The campaign in Boeotia that distracted the Athenians from Brasidas’ initiative in Chalcidice ended in their defeat at Delium. Bowie (1997) has revived the argument that the Thebans’ refusal to return the Argive dead in Euripides’ Suppliants (produced around 422) would have reminded his Athenian audience of this battle. Not all
Scholars agree (e. g., Mills 1997, 91-97). The return of the dead after battle was undoubtedly an important religious matter throughout antiquity. Aeschylus, in fact, seems to have treated the same subject in Eleusinians (Zuntz 1955, 4). Nonetheless, just as mention of civil war in Eumenides is likely to have reminded Aeschylus’ audience of the political situation after Ephialtes’ reforms, so in Euripides’ play the refusal of the Thebans to allow burial of their foes could have reminded the Athenians of a similar incident involving Boeotians in the recent past. Bowie concedes that there are differences between the mythical and historical situations, and tries to show how the poet filters contemporary events to complicate the audience’s response.
Equally important, as Bowie notes, is the cluster of features in the play that forcefully draw the mythical Athens of Suppliants toward its fifth-century counterpart. Although Theseus seems to have monarchical powers, he refers to his city as if it were democratic; he must consult the Athenian people before deciding to help recover the dead; he echoes the language of the assembly (438-39) and refers to magistracies (406-7). In her speech at 297-331 Aethra justifies intervening in the affairs of other states, as was Athens’ wont in the fifth century, and speaks of the law of all Hellas (311), referred to as well by speakers in Thucydides (e. g., 4.97.2). The eulogies at the end of the play would have recalled Athenian funeral orations. The most glaring anachronisms are the references to ‘‘written laws’’ (433) and a tripod with an inscription (1201-4; on writing cf. Easterling 1985a, 3-6).
Bowie’s article (52) also raises an important question about the limits assumed to have been imposed on tragedy after Phrynichus was fined for reminding the Athenians of ‘‘suffering close to home.’’ Was Euripides treading on dangerous ground? Events in Euripides’ tragedy turn out better than they did in real life, where the Athenians were twice defeated by the Boeotians. Nevertheless, by raising the audience’s emotional investment, could the powerful contemporary resonances of this and other Euripidean plays have counted against the playwright when it came to awarding first prize at the City Dionysia?
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