Abstracts

Vayos LIAPIS
(University of Montreal)
Neither stone-dead nor stone-deaf

The Greek dead are remarkably noisy, considering that death has robbed them of their voices. Already in Homer, the soul flees the dying body ‘squealing’ or ‘hissing’, and in Sophocles the dead are likened to a swarm of buzzing insects. Pythagoras, it is said, claimed that ‘the sounds that often strike our ears’ is the voice of ‘those superior to us’, and Hipponax claims that any shrieking sound is the ‘harbinger and herald of the dead’. Moreover, several deities associated with the underworld, from Circe ‘the Voiced’ through Hecate ‘the Buzzer’ to Geryones ‘the Bellower’, are singled out for their capacity to produce sound - as is Hermes ‘the Whisperer’ in Athens.
The reason behind the noisy habits of the Greek dead, and of several divinities associated therewith, is anything but clear. I do not pretend to have the answer to the riddle, but I would venture to offer one or two starting points. The obvious place to look at in search of an explanation is the Middle East: this is, after all, where so much in Greek myth and religion originated. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the monster Humbaba, ‘whose breath is death’, is possessed not only of exceptional hearing but also of a shout as devastating as ‘the Flood weapon’. Thus, Geryon, Hecate, and Circe might be manifestations of the same infernal monster, who roars and bellows before devouring its victims. The shrieking sounds emitted by the dying soul may indicate that the dead are envisaged, literally, as bats, which are known to emit high-pitched sounds; after all, the souls of the dead suitors are explicitly compared to shrieking bats in Odyssey. Finally, the buzzing sounds associated with the dead or with chthonic deities may point to the relatively well-documented connection between bees (and honey) and the chthonic realm.
In conclusion, the answer to the riddle of the noisy dead may turn out to be a multiple rather than a single, comprehensive one.

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