| Drawing on feminist theory and recent research on the psychological effects of war trauma (especially PTSD), this study recovers a neglected aspect of women's experiences of war in fifth-century Athens. Three plays by the three Athenian playwrights depict the social and personal concerns of veterans' wives in ways that other evidence from the ancient world does not. By investigating the depiction of wives' experiences of their husbands' homecoming, this dissertation illuminates important aspects of the plays themselves, such as their themes, characters, and structure, as well as Athenian views on war and its potential to disrupt marital relationships.;This study devotes a chapter each to Penelope in the Odyssey, Clytemnestra in Aeschylus' Agamemnon, Deianeira in Sophocles' Trachiniae, and Megara in Euripides' Heracles. Each work addresses a different scenario of the veteran's return and examines potential problems for the family from the perspective of the wife. Chapter 1 situates the project within the framework of existing scholarship on epic and tragedy. In addition, it examines evidence for the military revolution in fifth-century Athens, which allowed large-scale mobilization of troops for the first time in Greek history. Chapter 2, on Penelope, surveys the importance for later tragedies of the epic paradigm of the waiting wife. Chapter 3 explores the perspective of Clytemnestra in the Agamemnon. Although Clytemnestra is portrayed as monstrous in her vengeance, she also articulates clearly the waiting wife's concerns, drawing on tropes from the Odyssey, in her parody of a faithful wife's speech. Chapter 4 analyzes the Trachiniae and shows how Deianeira's past incidents of sexual trauma continue to affect her as she works to heal the rift between herself and her veteran husband. Chapter 5 argues that Euripides' Heracles dramatizes veteran domestic violence and the lack of cause and effect between the actions of a heroic waiting wife, Megara, and the death of her and her children at her husband's hands. Chapter 6 surveys the conclusions of the study with a discussion of waiting wives' concerns in both comedy and tragedy. |
