House-Razing and the Relationship of Oikos and Polis in Euripides's Heracles

Abstract:This article shows that the demise of Heracles's household in Euripides's Heracles draws upon recognizable public values related to the individual household, oikos, at Classical Athens and reflects upon its vulnerabilities. Euripides defines Heracles's identity in Thebes through his oikos. Threats directed against Heracles's household implicate a polis which paradigmatically fails to protect one of its oikoi. Throughout the drama methods of depicting the exposure of the oikos to potential harm evoke its frequent appearance in Athenian public performances including speeches, oaths, and spectacles. Particularly important in Heracles is the destruction of the physical house which embodies the vulnerability of the whole household: recurring language of the contemporary punishment of house-razing, kataskaphē, reflects the fraught relationship of Thebes to Heracles and his household.