The Sea in the Greek Imagination by Marie-Claire Beaulieu (review)

In this stimulating book, which is a re-worked version of a 2008 PhD dissertation (from the University of Texas at Austin), Marie-Claire Beaulieu sets out to search for patterns of thought that could help unify a number of mythic narratives concerned with the sea. Those myths, she observes in the introduction and in the conclusion, on the surface are so diverse that scholars have failed to analyze them together or to identify shared traits. Beaulieu finds that they stem from perceptions of the sea as a transitional realm: between life and death and between humans and the gods. The sea is, therefore, an ideal locus for more specific kinds of transition: from youth to adulthood, for instance, or from one status to another. Several myths that deal with coming of age or with a change of status include sea-journeys.

The book is organized into six chapters, which Beaulieu calls “case studies.” Each chapter gathers myths that share more specific features in addition to the underlying patterns the author identifies as common to all the myths she discusses in her book. Chapter 1 focuses on the sea as roadway. This is an apt choice of topic to begin the book, since one of its key purposes is to emphasize the sea’s transitional qualities. The author notes that sea-crossings are always uncertain because the sea “offers no fixed points of reference, since it does not retain its shape but moves constantly” (24). (If I may, a reference to my book Wandering in Ancient Greek Culture [Chicago, 2005] would have been relevant in this context). The chapter contains interesting points of detail such as a discussion of the etymology of pontos (25), and a convincing broader analysis of the Greek hydrological network, proving that the sea allows communication between mortals and immortals. It also includes a discussion of sea water in opposition to fresh water and of the mythic type “the Old Man of the Sea,” which shares its metamorphic powers with the changing domain it inhabits. Not surprisingly Odysseus is a chief protagonist of the chapter, as he crosses from one part of the universe to another. I missed, however, an in-depth discussion of the memorable image of the hero seated on a rock on Calypso’s island, from which he longingly stares at the watery expanse that would take him home. Doesn’t the sea here play a connective or transitional role between two worlds? But all in all, the chapter offers a good map and foundation for the ones that follow, which can be reviewed more briefly.

Chapter 2 is centered on myths of heroic coming-of-age that involve the sea. These include Perseus’ voyage, as described by Pindar in Pythian 10, across the ocean to the land of the Hyperboreans; Theseus’ sea-journey according to Bacchylides’ Ode 17; and Jason’s in Pindar Pythian 4. The main argument advanced is that a sea-voyage is part and parcel of these heroes’ maturation and enthronement, especially as political leaders. The chapter contains well-focused discussions, for instance of the meaning of sacred groves in relation to the sea (74–5) or of the associations between diving and love (78), but is vitiated by repetitions of the central idea. Chapter 3 shifts the emphasis from heroes to heroines and to the destination of their own coming-of-age journeys: marriage. Beaulieu deals with Danae’s sea-crossing in relation to her ambiguous status as virgin and mother, unmarried yet prevented from marrying (93), and shows how the quality of her journey is connected to her failure to marry. The chapter proceeds to tackle comparable stories, especially Antigone’s and Medea’s (though in the former the sea plays no role and in the latter it is accessory to the heroine’s actions and destiny). There follow discussions of Augē, whose story is similar to Danae’s but ends happily...