Labrys, Or Double Axe in Vyacheslav Ivanov’s Translation of Aeschylus

Authors

  • Лия Леонидовна Ермакова Higher School of Economics, 16, ul. Soiuza Pechatnikov, St. Petersburg, 190121, Russian Federation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu20.2017.210

Abstract

According to the well-known tradition, Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon with a double-edged axe; this tradition was followed by Vyacheslav Ivanov and Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff. Although the weapon in Aeschylus’ text is not specified, the double axe constantly occurs in the Russian translation by V. Ivanov. These passages are examined in the first part of the article. The second part discusses Ivanov’s essays and other works in order to shed the light on the symbolical meaning of the double axe within his conception of dionysianism and the birth of tragedy. The author concludes that Ivanov emphasized the double axe as the weapon of Agamemnon’s murderess because he regarded it as a symbol connected with the sacrifice in predionysian cult and as an instrument of its priestess.

Keywords:

Vyacheslav Ivanov, labrys, Ancient Greek tragedy, translations of Aeschylus in Russia, Oresteia, cult of Dionysus

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References

Литература

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References

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Rapp A. Erinys, in: W. H. Roscher (hrsg.). Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie. Leipzig, B. G. Teubner, 1884–1890, 1, 1310–1336.

Rapp A. Lykurgos, in: W. H. Roscher (hrsg.). Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie. Leipzig, B. G. Teubner, Bd. 2, 1894–1897, 2191–2205.

Rosenberg A. Die Erinyen: ein Beitrag zur Religion und Kunst der Griechen. Berlin, 1874.

Sarian H., Delev P. Erinys, in: Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae. Zürich, München, Düsseldorf: Artemis & Winkler Verlag, Vol. III. 1. 1986, 825–843.

Shaw M. C. The Bull-Leaping Fresco from below the Ramp House at Mycenae: A Study in Iconography and Artistic Transmission. The Annual of the British School at Athens 1996, 91, 167–190. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068245400016452

Tierney M. Three Notes on the Choephori. CQ 1936, 30, 100–104. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838800012921

Tümpel K. Lesbiaka. Philologus 1889, 2, 99–130.

Tümpel K. Makareus 8, in: W. H. Roscher (hrsg.). Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie. Leipzig, B. G. Teubner, Bd. 2, 1894–1897, 2290–2291.

Weil H. (ed.) Aeschyli Tragoediae. Lipsiae, Teubner, 1884.

Wilamowitz-Moellendorff U. (ed.) Aeschyli Tragoediae. Berolini, apud Weidmannos, 1914.

Wilamowitz-Moellendorff U. von (übers.) Griechische Tragoedien 2. Berlin, Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1901.

Published

2017-12-20

How to Cite

Ермакова, Л. Л. (2017). Labrys, Or Double Axe in Vyacheslav Ivanov’s Translation of Aeschylus. Philologia Classica, 12(2), 218–230. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu20.2017.210

Issue

Section

De philologis et philologia

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