Customs and Cultural Theories

Monsters
Aeschylus: Relates monsters/the monstrous to foreigners. They can inhabit the same lands or can have shared behaviors. King Pelasgus addresses the chorus about the lands which he inhabits. He says that they were once inhabited by, “Man-destroying wild beasts,” and attributes their presence to a pollution of ancient blood-guilt (miasma) It is only through a cleansing which these monsters were forcibly removed from the land. ( Suppliants , 234-294= 5.1 RECW). Additionally, the eating habits of a group also determines their civility. Multiple authors describe the eating habits of foreigners such as the Indians, Amazons and the Cyclops which establish them as monstrous. It is mainly the practice of cannibalism that is associated with monsters. King Pelasgus mentions in passing that the Amazons consume flesh, but says no more after the initial statement ( Suppliants , 234-294= 5.1 RECW).

Herodotus:  King Cambyses asked Indians how much money they would accept to consider burning their dead, rather than consuming them. ( Histories , 5.22 = RECW 5.5). They were aghast at this concept.

Euripides: In Cyclops, <span style="font-size:19px;font-family:Garamond;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Odysseus is told by Silenus that the Cyclops prefer the taste of foreigners’ flesh ( <span style="font-size:19px;font-family:Garamond;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Cyclops <span style="font-size:19px;font-family:Garamond;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">, 113-128 = RECW 5.8). It is mainly a groups eating habits that make monstrous. The eating habits of foreigners are being compared to those of Greeks and it is this that makes them both others and monsters. Pliny also associates others with monstrous behaviors- namely the flesh-eating Scythians. He says that there are cthonic people- Arimaspi- who have an eye in the middle of their forehead and live within close proximity to the Scythians. He additionally mentions their tendency to wage war with monstrous creatures- Griffins. People who display abnormal, non-Greek, traits are often placed within close proximity of monsters in what seems to be an attempt to rationalize their different behaviors/characteristics.

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<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.5;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:19px;font-family:Garamond;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Benjamin Isaac agrees that ancient authors constantly compared people to animals or actually behaved as animals do (Isaac 196). It is the communities that lack a basic social structure/organization such as laws that give rise to animalistic behavior (Isaac 196). Not only do cthonic origins identify a people as animalistic, as stated by Aristotle, but, they allow for the enslavement of these people (Isaac 197). Similarly, Aristotle asserts that bestial characteristics are more frequently found among barbarians than those who follow rules/laws that are integral to a structured society. This bestial behavior again takes the form of cannibalism. Isaac determines that while the examples given by Aristotle- of women who tear pregnant women to pieces and eat the offspring- are fictitious the larger message is still communicated clearly- the Greeks see people who do cook their meat as uncivilized (Isaac 199). While there are Greeks who display a bestial behavior, this is attributed to illness, rather than a lack of societal structure. Bestial behavior then becomes a modern justification for acts of oppression against what are thought to be less developed regions/peoples. (Isaac 201). <span style="font-size:19px;font-family:Garamond;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">