El prólogo de Filoctetes: un ejemplo de transgresión ritual y caracterización del personaje
ISSN: 1135-9560
Year of publication: 2017
Issue Title: QUAERITE ET INVENIETIS. CONTRIBUCIONES A LA INVESTIGACIÓN EN ESTUDIOS CLÁSICOS
Issue: 1
Pages: 65-76
Type: Article
More publications in: Studia philologica valentina
Abstract
In this paper we analyze the first verses of Sophocles’ Philoctetes (vv. 1-11). In these verses, Odysseus describes the circumstances of the abandonment of Philoctetes in the island of Lemnos. These verses summarize the main characteristics of Philoctetes. We have divided these characteristics in three sections: First of all, we study the verb employed to describe this abandonment, ἐξέθηκα, whose purpose is to highlight the social isolation of Philoctetes. In second and in third place, we study the reason of this isolation: the stain of blood and the wild shouts. This isolation is also highlighted by many poetic and ritual images which recall a character that has become an animal for which the ritual rules that unite human societies have been altered.