‘In Nomine Patris’

Ovid paints Thebes as a series of surrealistic vignettes in which the size, the form, and the very nature of things shift for no apparent reason (Met. 3–4). This welter of phantasmata is nothing short of hallucinatory. Using Lacan's theory of hallucinations as symptomatic of a social and symbolic crisis, this chapter traces these uncanny visions to Thebes' first cause: King Agenor of Tyre. Agenor commanded his son Cadmus to ‘find your sister Europa (Zeus' abductee) or remain in exile’ failing, Cadmus founds Thebes. Agenor's harsh authority as both king and father make him dutiful and.criminal by the same act (Met. 3.3–5): cruelty toward Cadmus contradicts his fatherly devotion to Europa. Agenor thus, disturbs the conceptual foundations of family and social law, the very basis of an ordered human community like Thebes. Such self‐contradiction baffles the desire to become the ‘dutiful son/good citizen’ by obeying. A crisis in law and the lawgiver spark Thebes and its hallucinations.

Classical Antiquity Studies · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Computer Science · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies