he sees is
the mnēma ‘tomb’ of Antiope the Amazon. Once again, the traveler’s
first impression becomes a dominant theme in his narrative. From the
wording at Iliad 2.811–815, we
can see that the tomb of the Amazon Murinē is pictured there as the
monument of a cult hero: see the comments
at I.02.811–815 in A
Sampling of Comments on the Iliad and Odyssey. Similarly here,
the tombs of the Amazons Antiope and Molpadia are pictured as monuments
of cult heroes. On the symbolism of Athenian myths about a primordial
antagonism between Athens and the Amazons, I refer to my analysis in HC
4§§213–215, 4§224. According to one myth, this antagonism was
precipitated by the abduction of Antiope, queen of the Amazons, by
Theseus, king of Athens. The idea that Antiope then falls in love with
Theseus as her abductor, as mentioned by Pausanias here at 1.2.1, is a
topic that disturbs—and that needs further investigation. Relevant, I
think, is what we read later on at 1.41.7 in the narrative of Pausanias,
where he says that he saw in the city of Megara a mnēma ‘tomb’ of
another Amazon, Hippolyte, who was sister of Antiope. Pausanias says
that this tomb was linked with a myth about Hippolyte: how this
hero became queen of the Amazons after her sister Antiope was abducted
by Theseus, king of the Athenians, and how Hippolyte and her fellow
Amazons then went to war against Athens to avenge the abduction. The
outcome was a bitter defeat for the Amazons, and most of them perished
in the war, but Hippolyte survived and sought refuge at Megara, where
she died from her lupē. This word lupē as used by Pausanias at
1.41.7 can best be translated as the ‘pain’ of mourning. By combining
what we read at 1.2.1 and at 1.41.7 in the narrative of Pausanias, we
can piece together a central theme in the overall myth that is linked to
the hero cults of the Amazons Antiope, Molpadia, and Hippolyte: that all
the pain resulting from the war between the Amazons and the Athenians
can be traced back to the primal abduction of Antiope, queen of the
Amazons, by Theseus, king of the Athenians. That abduction must have
been highlighted in a song of Pindar as mentioned by Pausanias 1.2.1.
Classicists track this mention by referring to it this way: Pindar F 175
ed. Maehler. In Pausanias 7.2.6, we read another mention of these
Amazons, and Classicists refer to this mention as Pindar F 174 ed.
Maehler. One final word about the references made by Pausanias to
Amazons as cult heroes: I deliberately use the word “hero” and
not “heroine” in such contexts because I seek to challenge the
assumption, common to native speakers of English, that only men are
heroes. In terms of ancient Greek hero cults, both men and women could
become cult heroes after death, and the wording of Pausanias at 1.2.1
and at 1.41.7 makes it clear that the Amazons Antiope, Molpadia, and
Hippolyte were all three considered to be cult heroes. [[GN
2017.11.06.]]
