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ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. UMI' Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CAPANEUS: HOMER TO LYDGATE By ROBERT NAU, B.A., M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Roquirements. for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University © Copyright by Robert S. Nau, July 2005 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. 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CAPANEUS: HOMER TO LYDGATE Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2005) McMaster University (Classics) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: Capaneus: Homer to Lydgate AUTHOR: Robert Nau, BA. (York University), M A (University of Western Ontario) MA (McMaster University) SUPERVISOR: Professor Howard Jones NUMBER OF PAGES: viii, 272 ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission ABSTRACT A generation before the war at Troy, king Adrastos led an ill-fated expedition against Thebes. One of his commanders, Capaneus, died so spectacularly that he was virtually guaranteed a lasting place in the myth. He boasted that he would take Thebes whether the gods willed it or not and was subsequently struck from the city’s wall by a lightning bolt from Zeus. Despite this simple narrative Capaneus’character is handled in a variety of ways. As would be expected he is at times portrayed as a villain. Thus in Aeschylus’ Septan, Euripides’ Phoenissae, and Statius’ Thebaid, he is an impious, vicious, threatening, and boastful character who is finally punished at Thebes. This portrayal, however, was not the only possibility in handling his character. In Euripides’ Suppliants, Capaneus is held up as a model citizen whose moderate life and tragic downfall should serve as a lesson to others. The earliest artistic depictions of Capaneus show a similar divergence in characterization. An artist could emphasize the villainy of the hero by including elements like a ladder to scale the Theban wall, a torch to bum the town, a lightning bolt to imply his punishment, or converselyportray him as a vulnerable youth struck down suddenly in war. Christian writers of the Medieval period take these lines of development further. Gower presents him as a warning against excessive pride, one of the seven deadly sins, and Dante lets him rage in hell against God under a continuous rain of lightning, hi both the French Le Roman de Thebes and Lydgate’s Siege of Thebes the hero is a noble and beloved knight who, while dying at Thebes, lives long enough to take part in the later Athenian attack on the city. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To Dr. Jones, my supervisor, and to the other members of my supervisoiy committee, Dr. P. Kingston and Dr. A.G. McKay, I offer my sincere thanks for their guidance, and instruction. Mrs. Carmen Camilleri, Administrative Assistant forthe Department of Classics at McMaster University, deserves special credit and thanks for all her help during the process. My appreciation must also be expressed for my friends and family for their continual support and encouragement of my undertakings. iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.