Herms, Kouroi and The Political Anatomy of Athens

Herms, Kouroi and the Political Anatomy of Athens Author(s): Josephine Crawley Quinn Source: Greece & Rome,
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Greece & Rome,
Vol.
54, No.
1, ? The
Classical
Association,
2007.
All
doi: 10.1017/S0017383507000058
rights
reserved
HERMS,
KOUROI AND THE POLITICAL ANATOMY OF ATHENS*

JOSEPHINE CRAWLEY QUINN
By
During
preparations tells us, Thucydides Of all the stone herms

local custom stand most had their faces
for
the
ill-fated woke
Sicilian
the Athenians
expedition up one morning
in 415 to find
BC, that:
in the city of Athens

numbers in the
(the square-cut
of private
type, which
houses and
following
shrines), a single one knew who mutilated No during night. [77/90ocotto] a search the perpetrators but there was for them with out of rewards were, large . . . funds matter took the it looked like an omen for the public They seriously; as though as part of a conspiracy and furthermore it had been done for revo voyage, lution and the overthrow of the democracy KaraXvoe s].1 [SrjpLov
in great
doorways
Some
accused
the
'adducing in general'.2 Andocides emphasizes taken by the city authorities:

The those Agora, boule, of summoning the Athenians within the who
as evidence
and general flamboyant politician Alcibiades, the undemocratic of his conduct licentiousness how seriously the matter was
those
Hippodamian
the Long for agora. As
ordered generals, lived in the city Walls should go the knights,
them should
to make take
an their
announcement arms and go to
that the
to the Theseion, a signal was to be
those given by
in Piraeus trumpet
to the before
version of this paper as a graduate at UC, student for Andrew Berkeley, Seminar in Berkeley to the other members in 1997; I am grateful and Athens of that seminar, and to all those who have provided references, papers and comments unpublished on later versions: Chris Brooke, Katherine Benjamin Clarke, Natalie Acosta-Hughes, Kampen, Barbara Leslie Scott Henk Versnel and Roger Kurke, Miller, Scullion, Kowalzig, Stephen Wilson. Most of all I owe thanks to Andrew over the Stewart for his help and encouragement too many for years this project has taken; this is for him. To all of the above I also owe apologies the first Stewart's Kress not taking more 1 Thuc. 6.27 of their good advice.
I wrote
(translation adapted from that of S. Lattimore 1998). See W. D. (Indianapolis, and theHerms 'The Eros of Alcibiades', 1-30, and V. Wohl, Furley, Andokides (London, 1996), ClAnt 18.2 (1999), for the circumstances 349-85 of the mutilation. 2 6.28. Alcibiades on his avoidance Thuc. disavowed democratic of consistently symbolism: see Isocrates, De bigis 32-5 the footraces and embrace of equestrian for example, competition, S. Miller, 'Naked Democracy', in P. Flensted-Jensen, T. H. Nielsen and L. Rubenstein 280. At the beginning of Alcibiades' (eds.), Polis and Politics 2000), (Copenhagen, speech against has him boasting of his achievements in the chariot races at Olympia, and Nicias, Thucydides for the importance and benefits of recognizing individual achievement arguing passionately within the polis (6.16). On the tradition see V. Wohl, Alcibiades the mutilation, with connecting Love among the Ruins 141 n. 56. (Princeton, 2002), with
HERMS, nightfall
sleep
KOUROI
AND THE POLITICAL
ANATOMY
OF ATHENS
83 and
for them to go to the Anakeion;

the prytaneis in the Tholos.3
the boule was to go to the Acropolis
there,
were the city officials Why of the herms be interpreted
so concerned? as an attack on
How
could
this mutilation What was
so very democratic these ques about the herm? Robin the than twenty years ago in a classic article that addressed tions more in from their first appearance herms of the Athenian civic significance over a to hundred their mutilation the late sixth century years just later.4 focused their also In on gaze, establishing the role which the of their herms' democratic 'the face returns faces, and demands Osborne credentials, and of every Athenian', of the that viewer.5 He
the democracy? raised Osborne
both
took over this identificatory that the herm gaze from suggested in the late herms that these archaizing the kouros, and noted appeared at kouros when the the sixth century, anonymous, generic just point gave way to individualized figures:
Just as (and because) other sculpture begins to explore singularity and the particular,
the herm takes up the gaze and claims identity with every viewer. This identity is not just identity before death and the gods [as with the kouros], it is no less than the
democratic claim that men are equal in all their hermaic qualities.6
In this article at the
I want of
to take another between the male them, body -
relationship
and more
representations and reinforcing
different
importance is well-known,8 culture political meanings
of the body of
political in Athenian civic and corporeal inviolability of the socio discussion and in a wide-ranging and representations of the male body
types, sculpture at the role of generally in and bodily parts promoting in archaic The ideals Greece.7
look at these
two
ideals
in
3 Andoc. 3. The Athenian from R. E. Wycherley, 1.45: translation Agora slightly adapted in Athens, School of Classical Studies Testimonia Princeton, (American Literary and Epigraphical NJ, 1957) 61-2, no. 133. 4 45-73. of the Hermai', PCPhS 25 (1985), and Mutilation R. Osborne, 'The Erection 5 on the 'mirroring gaze' and other aspects of the kouros in 'Death Revis Osborne enlarges 11 in Archaic Art History and Classical Revised: The Death of the Artist Greece', ited, Death 66 in Ancient Greece 6-9; cf. A. Stewart, Art, Desire and the Body 1997), (Cambridge, (1988), and 244. 6 Osborne (n. 5), 53. 7 of female I regret that I do not have time or space here to include a discussion sculpted to male in the archaic period bodies ones; for a provoc (korai), in their own terms or in relation see R. Osborne, account Greek of this subject, ative and controversial Style: Does 'Looking on the Sculpted Girl Speak to Women, too?', in I. Morris (ed.), Classical Greece. Ancient Histories, Modern Archaeologies esp. 88ff. 1994), 81-96, (Cambridge, 8 Relevant include D. M. Halperin, 'The in Greek culture of role of the body discussions 2.1 in Classical Democratic Prostitution and Citizenship Athens', (1990), Differences Body: 1-28, and Stewart (n. 5), esp. 7-13.
84
HERMS,
KOUROI
AND THE
POLITICAL
ANATOMY
OF ATHENS that call 'We might was anatomy
Athens even coded
(including
say anatomy for Greeks with on Winkler's
Jack Winkler herms), suggested is politics: that is, the field we
to build
social messages about class and status.'9 I want to political and on Osborne's anatomy approach
of the herm and the kouros in order to suggest that the juxtaposition a of herm the 1-2: the head of body (Figures quadrilateral pillar with arm stubs, and a phallus and the body of the Hermes, [erect penis]) a naked kouros 3-5: beardless his (Figures forwards, youth striding arms by his side with fists clenched) were interlinked sites of ideolog ical struggle between and egalitarian elitist of political conceptions in archaic Attica. In the process, I also want society on the contestatory local variants of archaic model over the last fifteen years. that has developed I am survey democratic the sixth going of the to make clear this connections argument between backwards, the herms to suggest some cultural history with beginning and fifth-century origins a in
century
to their more before obscure ideology, turning and to the kouroi that came before them.
Democratic Both an This math Osborne illustration occurred of and Winkler of the invoked before
herms the episode of the Eion of the Athenian ideology' the mutilation herms herms.10 as
'democratic years
sixty the Athenian of Cimon

at that time,
command
There great Athens it seemed Herms, that the on were dangers and in
over the Persians victory in 476/5. Aeschines tells the story:

Athenians, the Medes certain men at who the
in the after of 415, at Eion under the
conquered asked those the demos days that might
in battle and set up not
great enduring river Strymon. gave own generals them stone
toil They great
and
facing came to as the
for a reward, the they seem right did to not
the demos three their to the
honours, Stoa of
herms names but
in
the
condition
inscribe
inscription
to belong
in order (this was . . . to the demos.)
9 Thallos Politikos: the Body Politic in Athens', 2.1 J. J.Winkler, Representing Differences a more sense of 'political 35. Michel Foucault described thus: 'This (1990), general anatomy' not be the study of the body and its surroundings would in terms of a small state, nor would it be the study of a state in terms of a "body" its resources and its forces). One (with its elements, as a set of material would be concerned with the "body politic" elements and techniques that serve as weapons, routes and supports for the power and knowledge rela relays, communication that invest human bodies and subjugate them by turning them into objects of knowledge' and Punish. The Binh (M. Foucault, Discipline of the Prison [New York, 1979], 28). As I see it, are among the quasi-human bodies of the herms and the kouroi these elements, their commis and display among these techniques. sion, production 10 Winkler (n. 9), 35. tions
HERMS,
KOUROI
AND THE POLITICAL
ANATOMY
OF ATHENS
85
Figure
of Athens.
1.A herm from Siphnos, c. 520. 0.66 m. ? National

Inv. 3728.
Archaeological
Museum
Does demos.11
the
name
of
the
generals
anywhere
appear?
Nowhere;
only
the
name
of
the
Plutarch no time
assures
us
that
named, of our forefathers certain men who had done the city much good . . . satisfied when were an on the The Herms\12 they got epigram as Eion herms were of the mutual of the well citizens symbols equality as of their military as a in the generals had acted strength community; their focuses than as citizen-soldiers, and the anonymity capacity on the achievement attention of the democratic the individuals involved.13 of the polis herms rather
leader was
this was a great and Demosthenes
the fact that honour, despite in the adds that 'at Athens
11 tr.Wycherley Aesch. 3.183-5; (n. 3), 103-4 (no. 301). 12 tr.Wycherley Plut. dm. 20.112 8.1; Dem. (n. 3), 105 (no. 304). [Against Leptines], 13 See Osborne for a discussion of these and other aspects of the civic signifi (n. 4), 58-64, cance of the Eion dedication.
86
HERMS,
KOUROI
AND THE POLITICAL
ANATOMY
OF ATHENS
Figure
2. A
herm
in a palaestra
scene
on
an Attic
red-figure
cup
of
c.
510-500.
Mus?e
Jensin.
d'art et d'histoire, Ville
de Gen?ve.
Inv. I 529. Photograph
by Jean-Marc
like element sameness sign'.14
Winkler Osborne, in a democratic to distinctions and He
saw
the Athenian
herm
as
an
important
indifferent
of signification, system of class or achievement, [the city's] attention capable to their
of all equality drew particular
'deliberately being a symbol of the ... a levelling fighters phalluses as positive
a competing of in this democratic system discourse, rejecting signs or unobtrusiveness of in which 'the obtrusiveness 'elitist signification' excess with and is the represented correlated, respectively, phallos slackness abandon and manly control, restraint, grotesque unmilitary and and heroic discipline, comedy tragedy'.15 as a signifier in these The of the penis systems power ideological was a come as no in it fascination focus of particular should surprise: on vases, amulets, statues and buildings. The posi Greece, ubiquitous tive associations of what Winkler called the 'unobtrusive' penis in
focus
14 on earlier interpretations of the herms which Winkler (n. 9), 36. See Furley (n. 1), 20-1, on their role as 'popular monuments The of the democracy'. democratic specifically Years of Homosexuality in D. Halperin, One Hundred of the herm is also explored symbolism 103-4 and Wohl esp. n. 46. (n. 2), 23-5, 1990), (New York, 15 Winkler (n. 9), 41.
HERMS,
KOUROI
AND THE POLITICAL
ANATOMY
OF ATHENS
87
Figure 3. An early kouros from Sounion,

Museum of Athens. Inv. 2720.
c. 600. 3.05 m. ? National
Archaeological
Athenian
"elitist
Aristophanes' cratic character as one
are clear: in the famous signification9 the old fashioned Clouds, for instance, where
in passage and aristo
pLLKp?v) a large penis educational fangled that a small up to minimize But Keuls has
a small penis of Stronger describes Speech (7T?a6rjv results of the training he can offer, and of the welcome as the unwelcome result of new (0^ia/xa fiaKp?v) methods,16 was considered and on symposia vases which show even tied attractive and sometimes which Eva
penis its dimensions.17 not
this was
described
the only ideal in democratic as a 'phallocracy': 'a cultural
Athens, system
symbolized
atWinkler discussed 1014,1019; (n. 9), 29. at E. Keuls, Sexual Politics in Ancient Athens The Reign examples of the Phauus. some of which and Los Angeles, go back to the archaic period (eg West 1993), 67-75, (Berkeley Berlin 2180 = Keuls fig. 50, a kalyx krater by Euphronios).
16 Ar. Nub. 17 Several
88
HERMS,
KOUROI
AND THE POLITICAL
ANATOMY
OF ATHENS
Figure 4. 'Croesus' from Finikia

Museum of Athens. Inv. 3851.
in Attica,
c. 530. 1.94m. ? National
Archaeological
in permanent erection, organ reproductive by the image of the male was to Athenian the classical The central the phallus'.18 phallus sex was a in the same way that penetrative of the citizen, conception To preserve their of democratic constituent central self-identity. citizen-equality, least non-voting) within which the was fifth-century Athenians needed whether non-citizen women and subordinates, compliant or defeated enemies and polis, and psychological. both economic (or at slaves
a need empire without, was subordination This
18Keuls a of phallocracy 'denotes that the concept goes on to explain (n. 17), 2. Keuls are problems with this approach; successful claim by a male elite to general power' (ibid.). There of Athenian the mass between the question of class, not distinguishing in particular it effaces to women men of the herms the mutilation Keuls attributes in this respect. Accordingly, (387-95).
HERMS,
KOUROI
AND THE POLITICAL
ANATOMY
OF ATHENS
89
RSBHHHI
Figure
Museum
5. 'Aristodicus', Attic
of Athens. Inv. 3938.
kouros of c. 500.
1.95 m. ? National
Archaeological
often
the model of penetrative and performed through symbolized nonor quasi the the citizen male sex, with penetrating/dominating of the act of pene kinds. The polarity and inequality citizen of various tration reinforced It is worth aspect the conception noting homoerotic is less exclusively that emphasizes the the exclusive of the democratic of sex than in this community.19 'democratic signi elitist model of the more relationship between
fication' sexuality
which
erastes/eromenos
19 was central to Athenian the case that penetration conceptions (n. 14), 30, makes Halperin act of of sex, following claim that sex was of in terms of the model Foucault's 'always conceived a superior and between and thus seen as 'being of the same type as the relationship penetration' a subordinate, an individual who dominates and one who (M. Foucault, complies' History of see vol. 2: The Use of Pleasure [New York, 1990], 215). 'Always' here is too strong: Sexuality, and the Truth of Sex', Penetration and Greek Homosexuality: 'Dover, Foucault in Classical and Homosexuality 3-51 and D. Cohen, 'Law, Social Control (2001), Athens in Classical and Society. The Enforcement in his Law, Athens', Sexuality of Morals 1991), esp. 171-3. (Cambridge, J. Davidson, 170 P&P
90 men
HERMS, with
KOUROI its
AND THE of
POLITICAL leisure,
ANATOMY
OF ATHENS and gift
implications
wealth,
education
giving.20 Herms visual not
are an obvious culture.21 The
manifestation
in a violent
and maturity democratic citizen signifier: depicted of potential
phallus but with sense,22 implications the successful and, crucially,
herm's
of this phallocentric social and the citizen's power, represented of potency, reproduction to compare another citizen authority of the and phallic often
It is interesting body. the bakterion or staff carried by the mature on vases. This staff is not (unlike the Roman force, but a symbol
underlying phallic symbolism, citizen doesn't carry the staff sense re-presenting resonance,23 himself there
of identity that gets in sexual rooted reproduction. as a weapon, but as an erection,
a symbol fasces) an its power from The in a
as a herm.
Although
only
20
the political
significance of herms
reasons
is by no means
the herms
their
with
are further
to associate
It is not a coincidence that on symposium and sex scenes between males pottery, courting after 500 and disappearing largely a sixth-century phenomenon, declining by 475: Stewart (n. 5), 157. 21 was a direct on the herms' Should we then imagine that the mutilation counter-attack seems to specify, rather than, as Thucydides their 'faces'? (The only other time he uses phalluses the word prosopa it is in the context see Furley of a facial expression.) For the debate (1.134), I will add here I owe to Andrew which Stewart: (n. 1), 28 and 144-5; just one observation, the vases seem to show herms with that they were although erections, 'freestanding' suggesting itmay be that all or most archaic and classical herms had phalluses carved in relief attachments, are like the Siphnos to chop or knock off entirely herm be very difficult 1), which would (Figure was originally cut along the bedding. unless the marble (To carve a 'freestanding' phallus from the same block of stone would of course be very wasteful, and this kind of virtuosity is custom for large scale civic statements, such as the Nike of Paionios Greek arily reserved (A. Stewart, are no extant Attic of Sculpture: An Exploration [New Haven, 91)). There 1990], examples to the archaic or classical attachments datable there are undated phallic periods, though = E. herm-shafts in the Agora with holes for a phallus attachment The Athe (S 1443 Harrison, vol. 11: Archaic nian Agora, and Archaistic 199 and S 1567 = (Princeton, 1965), no. Sculpture no. 198), as well as one marble Harrison phallus with traces of a tenon for attachment, probably no. 204). On the other hand, from the second century BCE (S 2121 = Harrison there is evidence a herm with a broken nose who was discovered for repairs to the faces of herms in antiquity: in corner of the Agora the northwest is illustrated in J. M. Camp, The Athenian (London, Agora that it 'may well be one of the herms mutilated the suggestion 1986), 75, fig. 49 (S 2452), with in 415/14'. S 211 (c. 480/70) also has an ancient 142 (no. 156). repair of the nose: see Harrison, to my argument In any case, the precise site of mutilation is not of direct relevance here: whether or not were were their genitals the herms attacked of their democratic because targeted, which was expressed in part through their erections. symbolism, 22 are 'expressive Contra Keuls of desire and aggres (n. 17), e.g. 97, where men's genitals as we can see vividly sion' after all, a legless statue is not much of a threat to anyone, in the vase painting of a satyr's attack on an unfortunate prone herm (Lausanne 3250). 23 see Furley For various of the religious of the herm, aspects significance (n. 1), 19-20, 21-8. Among other explanations of the function of herms, the most isWalter perhaps striking Burkert's 'there are species of monkeys, of whom the males ethological parallel: living in groups, act as guards: outside and presenting their erect genital they sit up at the outposts, facing . . . every individual from the outside will notice that this group does not organ approaching consist of helpless wives and but the full protection of masculinity.' children, enjoys Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual I owe (W. Burkert, [Berkeley, 1979], 39-41). to Scott Scullion. this reference
HERMS, the tions cultural within and of
KOUROI
AND THE POLITICAL
ANATOMY
OF ATHENS
91
of the classical ideology the city, for instance, that shrines, 'the notional
already houses expressed person boundaries
told us
Their loca democracy. physical are suggestive.24 has Thucydides at the entrances to private there were many herms herm and Winkler that the doorway suggested
in the of each household, equality represented as markers herms its patriarch'.25 These also functioned of and transitions between the spaces, mediating separate divide entrance citizen civic and in the doorway to a shrine.26 the to a house These and mediations the secular/sacred between the the oikos, to the practice these among and and and
public/private one at the individual between
performance to form spheres equal citizens. were Herms
and religious of the democratic networks also
the polis city, between - were central spaces tying together
polis, of imagined
overlapping theoretically
community
common one
According to the Acropolis,27 has also
to Pausanias
famous
produced the Persian sack.28 The
guarding material
in the major of the city. civic spaces herm stood right at the entrance the Athena and the Acropolis sanctuary,
classical
which reflect may Agora, after the sack: there was an area fourth-century century herms
24 For
of herms, from before especially more in the is found type commonly a change in the focus of civic institutions in the northwest corner and some with identified remains by of fifth As
remains
writers have been
as
cthe Herms', (or by) found in the vicinity,
repairs.29
see Furley
a full discussion
of the whereabouts
of known
herms
in Athens,
(n.
1),
or even should not assume, of course, that every private doorway, (n. 9), 36. We economic considerations would this. them, had a herm: surely have precluded M. in O. Murray 'Private Space and the Greek and S. R. F. Price Jameson, City', (eds.), The to Alexander a herm Greek City from Homer that placing in the 194, suggests 1990), (Oxford, custom. rather than a ubiquitous It may well be that they were doorway was an 'ideal pattern' For more favoured and notables. by civic magistrates see C. A. Faraone, Talismans and Trojan Horses. gods, and Ritual 8-9: Heketaia and altars (Oxford, 1992), outside Athenian and the religious placed doorways, crucial 26 factor on herms Guardian of Apollo significance and other Statues domestic threshold in Ancient Greek Myth were also frequently
13-16. 25 Winkler a majority of
must be a in the popularity of this genre. as 'necessarily a bird of passage, a communi See Osborne (n. 4) on Hermes in-between, out to me crosses boundaries cator' Stewart that Hermes is the god who (53). Andrew points toHermes without them (see, for instance, Homeric Hymn hence his functions 145-7), destroying as messenger which does the same. and, later, god of money, 27 Paus. 1.22.8. 28 in the Perserschutt, and dating from c. 510 (M. S. Brouskari, 642, found E.g. Acropolis at pi. 196), and (more certainly) Acropolis The Acropolis Museum 101, illustrated [Athens, 1974], An early fifth-century herm base with part of a dedication found on the 170, a shaft fragment. South is discussed and illustrated in A. E. Raubitschek, Dedications the Athenian Slope from MA, 1949), 325 (no. 302). Akropolis (Cambridge, 29 for this identification Sources include Lysias 23.2-3 and Xen. Hipparchus 3.2. For further see L. Shear Jnr, 'The Athenian references and a discussion of the archaeological evidence,
Agyieus of the boundary
92 we
HERMS, have
KOUROI
AND THE POLITICAL
ANATOMY
OF ATHENS
Herms here
set up in a mysterious Stoa of the seen, the Eion herms were same in the Agora, the It is worth perhaps place.30 noting another the mutilation of the herms: tradition about while informants)
on (in exile at the time and thus dependent Thucydides were most in claims that of the herms the simply city says Cratippus were targeted.31 is not, values vases and that it was If this
mutilated, the Agora the ones around that specifically nature is true, it reinforces the anti-democratic
of the act by placing it in the heart of the democratic

the tradition shows how closely the herms were both they of of the Agora. are often herms Finally,
institutions; if it
linked with in texts connect athletics and the and the on civic the
(e.g. Figure the physical: in the fifth gymnasium A different kind
in gymnasia, the way 2). This highlights the democratic associations found century of democratic are well known.32 connection a herm
is suggested base recently
ptor Alcamenes5
interest
in herms:
by the scul at discovered
Belevi
Roman tions
(not far from Ephesus)
is signed by Alcamenes,
and two
and Ephesus herms found at Pergamum claim in their inscrip to be copies of original This Alcamenes him.33 (fl. by sculptures c. 448-403) was a pupil of Phidias, which not only puts him at the right a democratic for sculpture with time but also in the right company an intimate was flavour: of Pericles, for Phidias responsible certainly the chryselephantine of Pericles5 director Athena entire relief Parthenos, building dedicated by Thrasyboulus to Plutarch according own Alcamenes' programme.34 and and the democrats the last
work
was
a large
Agora: (Mainz
Excavations am Rhein,
of 1986),
1970', Hesperia 8-12.
(1971),
255-9,
as well
as H. Wrede,
Die Antike
Herme
30 For 108-11, 31
834d. For herms Ar. Plut. IG 5.1.658. in athletics 1161; Paus. 5.14.9; (En)agonios: scenes on vases, and on connections some kinds of athletics, between and democracy, nudity, see Miller see D. Steiner, On other kinds of athletics, and aristocracy, desire, (n. 2), 283-4. 17.1 Monuments and the Athlete's ClAnt Allure', 'Moving Images: Fifth-century Victory 32 Hermes aus Ephesos base: C. I?ten and H. Engelmann, 'Inschriften und Metropolis', ZPE Arch. Bas 1433; Ephesus 90; Pergamum copy: Istanbul Mus. copy: Izmir Mus. (1995), see A. Stewart, at Ephesos and discussion 'Alkamenes mahane 675. For full bibliography and in ZPE 143 (2003), 145 ZPE 'Alkamenes' Two Herms Athens', 101-3, with A. Stewart, Again', two copies are of different 107-8. The that the Pergamum types, and Stewart proposes (2003), before the gate') the describes itself as a Hermes copy, which ('Hermes Propylaios copies from while the Ephesian version the orig famous Hermes the Acropolis, reproduces Propylaios inal which stood on the Belevi base. 34 Plut. Per. 13. Belevi 108 (1998), 33 123-49.
the topographical problems and Camp (n. 21), 77 n. 18. FGrH 64 F 3 ap. Plut. V?. X Orat.
associated
with
this
building,
see Harrison
(n.
21),
HERMS, at Thebes,
KOUROI celebrating
AND THE POLITICAL the expulsion of
ANATOMY the pro-Spartan
OF ATHENS oligarchy
93 at
Athens
So duction the
in 403.35
the evidence of herms and pro location of the fifth-century appearance, democratic the by suggested supports significance sources: could be their mutilation it is easy to see how
literary
as a direct attack on the city's dominant authority political interpreted come to be so closely connected But how did the herm and ideology. we this question To address democratic with ideology? fifth-century and to his origins in the pre-democratic culture to look back have politics of the sixth the ship with confrontation. century, not kouros, and just then in look more terms of closely contrast at his but relation of open
Proto-democratic
herms in the visual appeared herms of early Attic archaic herm is a late
to tell when the stone herm first It is impossible remains since the fragmentary of Attica culture are very hard to date;36 the only well-preserved
sixth-century example from Siphnos

was
(Figure 1). It seems likely that it

as the example recorded by 'said to have been a dedica
such versions, by wooden prefigured Athena of in the Pausanias Polias, Temple tion by Cecrops5.37 The first herms the younger a period when the new has
Hipparchus,
century selves with
were source set up by in a literary recorded son of the tyrant Pisistratus, in the late sixth to concern vase painters too began them pseudo-Platonic dialogue
Hipparchus
genre (Figure 2).38 The tell the tale: Socrates
And when his people

wisdom, he proceeded
in the city had been educated and were admiring him for his
next, with the design of educating those in the countryside, to
to reconstruct 'Dedica the relief, see E. G. Pemberton, and for an attempt 9.11.6, 76 (1981), For Pheidias ABSA 317-20. and Thrasyboulos', (fl. 448-445) by Alkibiades see Stewart and 267-9. and Alcamenes (n. 21), esp. 257-63 (c. 440-400), 36 which may be and Rhamnus herms from Sounion include the badly damaged Examples which may be dated to the and another from Rhamnus from the first half of the sixth century, second half of the sixth century. On these see R. Parker, Athenian (Oxford, Religion. A History 1996), 82 n. 61. 37 for a wooden the evidence 43. Wrede cf. Apul. Apol. Paus. (n. 30), 3, collects 1.27.1; at Parker and B. M. Lavelle, is discussed and the theory 'Hipparchos' (n. 37), 82-3, origin, 415-16. Echoes duMonde Herms', Classique NS 4 (1985), 38 in 514. For examples of sixth date from before his death The Hipparchan herms must tions century vases and 186. with herms, see LIMC vol 5.1, 301-6: 'Hermes', 118, 124, 139, 140, 143, 144
35 Paus.
94
HERMS,
KOUROI
for them his
AND THE POLITICAL

along own the wise roads lore, in between both learnt he own
ANATOMY
the city and others these
OF ATHENS
every and into deme; and then, for and so
set up Herms after himself, inscribed selecting the them
from things on
from threw and
discovered form
that he
considered as verses
the wisest, of his
the figures
testimonies
elegiac of his wisdom,
that in the first place his people

Know rather through thyself regard passing and Nothing as wise the up and overmuch, utterances down and
should not admire those wise Delphic

and the other sayings and and of that the in sort, the of Hipparchus; reading his words
legends of
but should place, for his
second a taste
acquiring
wisdom,
tion. 39
they might
resort hither from the fields for the completion
of their educa
on the that each herm has an inscription goes on to explain in between the city and the deme, left in which he says that he stands on the right side there is a moral maxim. while The examples given are of Hipparchus: cThe memorial proceed, thinking just things5 to Sucoua orely?. (?jivfjiJLa rod' <?>povcov) and (on the road 'l7Tir?pxov a friend5 'The memorial of Hipparchus: do not deceive Steiria) (jutj Socrates
<f>i\ov?^aTrard).40One herm has survived in photographic

Hipparchus5 in the eighteenth remained moral crusade: the so-called Fourmont but since century read by Fourmont, lost again. identifying Half
form from
unearthed
to be
herm, of its inscription itself as the Hermes
between Kephale
disappeared.41 These roadmarkers most What such of whom functions as 'Proceed, between
and the city; its ethical advice had sadly already

would have been to Athenians, visible strikingly until the Peloponnesian War.42 for the Pisistratids? Inscriptions
lived did
in the countryside
journey the fifth significant reinforce formed Parker Gods an Attica
they perform to the viewer's just things5 draw attention thinking as with the city and the deme; the urban herms of are mediating would fit and between in with and which
rural roadmarkers these century, kind of mediation civic spaces. This of town/country connections the web one of the bases of Pisistratid to the role of these
antitheses
pointed and that has Athens, founded the younger Pisistratus, by
has
and activity. ideology political in herms the unity of 'stressing in particular the altar of the Twelve at its centre5.43 They could
39 tr. W. R. M. Lamb, Loeb Plato XII, Classical 228de, [PL] Hipparch. adapted Library for a detailed discussion of and Cambridge, MA, (London 1927). See Osborne (n. 4), 48-51, invented herms this passage in context. Osborne since they are argued that Hipparchus probably so well-suited as roadmarker to fulfil this function (51). 40 the herm 'undermines 229ab. See Osborne (n. 4), 57 on the way in which [PL] Hipparch. as it delivers moral advice. moral absolutes' 41 IG vom Attischen and S. Dow, 'Inschriften I3 1023 = CEG 304. See Kirchner Lande', 62 (1937), and subsequent fate. AthMitt 1-3, and Lavelle (n. 37), 412 n. 2 for its discovery 42 Thuc. 2.14-16. 43 Parker (n. 36), 81.
HERMS, also the have
KOUROI drawn
AND THE POLITICAL to Pisistratid
ANATOMY road
OF ATHENS
95
attention
deme of travelling ties of rural Attica were indirectly institution other.45 made Such links between reforms of town the the democratic
or to improvements,44 which the communi judges through to the centre and to each connected seem to prefigure country might sixth and fifth centuries which
and later
the basic political unit on which citi the deme, rural and urban, in the and the institutions based and city depended, brought zenship into the city to vote in the assembly and the deme-dwellers regularly some on serve on to in the boule.46 Osborne, the cases, juries and, in other hand, connects the Hipparchan herms with easier a Pisistratid segre
gation of the political

residents their to advance of Attica his domination
life of the city from the daily life of the rural
gests; certainly attitude different the Eion herms
the acceptance of also have wanted may as pseudo-Plato own political in Athens, sug position use own name on a the of his the herm-pillars suggests to the deeds half
in this period which 'made of the former'.47 Hipparchus
in of leading citizens from that apparent a century later.48 But although connotations of they may not have all the democratic the physical their classical form and symbolism of these descendants, herms aspects. with the and their wooden become the These predecessors clear when do the have herms proto are
stone early democratic contrasted archaic
Greek
kouroi, in the elites,
and votive monuments of funerary context of contrasting and competitive
elite discourses of social and political ideology.
Anti-political Kouroi contexts first on the islands, appear on Naxos, Thera and Delos, numbers and
113.
kouroi in mida little to late seventh-century later on Samos, and then The first Attic kouroi,
in greatest from
44 45 46 47
in Attica Sacred
and Boeotia.49 and
including giants from Sounion

the Dipylon
(Figure 3) as well
the kouros
as the examples
now resident in
Gates,
Ath.
See Harrison (n. 21), Pol. 16.5.
Hdt.
of town/country encouragement separation. 48 and his family might also have Hermes' connections with Hipparchus appreciated commerce and prosperity: Ar. Plut. 1155 for Hermes Empolaios. 49 On kouroi see G. M. A. Richter, Kouroi. Archaic Greek Youths in general, and (London New York, has a catalogue; Stewart The 122-3; B. S. Ridgway, 19703), which (n. 21), 108-13, Archaic Style in Greek Sculpture Stewart (Chicago, (n. 5) 63-70. 19932), 61-89;
5.66-9; Ath. Pol. 21-2; Arist. Pol. 1319 b 21f. Osborne for Pisistratid 16.3-5 (n. 4), 57 with Ath. Pol.
96 New
HERMS,
KOUROI
AND THE
POLITICAL
ANATOMY
OF ATHENS
are always from In Attica, date around 600.50 kouroi York, the belts found on some island examples,51 and almost naked, without an area in where markers and burial dedica grave always funerary, as tions often indicate wealth.52 can be the herm in the doorway Just seen citizen, son as the generic male aristocratic youth. in which The ways the kouroi demonstrate have attracted much to represent democratic the head of the household the kouros on in the guise of the generic usually, a the tomb represents, elite
male
dead
connections
and
and are worth comment, pretensions surveying celebrate here.53 These and and looks, refinement figures youth good and individuality, this last not least in the great autonomy nobility, of their hairstyles and facial types.54 The beauty and in partic variety ular 3 m the size of early Attic kouroi colossi' (the two 'Sounion them with archaic ideas of heroes,55 and tall) aligns ideal of a warrior in the who on epitaph a kouros and usually associated with at the monument (Figure 4): 'Stop and mourn whom destroyed fighting to compare It is instructive Ares fights a statue at the front base of the field found were over the heroic is explic near in the
military itly invoked Anyvassos, same place dead ivi
at Finikia, of c. 530 found
Croesus,
in the front this hexameter
(a?/xa) of rank {ttot* couplet
TTpopiaxois)-56
with the heroic

50
ideal described by Sarpedon
to Glaucus
in the Iliad:
'Sounion colossi': Athens 2720 = Richter 2 and 3645 = Richter NM 3 (and other frag at discussed NM head': Athens 3372 = Richter 6 ments), (n. 49), 69-71; Ridgway 'Dipylon = Richter the New York kouros: NY 32.11.1 The (with hand: NM 3965); 1, all c. 600-580. a fine example was found during kouros from the Sacred Gate, of around 600-590, excavations see W.-D. vom in April 2002. For the first publication, in the Cerameicus Der Kuros Niemeier, Tor. ?berraschende am archaischer im Kerameikos in Athen Heiligen Neufunde (Mainz Skulptur Rhein, 2002). 51 and Delos A 333 = Richter 17 (c. 580). E.g. Delos A 334 (c. 625-600) 52 are exceptions A few examples as are found on the Acropolis in this respect, (see below) at Sounion. the group found in the sanctuaries of Poseidon and Athena Stewart that the suggests as 'idiosyncratic or as an Sounion kouroi may be explained gestures by an immigrant community common imitation of practices in the Cyclades' kouroi are more than funerary (n. 5, 66). Votive ones on the islands, and the only type found in Boeotia (Stewart (n. 21), 109). 53 for example, that the purpose of the kouroi is to reinforce elite group Stewart, suggested of the sixth-century the instability Attic (n. 21, 110), and later discussed solidarity aristocracy, and how the kouroi might fit into this picture, 'a seductive illusion of a stable, elitist creating social order' (n. 5, 70). 54 Stewart 110. On the aristocratic of the archaic connotations smile itself, see the (n. 21), article by N. Yalouris, 'Das archaische L?cheln AK 29 (1986), 3-5. und die Gelontes', neglected 55 Stewart as over-lifesize, 109 on heroes //. 5.302-10 and Hdt (n. 21), 1.68, citing Horn. 2.91. Ridgway I should note that of the kouros (n. 49) surveys heroizing (62-3). interpretations other early Attic kouroi were less imposing: the New York kouros measured 1.96 m, the kouros n. 4 2.10 m: see Ridgway's of the Sacred Gate review of Niemeier 2003.04.05, (n. 50), BMCRev for clarification of these measurements. 56 CEG over whether 27. For the uncertainty rather than one of the other two found at Finikia, 141. hmc?,AION? (1982), this base belongs see A. d'Onofrio, with 'Korai this precise e kouroi kouros funerari
HERMS, the two
KOUROI
AND THE POLITICAL before others
ANATOMY he
OF ATHENS
97
are honoured and
in Lycia,
immortal,
in return
Lycians {Avklool puera the dead man commemorated Lydian tarian king. We
they must fight roLOiv e?vras).57 TTp this
says, as if they were in the front rank of the It is also shares that interesting a name with a
by are far away from the citizen-hoplite ideal of egali seem to values. Sometimes kouroi further than the go city-state no heroic: is clear there for the nine although justification of label for the type, often teenth-century 'Apollos' they were associated with in sanctuaries other materials The physical the kouroi also ture and kouroi outside Attica that god. Votive of Apollo and there are representations as a kouros.58 of Apollo are often in marble size found and
kouros
clenched fists and monumental appearance, eastern Mediterranean associations with suggest Egypt. They the adopting shedding
of
and in particular with culture, of an Egyptian modification type, sculpture ears and big eyes, posture, hairstyle, stylized loin-cloth that the Egyptian youths wear.59 The kouroi, and tian-style that 'orientalizing' culture which
sculp are a latter's the
though size and
of marble, the expense also necessitated canons to design Kurke them.60 Leslie in art and whose and literature participants borrowed
of complexity the use of Egyp has demonstrated
in Greece, international elite could from culture
reinforce Lydia, might
eagerly this
is typical of archaic aristocratic saw themselves as part of an from the Near East anything Kurke concentrated that references role.62 on to suggest ifmore understated
borrowings Egyptian
57 Horn.
but perform
pretension.61 the kouroi a similar
77. 12.315. Ian Morris the archaic distinction discusses between and heroic hoplite as Cultural History in particular, and this passage in Archaeology 176-8. (Oxford, 2000), are even closer Homeric on Croesus' for the precise e.g. 77. phrasing epitaph, parallels was an Alcmaeonid, It has been suggested that Croesus the family who acted 3.31, Od. 18.379. as agents of the Lydian C. W. Th. Eliot, 'Where did the Alkmaionidai live?', kings at Delphi: 16 (1967), 279-86. Historia 58 in Apollo Kouroi Greek Sculpture: The Archaic Period sanctuaries: J. Boardman, (London, as kouros: bronze Apollo from the Piraeus 159 bis). For the debate 1978), 22. Apollo (Richter a over see in brief Richter basic with Apollo identification 1-2. Ridgway (n. 49), subsequently restated the case for a general between and at least early kouroi identification Apollo (n. 49, values, There 66-75), M. Del not an Apollo? but see Stewart, 'When is a Kouros The Tenea in "Apollo" Revisited', for decisive Chiaro 54-70 the arguments (ed.), Corinthiaca (1986), against, including to depict point that 'the very fact that it has to be furnished with attributes specific personalities or Apollo, like offering-bearers, indicates that no particular to athletes, identity can be attached the basic type' (60). 59 Boardman and Assyrian in elements (n. 58), 20. Richter (n. 49), 2-3 discusses Egyptian as does Stewart the form of the kouros, (n. 21), 12. 60 seems The York kouros to the strict 21-unit in fact to be made early New according grid (Stewart (n. 21), 34, 109; Boardman Egyptian (n. 58), 20-1 and 23). 61 L. of a?poovvrj 'The Politics in Archaic 11 (1992) ClAnt Kurke, Greece', 91-120, esp. 94-8. 62 Morris that Homer's Helen has treasures from Egyptian and (n. 57, 179) notes Thebes, to be skilled in Egyptian that she is supposed drugs.
98
HERMS, Attributes
KOUROI
AND THE
POLITICAL with
ANATOMY luxury and early kouroi
OF ATHENS the east, at least in hold objects
too associate stages of the
the kouroi genre.
in the
early
Some
their fists which have been

nobility)
seen as handkerchief
rolls (a symbol of
or as Egyptian on either the youths batons;63 interpretation, a access wear to or neck their of Others chokers display sign luxury. Later Attic kouroi lose but these sometimes ties.64 ornaments, acquire a cap, which the one worn under their may represent by warriors towards Looking cratic community, ideals, they reject stood outside the to a travelling cosmopolitan the kouroi do not merely reject egalitarian the polis itself. Many of them seem to have the east and plain they itself or near are also the aristo social literally
helmets.65
city, set up in the Attic this pattern is not absolute, since though near the Cerameicus in Athens cemetery kouros, and the kouros from the Sacred
coast,66 in or found
and relatively late examples from outlying there is no good evidence in the Agora, for kouroi institutions and later to many of the herms.67 the 1990s by Leslie as a conflict Looking of the Kurke, between Ian Morris and others
(such as the Dipylon and there may be Gate), the Acropolis. Nonetheless, home to the civic
All of this suggests that the kouroi fit into the model
history values.68 imagery
63
developed
cultural
in
of archaic
on a spectrum two positions of cultural archaic and at the archaeology and poetry, Morris described the emergence of a symposium, at
Boardman include Sounion NM the New York kouros, the 2720, (n. 58), 20. Examples S 530 from the Agora hand, fragment (= Richter 7), and the Kaluga Dipylon (= fragment Richter 8). 64 The New York 4181 kouros, Dipylon head, and slightly later NM (= Richter 32). 65 617 (= Richter 663 (= Richter 65) (if this is a kouros or a cap); Acropolis Acropolis 139) 748 (= Richter 1357 (= Richter (if this is a kouros); Louvre NMC 66); MNC (on 142); Croesus see Ridgway 171 (= Richter whom 141). [n. 49], 68); Amiens 66 at Finikia the three kouroi found in Alcmaeonid southeastern See, for instance, Attica, Croesus stood at the (n. 5), 66-8); Aristodicus including (Figure 4) (Stewart (Figure 5), who to Anyvassos is another and Phrasicleia and her top of the gentle pass from Finikia example, were unearthed not far from Brauron, brother in 1972 at Merenta, the (Athens NM 4889-90) base of the Pisistratid family. 67 = Richter = Richter = Richter Museum 665/596 137; 692 160; 653 Acropolis: Acropolis notes however 140 (?); 663 = Richter 139. Ridgeway that though 'male and naked, the [se] to the standard statues do not conform kouros of their poses or attributes; more type because scale of contemporary over, none of them attain the over life-size (n. 49, funerary monuments' in the Agora may well belong to the Dipylon found and are kouros, early fragments the neighbouring rather than the Agora itself: E. Harrison, cemetery likely to come from of an Early Attic Kouros 24 (1955), from the Athenian 290-304. 'Fragments Agora', Hesperia see Camp in general, For the archaic Agora (n. 21), 37-57. 68 155-91. Morris Other relevant studies include Kurke 'The (n. 57), (n. 61), I. Morris, of Equality and the Archaic of Greek Democracy', in J. Ober and Strong Principle Origins on Democracies, A Conversation C. Hedrick Ancient and Modern (eds.), Demokratia: (Princeton, and L. Kurke, Coins, Bodies, Games and Gold (Princeton, 19-48, 1996), 1999), esp. 19-23. 66). very Some
HERMS,
KOUROI
AND THE POLITICAL
ANATOMY
OF ATHENS
99
in seventh-century aristocrats Greece which culture5 among 'middling can be traced and which 'drew a elegy and iambic, through Hesiod, a community of equal male and denied the line around citizens, was stance of other communities5. This then egalitarian importance with associated lyric poetry, by an 'elitist ideology5 luxury, an international 'identified and the east, which beauty aristocracy, men, women, easterners, Greeks, (to varying degrees) including gods, the polis-ideal, cultural and heroes5 and rejected interventions making contested Morris' in the interstices In of the city-state world'. space, to in order this elitist reinforce reading, ideology operated to political than elite group rather lay claim solidarity authority.69 in of archaic cultural this picture contestation has much Structurally, 'outside the civic common we shall The with Winkler's model of 'democratic' other. oppositional hermeneutic model and Morris is a useful by Kurke one which for interpreting archaic does culture, terms in specific itself out in stark binary times or developed signification see, the two pairs in classical of the opposition Athenian systems do not between discourse, quite map 'elitist' and as though onto each
general not necessarily
play in the kouroi that the cultural Indeed, suggest landscape places.70 was not entirely seem to archaic Athens these figures oppositional: a taste for luxury with a sense of restraint unite and self-control, something the archaic sive and of restraint that was period.71 undersized also important This restraint of the in egalitarian is especially cultural clear discourse in ideals signi and in the unobtru
penis and of small penises at Athens fication' developed by Winkler adds to the evidence that the model goes This a local variant suggests as beauty as well self-control is something an alternative but aligns of and
which fits into the kouros, in the model of classical 'elitist and back elitist discussed to the archaic ideology GO(f>poovvr] above,
archaic
period.72 that valued as well as
autonomy,
a?poGvvr]. So the kouros ogies, offering the same values

69Morris 70
of a compromise in archaic ideol figure some to egalitarianism of which engages a basic ideal of aristocratic, them with
(n. 57), 155-6. to archaic of the criticisms of the Kurke-Morris cultural history in D. Many approach the Symposium, and Archaic 125 (2004), 479-512 do not Hammer, Polities', 'Ideology, AJPh seem to appreciate as (and because the extent to which it works it is) a generalizing 'model, or to analyse fully any particular ideal type' (Morris (n. 57), 112) not a device with which instance, of this point does cite Morris' though Hammer (486). explanation 71 For in the archaic period, Morris in egalitarian restraint as a feature cultural discourse (n. 115 for the classical picture. 57), 169-71, with 72 See n. 17 above.
100 HERMS, extra-political flexibility course of softens less
KOUROI power. and the
AND THE And
POLITICAL
ANATOMY to observe the kouroi
OF ATHENS this mutate ideological over the and to a ears The
negotiation sixth century. quickly
it is possible as at work Their
rather
extravagant more become and they lose most naturalistic, on later kouroi cap that sometimes appears involvement: sign of military but also nod Croesus, might But these small cultural I want shifts oppositional, this paper, inheriting
heroic symbolism changes as the early giants give way at least in Attica over-lifesize Their and norm.73 eyes slightly of their attributes.
it can supplement to citizen-hoplite
is a usefully ambiguous the 'heroic' epitaph of ideals. to the dramatic, and In the final pages of the kouroi, both
are nothing compared intervention of the herms. that their the herms civic role.
to show
supplant
and challenging
Herms As noted above, Osborne gaze of the kouroi, to one about social the two not
and
kouroi that the herms I see take over the
suggested transforming and political
direct death ences that but
a message equality. As
about
in equality differ the it,
between the herms also make
to oppositions, types, often amounting suggest the elitist symbolism of the kouroi, only transform a radical challenge to it.74Winkler described the herms sign' in democratic as the equality of discourse, asserting to the 'class-conscious' opposed body 'which mark degrees of better and tragedies remainder of this article that the herms of the exclu as depict road
as a 'levelling all Athenian language worse'.75

too were
citizens, and of comedies I will argue for
the
class-conscious.
a convenient for an analysis starting-point provides contrasts are almost between the two types. While Attic kouroi never are: vases Attic herms sively funerary, sixth-century Function religious markers and domestic uses to supplement their civic role (as in Figure 2).76 are also associations Religious with of the
the herms association
the explicit relevant: identification of a on Hermes the early suggest god might play in his Homeric the kouroi with Apollo: hymn we hear
at Stewart See the size chart of archaic Greek kouroi provided (n. 21), fig. 43. 74 See Kurke for a discussion of the later civic reaction 'east (n. 61), 101-6, against various eastern ostentation ern' aspects of aristocratic in post-Persian War drama, literature and oratory. 75 Winkler (n. 9), 36. 76 Osborne (n. 4), 58.
73
HERMS, how
KOUROI
AND THE POLITICAL the gods,
ANATOMY steals
OF ATHENS from Apollo,
101
of the youngest Hermes, a feud.77 starting long-running
cows
Imagined constructed self-image associate a 'local Athenians
another offer while example: origins as an import from the east, and Egypt of the Attic herm is closer to home. Greek with Attica: we have seen
the
kouros
was
herms custom' were
in particular, the authors primarily calls them that Thucydides says before that to Athens that the others
and Pausanias {Kara ro ?rnKcoptov), to set up limbless the first herms claims brought
from them.78 Herodotus the custom adopted was erect phalluses of making herms with group Pelasgians immigrant contrast and suggestive indigenous the Greeks
Hermes
the custom by a an explicit Egypt: of the

but
of
from with
Samothrace, traditions
making taken from
learned [the names of the gods] from the Egyptians; but the making
with the phallus the Athenians, erect, that they did not learn from the Egyptians
statues
from the Pelasgians,

practice and, from
and itwas the Athenians

all the rest.79
first of all the Greeks who took over this
Like
the Athenians
autochthonous, the herms. seems, were The is also kouroi We was two figures'
themselves, 'never having
the Pelasgian yet moved
race was out of its
supposed land'.80
to be So, it
interestingly are depicted seen that have the message an immobile
relationship physical different though while mid-stride, one of Hipparchus' 'Proceed, thinking menhir addressing the
and mobility landscape The self-conscious. similarly to the herm is rooted the spot. herms was just things': the mobile on supposed this herm citizen to have at least his
to the
carried
about
mobility. discussed
the base from Finikia inscription at the monument of dead 'Stay and mourn In the one case the immobile herm the Croesus'. encourages mobility or controls in the other the mobile of the citizen, while kouros denies as discussed the extra-urban the herms' it.81 And above, unlike kouroi, contrast, By above begins
77 toHermes, Homeric Hymn 68ff. 78 Paus. 1.24.3; 4.33.3. 79 in Herodotus. The History Hdt. translated 2.51, by D. Grene (Chicago, 1987). Osborne out that it is the practice erect penises not the herms of making herms with themselves points that is said to be adopted from elsewhere (n. 4), 68 n. 6. 80 Hdt. see N. Loraux, 1.56.2. For the Athenian of autochthony, The Children concept of Athena 3-22 and 37-71. For discussion of Herodotus' of (Princeton, 1993), understanding see R. Thomas, Athenian ethnic identity in relation to the Pelasgians, and 'Ethnicity, Genealogy, in Herodotus', in I. Malkin Hellenism (ed.), Ancient Perceptions of Greek Ethnicity (Cambridge, MA, 222-5. 2001), 81 Osborne reads the herm's message (n. 4), 53-4, differently: to pass by, 'the herm each side of the herm forces the passer-by for him, enforces one stikhos on placing the act over which it
102 HERMS, roadmarker different tion
KOUROI role tied
AND THE POLITICAL them to the elite city from
ANATOMY the
OF ATHENS is a very whose posi
start. This
message
from roads
that of
alongside and passes. Again,
signalled
the extra-political dominance
kouroi, of Attic thoroughfares on a general of model
though, we can see a local variation on Morris' archaic contestatory ideologies: is more herms' the Attic values, signification
of the
spectrum 'democratic'
cultural than
are more or 'middling' kouroi norm, just as the Attic egalitarian 'egal for Late archaic cultural itarian' than, poems. example, Sappho's to the 'left' of the spectrum in Attica further is conducted conflict than not in some surprising wealth-based bias tems two continues all) other Greek (though not necessarily in a place where hereditary aristocracy of the sixth oligarchy by the beginning into the classical clear. appearance physical associations with and anatomy on the kouroi of the the part Herms tend period, as Winkler's poleis, had which ceded This sys is to
century.82 contrasting
make of signification the contrasting Finally, deliberate
in their symbolism. active interventions or the heroic associations of the over lifesize smaller, rejecting recalls while their archaizing the proud sized kouroi, appearance a form of the herm, with of the kouros.83 The quasi-aniconic archaism most to in of for the calls attention the anatomy, plain pillar standing are beardless kouroi of the body of the kouros. While beauty physical to be too noble for marriage, for agricultural labour, too young young men, too self-absorbed and the heads of the for communal warfare, politics men mature are those of mature, the stereotypical herms bearded citizen elitist tions of farmer/soldier. culture from the This Hesiod's is an ideal which echoes to the neighbour-farmers84 men attained full political Athenian democracy: only to polit for standing for selection rights at thirty, the age qualification of the kouroi is beardlessness ical office and the juries.85 The apolitical
into a reciprocal the passer-by but at the same time stops that act, by forcing gaze. If presides' is than the kouros, whose message rather than less controlling this is so, the herm was more a useful contrast would of course also present between consistent with his gaze; this distinction the two types. 7.3-4 Pol. 4.2-3, 83 see Osborne of the herm and archaism of the kouros, On the archaizing (n. 4), 84 Morris (n. 57), 163-8. 85 Xen. Mem. 1.2.35 for the boule) and Ath. Pol. 63.3 for (eligibility (eligibility is also found in later visual personifications, such as the document ideal of maturity herms crowned Demos 16524). Although being by Demokratia (Agora depicting different of them on vases can suggest markedly ages: see bearded, representations the volute krater by the Boreas Painter (Museo Civico Bologna Pell. 206). 82 Ath.
types suggest of the herm, and
anti through later institu
52. juries). This relief of 336 are always for instance
HERMS, thrown bearded into
KOUROI sharper
AND THE POLITICAL focus, made unpolitical,
ANATOMY by
OF ATHENS with
103 the
the contrast of the
herm. 'undersized intended originally and embarrassingly can herm's phallus
an issue the herm's makes Similarly, phallus was Stewart suggested penis' of the kouros, which to deflect 'from this unheroic, attention unsightly uncontrollable seen
rather than attract it.86 The organ' as a to be the moderation direct and sexual regulation challenge in the aristocratic valued the Attic by mentality, symbolized of small penises, and in particular the dainty of fetishization genitals The in the kouros.87 is made unlike which, stronger by the way point and those of the kouros, the genitals thus emphasized by being At not this stage, however, fully articulated. elite of the herm attached are taken out of context rather is to an aniconic pillar
than a lifelike naked body.

the democratic the symbolism yet sexual one. The Instead, challenge as sexually the kouroi presented in late adolescence. athletic young men Erotic, come the but before herms homoerotic, along had of the phallus is a fundamentally desirable, certainly, these lone
unbearded, figures ship.
specifically can be perceived of model active/passive They are herm not
as autonomous, not fitting into the pervasive or into an erastesleromenos partner sexuality, even eromenoi the until active, quite sexually this aspect erect herm, creators of and the the pair: seen completes kouros becomes icono
aggressive, alongside graphically
foregrounds The
a middle-aged,
the herms reinscribe the passive.88 an autonomous one of the half of into kouroi, making image meanings an unequal same at as sexualized the the herm's time relationship, a mockery of the kouros' restrained elite exaggerated phallus makes eroticism.89 The kouroi are, at this point, screwed.
86 Stewart (n. 5), 67. 87 An to elitist sexual restraint may earlier egalitarian reaction underlie the claims of the comic poet Philemon and Nicander, recorded that Solon purchased by Athenaeus, prostitutes access in Athens, and set up brothels for citizens providing (13.569e), though much equal 'democratic' back to Solon. apparently legislation was written 88 an 'absence of masculinity' Osborne has suggested that the kouroi display in themselves, but that recorded particular becoming Athens', in the context their masculinity of the military becomes sometimes apparent exploits on their inscriptions, on their bases, and in the scenes of hunting and athletics depicted in the context of the korai; for him, the kouros is the one that completes the pair, feminine kore: R. Osborne, of masculine by contrast with the clothed, 'Sculpted men in L. Foxhall is not (London, 1998), 25-6. This in an older iconographical partner
and J. Salmon (eds.), Thinking Men with my argument here; the herm can intervene ship, taking the kouros from the kore for himself. 89 Cf. Stewart 'The sculptor's (n. 5), 65-7 on the kouroi: . . . the male desire right age to be an eromenos or "beloved."' incompatible
aim is to create a perfect object of Stewart goes on to suggest that the turn us into erastai, but then keeps us at arms' length, kouroi of 'refusing to fulfil the functions an eromenos'. I would this space for autonomy argue that the herm does not allow the kouros and refusal.
104 HERMS,
KOUROI
AND THE POLITICAL
ANATOMY
OF ATHENS
all over proto-democratic experiments a in the late sixth century,90 and perhaps Greece herms make beyond in the visual and aggressive intervention culture dramatic of Attica. In the context of widespread a new display They invoke and reinforce suggests they they the need confidence (though for an external in the anti-elite, the use of a god ideals pro-polis for this purpose of civic authority), they still
depend draw
and guarantor contrast for a large part of their impact on the obvious between themselves and the aristocratic kouroi. The
expense conflict people, surely within matter nian
ensures of sculpture that this is an ideological of course not between between aristocratic elites and actors, political was and the political goal of the proto-democratic symbolism not but greater for particular groups democracy authority a was nature the of that authority the oligarchy. Nonetheless, of debate, and the Hipparchan herms remind us that the Athe
at responding to the political tyrants were particularly adept and at involving in the rituals of the citizens, the people and of the regime.91 Here Morris' 'mid activities of the archaic concept man' is useful. He the that poets again suggested dling 'middling' a to constitute those who 'did not surrender their claims represent desires ruling rather elitist class5 but than as tradition 'claimed 'a distinct created5. leadership aristocratic Within as special community the context members of of the polis5, of the kind which the elite symposia, trans from tastes,
middling
aristocrats
'asserted
status conferring high gressing, the privileged aesthetics5, making 'the values and aligning themselves with
power by deliberately on values and objects excluded a 'conscious refusal5 of elitist of ordinary citizens'.92
their
Conclusion The kouros and the herm a distinction between exemplify but I hope in the archaic period, elitist that and
egalitarian
90Morris
signification
I have
N.
and see I. Morris and Archaic 186-7, (n. 57), 'Archaeology and New and H. Van Wees (eds.), Archaic Greece. New Approaches evidence. 1998), 31-6 for the material 91 and Processions See for instance, W. R. Connor. 'Tribes, Festivals on how 'the successful is 107 (1987), 40-50 [i.e. Pisistratus] JHS politician Fisher
in Greek History', Evidence (London,
of its values, and shares many emerging community recognizes new patterns to express utilize familiar and confirm patterns 182-3 on how the Pisistratids the courts, The Emergence Forrest, encouraged of Greek Democracy, on the wealthy, are tax policies of the tyrants, which weighed and boule. The assembly heavily a of their proto-democratic the Athenaion Politeia describes in any discussion leanings: interesting a 5 per cent tax on sons (6.54.5). 10 per cent tax on produce and Thucydides (16.4), 92Morris (n. 57), 163.
in Archaic Greece', linked to his closely consensuses and knows how to of civic life' (50), and W. G.
HERMS, shown kinds from that of
KOUROI they also
AND THE POLITICAL embody Herms an
ANATOMY
OF ATHENS
105
directly challenge their meaning, define their elite, anti-polis emphasizing are no longer to which and the extent these tenable
stance.
kouroi, contrast and
signification. or present reference
a dynamic interaction between the two do not merely differentiate themselves alternative they set of values; the by making them and re associations as a political
so clear,
The died icon out
latest in its own
extant
around
500 terms,
Attic and
kouros the herms replaced
is Aristodicus had it.
genre (Figure 5). The this elite cultural challenged

Herms, Kouroi and The Political Anatomy of Athens

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Herms, Kouroi and The Political Anatomy of Athens

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Herms, Kouroi and the Political Anatomy of Athens Author(s): Josephine Crawley Quinn Source: Greece & Rome,

Greece & Rome,

KOUROI AND THE POLITICAL ANATOMY OF ATHENS*

preparations tells us, Thucydides Of all the stone herms

expedition up one morning

in the city of Athens

'adducing in general'.2 Andocides emphasizes taken by the city authorities:

the Long for agora. As

ordered generals, lived in the city Walls should go the knights,

announcement arms and go to

to the Theseion, a signal was to be

AND THE POLITICAL

for them to go to the Anakeion;

the boule was to go to the Acropolis

were the city officials Why of the herms be interpreted

this mutilation What was

the democracy? raised Osborne

In this article at the

to take another between the male them, body -

representations and reinforcing

importance is well-known,8 culture political meanings

OF ATHENS that call 'We might was anatomy

Athens even coded

say anatomy for Greeks with on Winkler's

Jack Winkler herms), suggested is politics: that is, the field we

sixty the Athenian of Cimon

over the Persians victory in 476/5. Aeschines tells the story:

in the after of 415, at Eion under the

conquered asked those the demos days that might

in battle and set up not

great enduring river Strymon. gave own generals them stone

toil They great

facing came to as the

for a reward, the they seem right did to not

the demos three their to the

herms names but

in order (this was . . . to the demos.)

AND THE POLITICAL

1.A herm from Siphnos, c. 520. 0.66 m. ? National

this was a great and Demosthenes

AND THE POLITICAL

d'art et d'histoire, Ville

Inv. I 529. Photograph

like element sameness sign'.14

Winkler Osborne, in a democratic to distinctions and He

of signification, system of class or achievement, [the city's] attention capable to their

of all equality drew particular

'deliberately being a symbol of the ... a levelling fighters phalluses as positive

AND THE POLITICAL

Figure 3. An early kouros from Sounion,

c. 600. 3.05 m. ? National

Aristophanes' cratic character as one

in passage and aristo

penis its dimensions.17 not

the only ideal in democratic as a 'phallocracy': 'a cultural

16 Ar. Nub. 17 Several

AND THE POLITICAL

Figure 4. 'Croesus' from Finikia

c. 530. 1.94m. ? National

a need empire without, was subordination This

AND THE POLITICAL

OF ATHENS and gift