Athena's One-Day Limit in Sophocles' Aias

Abstract

It is Aias himself, and not Athena, who is the prime mover of his downfall. It is the result of his deep-rooted belief in his own superiority. He is so thoroughly convinced that he, and only he, was entitled to the arms of Achilles that he cannot imagine that others do not share this conviction. In his view, there must have been 'electoral fraud', perpetrated by the Atreids, and so, during the night, he tries to take revenge by killing them. 1) Th is nocturnal attack was not instigated by Athena, nor was she involved-as she is in epic poetry-in the decision to award the arms to Odysseus. Th e goddess merely thwarts his attempt at revenge, 2) but she does so in such a cruel way that his life is totally ruined. She not only strikes him with the madness that triggers his onslaught on the cattle, she also sees to it that the army comes to know what he was actually planning to do. In this way Aias becomes the laughing stock of the Greeks and the object of their hatred; his τιμή has gone for good and suicide is his only way out.Tekmessa (485-524) tries to prevent this, by reminding him of his obligations to his parents, to his son and to herself, and of the charis between them: he received it from her and he now must reciprocate by staying alive. But, however moving her appeal and however justified her claim, she does not explain what kind of a life he could possibly lead after what happened during the night. Neither she nor the Chorus offer any real alternative to suicide.Afterwards it is Kalchas who explains the reason of Athena's anger. Again it is due to Aias' deep-rooted belief in his own superiority: he has explicitly rejected the help of the gods, first the gods in general and later on Athena herself. But Kalchas 1) In my view Sophocles makes it clear that in fact there has been no fraud. See van Erp Taalman Kip 1996, 524-31. Von Fritz rightly says: "Er kann sich das Geschehene nur aus Neid und Bösheit erklären" (1962, 248). 2) Tyler (1974, 26) observes that there would have been no grounds for suicide if the attack had succeeded. Th at may be true, but we may assume that in that case Aias would have been lynched by the army. He would have been doomed all the same. MNEM 60,3_2109_f6_464-471.indd 464 MNEM 60,3_2109_f6_464-471.indd 464 7/12/07 1:53:04 PM 7/12/07 1:53:04 PM