Aeschylus’s Suppliant Women: The Tragedy of Immigration

4. Sons of Earth

87 Sons of Earth S uppliant Women appropriates the complex web of relationships obtaining among natives, newcomers, and the land in historical Athens. Pelasgus’s claim to be sprung from Palaichthon (“Ancient Earth”) should be read in light of a fifth-century ideological staple, the notion of citizen autochthony.1 For Athenians, Attica was more than their country: it was also their parent.2 In the play, Pelasgus’s accounts of his ancestry and his land are intertwined.3 The king also joins together the past of Argos and its present. By recounting the legend of the hero Apis, he tries to demonstrate the circularity of the city’s history.4 His hieromantic predecessor saved Argos from pollution and death by driving out a hostile synoikia of snakes. For his part, Pelasgus tries to save the land from a similar threat by offering metoikia to the Danaids. While Apis succeeded, Pelasgus fails, and dies in the attempt. In Suppliant Women, the citizens of Argos are like their leader: they are all depicted as autochthonous γαμόροι. In this regard the Argives resemble real-life Athenians. During the archaic period, the city began to measure and mark off its territory. Solon’s census legislation subsequently created an enduring link between citizen and soil. This in turn provided the ideological basis for the ban on enktesis by metics.5 Deprived of the opportunity to own land and houses, non-citizens were compelled to earn their living in different ways, to store their assets in different forms, and to live in different places and manners. The development of twin stereotypes, the agrarian citizen farmer and the urban metic artisan, codified the antithesis between citizens and metics. Suppliant Women grounds these issues by considering in detail where in Argos the Danaids will live. Although some scholars have argued that the housing motif is meant as preparation for the women’s eventual 4 88 Sons of Earth murder of their cousins, it is better understood as another means of underlining their metic status. Although Pelasgus offers the newcomers a variety of housing options, they are not given the chance to own dwellings . The Argive leader instead states that he and his fellow citizens will serve as their citizen sponsors (prostatai) and arrange matters for them. The particulars of the Danaids’ lodging thus reflect their juridical status and provide ample scope for erotic liaisons that may not be conducive to the well-being of Argos. Pelasgus and Apis The start of Suppliant Women introduces the Danaids and the play’s main themes simultaneously. The subsequent entrance of Pelasgus and his men via the opposite eisodos at line 234 is of equal moment. Danaus has finished offering advice to his daughters and likely steps to the side, perhaps even concealing himself behind the altar at which they have taken refuge.6 We have already discussed in detail Pelasgus’s reaction to the women’s strange appearance. But their behavior is also highly unusual. At lines 238–40 he comments on the manner of their arrival: How you fearlessly dared to come to the country without heralds or proxenoi or leaders— this is astonishing. ὅπως δὲ χώραν οὔτε κηρύκων ὕπο ἀπρόξενοί τε νόσφιν ἡγητῶν μολεῖν ἔτλητ’ ἀτρέστως, τοῦτο θαυμαστὸν πέλει. Their encounter is a tense one. Seas separate many Greek poleis from one another, and even where two or more lands adjoin, the border areas are often rough, contested terrain that forms the backdrop for military clashes. It is therefore no surprise that Pelasgus responds to encroachment on Argos’s territory with armed men.7 While Taplin has argued that his entourage is meant to protect the suppliants, we must remember that unlike the audience, Pelasgus has not had the benefit of attending the play’s proagon: he does not yet know who the intruders are or why they have come.8 His response is that of a prudent leader responding to reports of a strange ship offshore and possible disembarkations . Adding to his consternation is the fact that the women have eschewed the ordinary means of peaceful boundary-crossing. Dispens- Sons of Earth 89 ing with heralds (κήρυκες) and lacking local representatives (πρόξενοι), the Danaids have demonstrated both unpredictability and a potentially dangerous character. In this regard they prefigure another incursion of foreigners later in the play. Starting with line 825, more Egyptians again arrive by ship, enter via the same eisodos the Danaids used, and proceed to the same location. Like their female quarry, the pursuing herald and his men...