Lecture of Professor Judith Fletcher (Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada) entitled The fabric of miasma and the gifts of the Lemnian women in Apollonius’ Argonautica.

Thursday 25 October 2018, at 12.00 noon Room 311, School of Philosophy, 3rd floor, Panepistimioupoli, Zografou, Athens

INVITATION TO THE RESEARCH SEMINAR

OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS

When: Thursday 25 October 2018, at 12.00 noon

Where: Room 311, School of Philosophy, 3rd floor, Panepistimioupoli, Zografou, Athens

The Department of Classics, Faculty of Philology, invites you to the lecture of

Professor Judith Fletcher (Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada)

entitled

The fabric of miasma and the gifts of the Lemnian women in Apollonius’ Argonautica.

Professor Sophia Papaioannou

Head of Department

For further information please contact:

Dr Katerina Carvounis  kcarvounis@phil.uoa.gr 210-7277613

Professor Sophia Papaioannou spapaioan@phil.uoa.gr  210-7277380

PROFESSOR JUDITH FLETCHER WILFRID

LAURIER UNIVERSITY (CANADA)

THE FABRIC OF MIASMA AND THE GIFTS OF THE LEMNIAN WOMEN IN APOLLONIUS’ ARGONAUTICA

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that Apollonius draws on the Aeschylean idea of miasma, including its devastating effects on fertility, in his account of another kin murder, Jason and Medea’s slaughter of Medea’s brother Apsyrtus in Argonautica 4, which is surrounded by numerous allusions to the Oresteia. The killing is constructed as an episode in a narrative of pollution and purification originating with the love affairs between the Argonauts and Lemnian women, and apparently concluding with the expiatory ritual performed by Circe, which borrows heavily from Aeschylus’ account of the purification of Orestes. But does miasma still cling to Jason after Circe’s ritual? Apollonius’ subtle deployment of the textile motif, which is such a significant element of the Oresteia’s system of imagery, suggests that it might.

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