Dangerous Gifts: Gender and Exchange in Ancient Greece

Introduction

1 ἐκ γάρ δώρων πολλὰ κακ’ ἀνθρώποισι πέλονται. For many evils come to human beings from gifts. antimachos of teos, cited by clement of alexandria, stromata 6.12.7 Deianeira sends her husband Herakles a poisoned robe. Eriphyle trades the life of her husband Amphiaraos for a golden necklace. Atreus’ wife Aerope gives the token of his sovereignty, a lamb with a golden fleece, to his brother Thyestes, who has seduced her. In all of these examples, drawn from Greek myth and its tragic elaborations, precious objects of metal or textiles enter into circulation because of women. And in each case, disaster follows. Many cultures view all exchange as potentially dangerous, but in the ancient Greek imagination women and gifts appear to be a particularly deadly combination.¹ This book explores the role of gender in structuring relations of exchange in ancient Greece, and specifically the representation of women as both objects and agents of exchange. The anthropological concept of reciprocity is central to this investigation of gender and exchange in ancient Greek thought. I approach the Homeric epics, Attic tragedy, and other mythic material in light of ethnographic accounts detailing the social organization of other traditional societies marked, like those of ancient Greece, by both an interest in exchange and a high degree of sexual dimorphism. As will become clear, my debts to anthropology go far beyond theories of reciprocity , extending to kinship and other features of social organization. The theme of reciprocity in the ancient world has recently received signi ficant attention in the work of Walter Donlan, Richard Seaford, Leslie Kurke, and others.² That I owe much to these scholars will be obvious, INTRODUCTION Lyons-final.indb 1 Lyons-final.indb 1 1/31/12 3:19:28 PM 1/31/12 3:19:28 PM DANGEROUS GIFTS 2 although my focus is generally rather different. Similarly, I have learned a great deal from those who have explored the theme of “the traffic in women” in tragedy, among them Victoria Wohl, Kirk Ormand, and Nancy Sorken Rabinowitz.³ As I am in general sympathy with these readings, I have tried only to acknowledge where I build on their ideas, rather than to indicate every point of agreement or disagreement. Although “the traffic in women” is also central to my own conception, it is the point of departure for a consideration of a gendered system of exchange in which women’s economic agency is ultimately as important as their objectification. In this, my approach overlaps most with that of Wohl, despite a very different trajectory . What distinguishes my project from those I have mentioned above is its attempt to construct an “economics of gender” by examining gendered exchange in ancient Greece from a cross-cultural perspective. In so doing, I also offer a new interpretation of ancient Greek conceptions of sibling relationships as seen through the lens of reciprocity. My interest is in exchange marked by gender difference. Exchanges between two partners of the same gender are not central to my argument, except when a woman is the object of the exchange. I use the word “gender” rather than “women” in my title in order to make explicit the notion that women’s roles in relations of exchange, whether as subject or object, rely for their meaning on their place within a coherent system of exchange that is necessarily inflected by gender.⁴ My purpose in analyzing this material is neither to demonstrate once again the subordination of ancient Greek women, nor to offer an “optimistic ” account of occasions for female autonomy.⁵ Rather, I am interested in the complex specificities of the place of women in ancient Greek thought. Given the difficulty of determining social realities in ancient Greece, my aim is instead to elucidate some aspects of gender ideology by examining the social and economic role of women (and consequently of men) as represented in some of the central literary and artistic documents of the archaic and classical periods. I do in some instances draw on historical evidence, but I use it to elucidate ancient Greek thinking about gender, rather than to make a historical argument.⁶ A persistent theme of this book is the danger attendant on the participation of women in exchange and the role of exchange in the breakdown of the marital relationship. I argue that since wives as a general rule come from outside of the immediate family, the suspicion with which they are regarded is born of the tension between the...