Do Oikos à Pólis de Agamémnon: sob o signo da distorção

Abstract

The disturbed order in the oikos is motivated by too long an absence of its kyrios in war and by act of sacrificing his daughter, which means a violation of the oikos tendency to self-perpetuation through progeny. This anomalous behaviour triggers a subversion of roles in the house. Clytemnestra takes on the male role as the avenger of her daughter’s murder. So, the image of woman as the guardian of the house, like a dog, subverted into a murderer bitch, is highly expressive. Animal metaphors and the leitmotiv of the hunter’s or the fisher’s net, pervasive throughout the drama, underline the complexity of such distortions. The disturbances of the royal oikos will soon bring about consequences in the life of the polis. The free polis will be shaken by violence and fear, by tyrannis and by the subsequent stasis.