Acts, Metaphors, and Powers of Feet in Aeschylus’s Oresteia

Bibliographic Data

ID9378285
AuthorsDaniel B Levine (corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume145
Issue2
Pages253-280
Publication date2015-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTAPA (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2575-7180 • E-ISSN: 2575-7199
PublisherJohns Hopkins University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/apa.2015.a596189
OpenAlexW2131235610
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited23

Aeschylus’s Oresteia employs metaphors of the power, uses, and weakness of human feet in order to underline the narrative’s progression from disorder to reconciliation. Agamemnon’s conquering foot was “Troy’s plunderer,” before he entered his palace barefoot and met his death. Shoeless Orestes leaves a footprint at Agamemnon’s grave before going inside to avenge his father. In contrast to Athena’s protecting feet, the Furies’ “crippling” feet and “vindictive dancing” pursue Orestes until accepting “an honored seat by the halls of Erechtheus.” In the solemn processional exodos, instead of frantic running hunters, they walk as protective spirits “feeling delight along their way.”

Archaeology · Art · Barefoot · Feeling · Foot (prosody · Literature · Narrative · Order (exchange · Power (physics · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical and Literary Studies · History · Organic Chemistry Synthesis Methods · Philosophy

Tools

Open DOI