A Study of ϕθóvos and the Role of the Chorus

Abstract

The chorus in Agamemnon by Aeschylus takes up over half of the tragedy. The scholars have studied the chorus's responses and opinions, but they have not recognized the keyword in this play.

In this paper, I study the chorus of Agamemnon with reference to the keyword, “ϕθóvos” that the chorus employs from their entrance song to the climax of this play. Φθóvos means envy or grudge which was used by a contemporary of Aeschylus first and also Aeschylus used this word as “ϕθóvos of gods” and “ϕθóvos of people”. In their entrance song, the chorus sings about ϕθóvos of the goddess Artemis which is the reason for the victim Ipigeneia's fare. She is the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemestra, and therefor Clytemestra kills him. In the next choral scene, the chorus sings about Agamemnon getting ϕθóvos from families who lost their family members in the war of Troy. although he is a supreme commander of this war, he survives and returns to his home.

Φθóvos appears in the dialogue of Agamemnon and Clytemestra in the climax in this play. Because of Clytemestra's recommendation, Agamemnon ended up getting ϕθóvos of the gods by walking on the purple vestments that belong to the gods. He couldn't avoid ϕθóvos and was killed by his wife.

The chorus always employs ϕθóvos as being the keyword in the evolution of this play.