“And Whatever It Is, It Is You”: The Autochthonous Self in Aeschylus’s Seven Against Thebes

This article investigates the theme of autochthony in Aeschylus’s Seven Against Thebes. Here I use Žižek’s conception of “ideological fantasy” to synthesize the two major critiques of autochthony: the ideological (Loraux) and the material (Cohen). With Žižek’s theory in mind, I argue that Seven critiques the notion of autochthony at the same time as it shows up the powerful roots it has planted in the lives of those who live by it—Eteocles, in particular. Aeschylus’s drama turns a critical eye on the idea of civic purity by drawing out autochthony’s darker implications; it illustrates simultaneously how the myth unconsciously influences and structures civic consciousness, exposing in the mix the potential danger of its grip on Eteocles and his citizens (as well as, potentially, us).