Abstract
This article expands upon the range of options and methods of some of my earlier studies on Euripides and the Old Testament. These studies have sought to discover similar linguistic features and concepts in the texts of Euripides and the Old Testament, and to discuss how Euripidean tragedies can be read as Greek responses to Hebrew anthropological beliefs, more specifically as poetic-philosophical approaches to the anthropo-theological narratives of Genesis 2–4 and related biblical texts. These biblical texts probably transmitted through improvised oral or written Greek translations preceding the Septuagint (LXX), reorganise and transform the meaning of Hebrew expressions. This article presents the basic problems and aspects of a cultural-critical and comparative analysis and illustrates them with shared motifs from Medea, one of the eight Euripidean tragedies named after a female protagonist, and the Old Testament, thus expanding the boundaries of the traditional historic-critical exegesis.Contribution: The article contributes to the investigation of the background of the Septuagint from a cultural critical perspective with special reference to the Euripidean tragedies.
Highlights
Medea (Med.), a masterpiece of Euripides performed in 431 BCE, left the deepest impact in the history of culture (Lesky 1972:300)
The Euripidean Medea recapitulates her situation as a foreign woman in a foreign world, by comparison to Jason as a man in his homeland, in the following way (Med.): ἀλλοὐ γὰρ αὑτὸς πρὸς σὲ κἄμἥκει λόγος: σοὶ μὲν πόλις θἥδἐστὶ καὶ πατρὸς δόμοι βίου τὄνησις καὶ φίλων συνουσία, [255] ἐγὼ δἔρημος ἄπολις οὖσὑβρίζομαι πρὸς ἀνδρός, ἐκ γῆς βαρβάρου λελῃσμένη, οὐ μητέρ, οὐκ ἀδελφόν, οὐχὶ συγγενῆ μεθορμίσασθαι τῆσδἔχουσα συμφορᾶς
Euripides addresses similar or comparable issues with the Old Testament as contained in or originated from Genesis 2–4 and places them in a multicultural and polytheistic context. He indicates the connection between Genesis 2–4 and related biblical contexts and Medea in the prologue that begins with the if–not–sentences (1ff.), recalling the not–yet–sentences that introduce the second biblical anthropological account (Gn 2:5)
Summary
Medea (Med.), a masterpiece of Euripides performed in 431 BCE, left the deepest impact in the history of culture (Lesky 1972:300). He points to the key for the disturbed man–woman relationship, marriage and society and defines the quintessence of egoism or selfishness against the biblical moral principle ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’ as follows (86): ὡς πᾶς τις αὑτὸν τοῦ πέλας μᾶλλον [each man loves himself more than his neighbour] This Euripidean definition of egoism regarding Medea and Jason is obviously later supplemented by the reasoning ‘some justly, others for the sake of gain’ (οἱ μὲν δικαίως, οἱ δὲ καὶ κέρδους χάριν) that refers to Medea’s right of self-defence and Jason’s selfish craving. The Euripidean Medea recapitulates her situation as a foreign woman in a foreign world, by comparison to Jason as a man in his homeland, in the following way (Med.): ἀλλοὐ γὰρ αὑτὸς πρὸς σὲ κἄμἥκει λόγος: σοὶ μὲν πόλις θἥδἐστὶ καὶ πατρὸς δόμοι βίου τὄνησις καὶ φίλων συνουσία, [255] ἐγὼ δἔρημος ἄπολις οὖσὑβρίζομαι πρὸς ἀνδρός, ἐκ γῆς βαρβάρου λελῃσμένη, οὐ μητέρ, οὐκ ἀδελφόν, οὐχὶ συγγενῆ μεθορμίσασθαι τῆσδἔχουσα συμφορᾶς. The deeper meaning of the Euripidean playing with schemes that we are already familiar with from the biblical creation account, remains puzzling
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