TFBT: Winged Furies and Snatched Girls, Part I

On July 7^th, at Hour 25 we begin the study of the “Oresteia”; a trilogy of plays by Aeschylus starting with “Agamemnon”.  In the Iliad, during the funeral games for Patroclus, (XXIII 326-343) Nestor famously and in beautiful detail advises his son on how to win a chariot race, specifically how to turn the post at the far end of the race.  Universally, scholars and researchers acknowledge that his advice has nothing to do with turning-posts.  I am coming to the conclusion that Aeschylus’ play “Agamemnon” has nothing to do with King Agamemnon. 

Rather the play is about; Furies, generally called Erinyes and children.  The Erinyes are more ancient gods than the Olympians, born of the divine ichor split when the primordial sky-god Uranus was ambushed and castrated by his own sons.  The Erinyes are fearsome, gorgon-like, winged goddesses clothed in black with serpent-entwined hair and arms.  The children we discuss here are young women, little boys and unborn baby bunnies.

 "… when Aphrodite went up to high Olympus to entreat Zeus to let these girls (Pandareus’ daughters) attain the moment of happy marriage ... the Harpies snatched them away and delivered them to the ministrations of the detested Erinyes." Homer, Odyssey 20. 68

Helen as Victim

The first reference to lost children is at line 49, starts with a pair of eagles screaming as they circle over their empty nest.  Screaming because they have lost their nestlings.  The winged wrathful creatures represent Agamemnon and Menelaus.  Though unnamed the fledgling snatched from their nest was Menelaus’ young wife Helen.  Aeschylus makes a habit of not naming characters in their “victim” role .  Iphigeneia herself is not named until line 1527 out of 1672.   Helen is snatched up by Paris and taken to Troy.  Helen was also snatched up by Theseus as a child and taken to Athens , snatched up by Menelaus at the end of the Trojan War and taken home, if we are to believe Stesichorus and Hilda Doolittle snatched by some deity (Hermes?) and taken to Egypt. Helen ever the handmaiden of the Erinyes is the tool Zeus’ uses to destroy Troy for the sins of Paris. She is called “a vengeful Eriny to be lamented by mourning brides.” (749)

Doe and Kits

Next reference to children is at line 119 where two eagles devour a rabbit bursting with a litter of kits ready to be born.  According to Calchas, the doe represents Troy and the atrocities that will be committed by the Achaeans on the night the city falls.  Oddly enough these two eagles (Agamemnon and Menelaus again) are the same eagles sent as Erinyes by Zeus to punish Paris' transgression of the laws of hospitality. (55)   

It is interesting to contrast the unborn bunnies with a litter of Argive beasts, (850) like lions  born from the belly of that wooden horse that leapt down and gorged themselves on royal blood.  Philip Vellacott in the Oresteian Trilogy (1956) points out that “locos” means both “litter” and “ambushers”.  He says that it is used here in reference to the Achaeans in the belly of the wooden beast.

The Unnamed Child

155 “It is a treacherous keeper of the household. It is an anger   that remembers, and it comes with punishment for whatever happened to a child. Such dire things did Calkhas proclaim,”  It struck me odd on first reading that Calchas didn’t say “Iphigenia”, but her name isn’t mentioned until line 1555.  Otherwise I would have expected “daughter”.  That not being said I wondered for moment if Aeschylus allowed for the death of the Broteides here.  The unnamed boy was the son of Clytemnestra’s first husband.  The child was son or grandson of Broteas, the ugliest man who ever lived.  As Clytemnestra avers in “Iphigeneia at Aulis” by Euripides “by force that thou didst take and wed me, after slaying Tantalus, my former husband, and dashing my babe on the ground alive, when thou hadst torn him from my breast with brutal violence.”  But the little boy, never named like the other victims in this play is never referenced. 

Thyestes Sons

At line 1095 Cassandra in fearsome trance points out “Behold those babies bewailing their own butchery and their roasted flesh eaten by their father!  The chorus doesn’t acknowledge that they know about “Thyestes' banquet” until several hundred lines later.  The boys, who the poet does name, but others have,  are Agamemnon’s cousins butchered and boiled up for a stew given to their father to eat.  Their father Thyestes suffered this vengeful deed in retaliation for sleeping with this brother’s wife.

Iphigeneia

And the finally we come to Iphigeneia taken up by her father’s ministers, her saffron robe falling from her,  and raised on the altar of Artemis and sacrificed in order to charm the Thracian winds.  (235 & 1414)  “Artemis, however, snatched her away and transported her to the Tauroi, making her immortal, and put a stag in place of the girl upon the altar." Stasinus of Cyprus or Hegesias of Aegina, Cypria Fragment 1 

Summary on Snatched Children

The snatched children in “Agamemnon” consist of Helen, the unborn bunnies, Thyestes' Sons and Iphigeneia.  Of the kits I can write no more, but continue to ponder and contrast them with the brood of the Wooden Horse. 

I find it interesting the both Helen and Iphigeneia became goddesses. Helen alongside her brothers and sisters-in-law were worshipped at Therapnae and she was divine patroness of sailors.  Iphigeneia was either one of the Artemis nymph-companions or confounded with Hecate.  Admittedly deification is a common destiny for the descendants of Gorgophone, but still one wonders at the coincidence. 

Likewise, I wonder at the lack of heroic honors for Thyestes’ sons.  Snake-bit baby Opheltes was given heroic honors and a PanHellenic game by the Seven Against Thebes.  Medea’s children got “solemn festival and rituals” according to Euripides (Medea 1377).  The boys' grandfather Pelops was reborn with physical perfection and later heroic honors at the Olympic Games.

Part II will concentrate on the appearance of the Erinyes in “Agamemnon” by Aeschylus

M&R: Gunny

The relief bartender poured a last round of shots for several gentleman-patrons who were about join their wives in the mezzanine. One of the gentleman said something about the ladies at the other end of the bar. The bartender turned quickly, wiping the bar in the process with a white clothe and moved in the direction of the two well-dressed ladies and a gentleman in a red jacket standing next to them.

“Hi, Max. We are looking for Steven.” the dark-haired woman said sweetly.

“He’ll be back in just a minute. He said to expect you… You must be Gunny.” the bartender said as he stuck out his hand to the gentleman, and then pulled back. “Gunny” extended his long arm instead and gently shook the bartender’s hand.

“Nice to meet you Max.” he said guilelessly

Gunny was actually sitting on a barstool, not standing next to the ladies. Up close, his cherubic smile did little to hide the knife-scar on his rugged handsome face nor the blackness in his eyes.

“So,” Max continued cheerily once he was looking towards the ladies again, “Gunny gets a drink at the beginning of each act and gets a round of champagne for you ladies ten minutes before the intermission.”

“Thank you Max.” Maeve responded with a wink, which promised her usual good tip. She patted Gunny’s shoulder in emphasis as she spoke.

Gunny continued to gaze at the wary Max pleasantly will showing an active interest in everything else going on.

“I like your vest.” Gunny said to Max.

Max looked down at his uniform vest; it was black, but somewhat shimmered with hidden threads of red and gold. That’s when he noticed he’d forgotten his name-tag.

“Thanks.” Max responded with a big smile that wilted momentarily in confusion when he realized the vest beneath Gunny’s red jacket was “bulletproof”.

Meanwhile, the red-head standing next to Maeve Sienna commented to her sister, “Look dearie. It’s our friend Mrs. Green.”

Roxanne waved at the sullen faced, drab woman in a straight unaccessorized gown. Mrs. Green had to work her way through the crowd of patrons moving into the opera house proper.

“You know the worst thing about being Christians, Roxanne?” Maeve asked her sister through the gritted teeth of her false smile.

“Having to be nice to people we don’t like?” Roxanne Scamander responded in a like manner.

“Well there’s that too. It’s that we will live forever. So, I have all eternity to regret ever befriending that woman!”

Roxanne bit back a laugh and mumbled something about opera just being a phase she was going through, as Mrs. Green arrived. Max burst out laughing at the whole scene, which got him a dirty look from the new arrival. He went to help other last minute patrons.

“Is that Messier Seingalt with you?” Mrs. Green asked lusciously.

She meant Gunny who was partially hidden from view.

“No, this is our friend Gunny. Gunny, Mrs. Green.”

She offered a gloved hand. He stood to his impressive six feet, four inches and shook her hand. His dark gaze laid softly on her as she studied his admirable Aryan figure with a predatory eye.

“This is our nephew?” she asked and then turned to Maeve and Roxanne with a knowing look.

“This is our body guard.”

“Well, he’s certainly got a body! But, bodyguard?”

“Yes, our husbands feel it’s unsafe for us to be out in this town unescorted.”

“Unsafe for the town?” Mrs. Green retorted. “Did you want to say something Gunny?”

There was something innocent and unaffected about Gunny’s response. “You are a beautiful lady.”

“Oh my goodness!’ growled Mrs. Green as her gloved hand lifted to her non-existent bosom.

“We should head to our seats ladies.” Roxanne suggested firmly as the orchestra began warming up.

Maeve whispered to Gunny that he should get a whole bottle and an extra glass. Max, who had returned, got the message. He offered Gunny a drink.

“Oh, no thank you.” Gunny responded cheerily. “I never drink by myself.” Before Max could question, he asked, “Max do you practice karate?”

“No.” stuttered out a confused Max

“I know Steven does. I thought maybe you do.”

“No, I’m more of a carpenter. I just got back from a church mission in Peru.” Max lied.

“Oh! Hope you didn’t have any trouble at the Shining Path.”

“How do you know about the Shining Path?” Max asked hesitantly.

“Well, I work for an important/export company. We had a kidnapping down there and I went down to provide additional security and help with the negotiations.”

Max flinched at the euphemism of important/export company. He carefully studied Gunny’s dark eyes and disarming expression before asking, “So you handled the ransom?”

“Oh, I’m sorry I thought, I explained that. We negotiated. The young woman came home just fine, got married and had a baby. Want to see? ”

Gunny pulled a picture from his wallet of a himself holding a baby in a baptismal gown alongside the beaming parents. Max found the woman in the picture familiar, the man too.

“Who’s this?” Max asked pointing at the baby.

“This is my god-son Gunny Schmidt Lusigan.”

Max gasped in recognition. “You foiled the Siennan kidnapping! I remember their photograph in the news.”

“Oh, not just me personally.” Gunny blushed.

“Oh, how precious.” gushed the personal assistant who had joined them at the bar

Speechless, Max excused himself and went to clean up the bar. He waved Steven over and discretely whispered, “What’s with that Gunny?”

“Ain’t he the sweetest thing on two feet?”

“Ah, karate, Shining Path, bulletproof vest and a famous kidnapping? Oh and I offered him his drink and he says he doesn’t drink alone.”

“Yeah, I saw him at the national finals last year. He’s the real thing. Come on.”

Steve barreled down the bar dragging his relief bartender along.

“Gunny, can we get you a drink? We’d love to join you.”

Steven winked at the personal assistant, who’d stepped away from Gunny’s side to answer a call from her boss. Steven grabbed the Jose Cuervo Gold and three shot glass, but the other bartender balked.

“What would you prefer to drink? I’m sure Steven and I can drink that.”
They settled on vodka. After downing their shot. The other bartender drifted away again.

“What’s with your eye’s buddy?” Steven asked as he poured two shot of tequila for them.

“Oh, Madam Sienna thought black contact lens were more appropriate for my line of work.”

“I think she’s right.” Steven suggested as he indicated Gunny should raise his shot in toast to his boss.

Gunny complied, but his wide-eyes glued themselves to the young blushing personal assistant listening to her bored boss on the other end of the phone.

“See something you like?” Steven asked knowingly.

Gunny smiled back at this friend, looked at the assistant and then gazed around the opera house. “I like everything I see.” He answered sincerely.

By the time the first act neared completion, Steven saw the personal assistant was sitting up close to Gunny admiring his muscular biceps, dibbled chin and square jaw. From her angle, she could not see the current color of his eyes. From Steven’s perspective, he didn’t think the smitten girl would care. He prepared trays for both of them to take to their bosses in the boxes. When the crowd thinned out a little, Gunny said good bye to his friends, picked up the tray and headed to the Sienna family box.

Mrs. Green was holding forth on the “Opera Tour” she intended to take soon. “I think the highlights with the be opening night ball at the Dresden Opera House, you saw the video I sent you right? Incredible! And end at the Singapore Lyric Opera. The place looks like a giant Faberge Egg at night.”

Roxanne and Maeve nodded pleasantly, until they were forced to comment.

“So dearie, do you speak Chinese?”

“Don’t be silly! It’s Mozart in German with Chinese subtitles. Now, if I just knew a German-speaker to escort us.” She turned quickly on Guenther Schmidt standing idly nearby. “Do you speak German, Gunny?”

Behind her back both Maeve and Roxanne shook their heads violently. Roxanne thought to hold up five fingers on one hands and four on the other.

“Nine!” Gunny answered gleefully.

“If only I could find some way to steal you away from the Siennans. You’d have such a great time. “

Gunny simply smiled back as though pondering all the pleasure that could be. His arms were crossed. His ankles were crossed and he leaned into a pillar in the corner of the box. A Hispanic man dressed in a tuxedo, slipped up to Gunny, called him by name and shook his hand. He spoke quietly in Spanish to the equally as friendly Gunny. He seemed to urge him from the box. Gunny with a nod of the head deferred to Madam Sienna.

“Ma’am, Gunny and I served together. My boss would really like to meet them.”

Gunny assured Madam Sienna that he’d be back in time to pick up the tray before the next act and the two men hurried away. The ladies watched them move along the line of boxes to one, three down.

“Isn’t that the governor?” Mrs. Green gushed.

“Yes, dearie that’s what the young man said to Gunny.”

Gunny indeed picked up the tray in time and returned to the bar as did the “personal assistant” and several other similar people. As Gunny resumed his seat next to the young lady, the bartenders joined them, as did a drunk patron who got a little to uppidity with the help and too friendly with the young lady.

Gunny leaped from his bar stool and with a voice full of concern asked the man, if he was all right “I’d hate for you to fall and have something bad happen to you.”

The intensity of Gunny’s black eyes and firm grip on his elbow convinced the drunk to return to his seat. One of the board of directors happen to be walking by at the moment and bought Gunny and his lady friend a round. Gunny invited him to join them. By the end of the opera, everyone seemed to be crowded around Gunny.

Several opera goers asked about him as they filed out of the theatre with Maeve and Roxanne. Once in the lobby, there was their body guard waiting for them with another tray. They gleefully sipped on their bubbly while Gunny went off to say good bye to his new friends. The young lady slipped him her phone number.

“God bless his heart.” Whispered Roxanne gratefully as they tapped their flutes.