Sybilla Oritur

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It may not be Nero… but i learnt a lot about anti-heros yesterday when i attended a lecture my advisor was giving for the Spring Renaissance Program at U of T.

Yesterday i had picked up an extra three hour lunch shift at work. It went well, but i REALLY could have used the time to work on my dissertation which is advancing much too slowly for my tastes.

After work and in newly-soled boots (because i am good at multi-tasking i had them repaired while i was at the restaurant), a VERY short pleated skirt and black fishnets, i headed over to a lecture given by my advisor entitled “Massacre of the Innocents: The Meaning of a Tragedy.” It was really interesting how just two verses from one of the gospels has had such an effect on art history. The male children murdered on Herod’s orders in Bethlehem could not have totaled more than twenty, but the historical sources always claim that thousands were killed. They pose quite a theological problem, which both Augustine and Aquinas contributed to resolving so that they would end up in heaven (they can’t actually be martyrs because Christ has not died yet, but Augustine says that because they die FOR Christ they won’t be stuck in limbo while Aquinas says their shed blood can be equated with the eucharist).

The early and high medieval depictions focus on the martyrdom aspects of the tale. The mothers are usually mournful but unactive… in much the same way Christian families were depicted as being when one of their own was persecuted for the faith.

By the late Middle Ages, much more of a depiction of the sociopathic nature of Herod emerges and he, as anti-hero, gets directly linked to the social problems of the given society. For example, a Florentine play has the wet nurses bring the babies to the massacre and return with no compunction for what they have done. Wet nursing was a big philosophical issue in late medieval Florence.

As the early modern era begins, Herod recedes out of the depictions which now are mostly exercises in human anatomy and facial emotion. My advisor feels this has to do with the fact that the rising absolutist governments are using a rhetoric akin to Herod’s and, hence, cannot demonize him without demonizing themselves.

We then looked at some more modern and even a contemporary depiction. Apparently the anti-abortion movement has adopted the aethestic troupe - which is interesting considering that in the biblical story the mothers are more than a little upset by the massacre.

I have a back-pack full of books to read and another shift at work today. When will i get it all done? i need to stop learning interesting things and start learning dissertation-related things. Eep. However, i am very happy i went AND it was nice to be addressed directly by my advisor who was at pains to point out the links to my own project while lecturing - an odd sensation to say the least.