Being Alone in Antiquity

Greco-Roman Ideas and Experiences of Misanthropy, Isolation and Solitude

Rafał Matuszewski, Rafał Matuszewski

• Éditeur: De Gruyter
• Année: 2021
• ISBN:
  9783110758115
• Édition: 1
• Sujet: History
• Sous-sujet: Greek Ancient History

This volume aims to provide an interdisciplinary examination of various facets of being alone in Greco-Roman antiquity. Its focus is on solitude, social isolation and misanthropy, and the differing perceptions and experiences of and varying meanings and connotations attributed to them in the ancient world. Individual chapters examine a range of ancient contexts in which problems of solitude, loneliness, isolation and seclusion arose and were discussed, and in doing so shed light on some of humankind's fundamental needs, fears and values.

Part I: Times and Places

“Are you lonesome tonight?” Nocturnal Solitude in Greek Culture

Angelos Chaniotis

1 Nocturnal Expectations: Companionship and Conviviality

“Are you lonesome tonight?” is one of Elvis’ best known songs.

Are you lonesome tonight? | Do you miss me tonight? | Are you sorry we drifted apart? | Does your memory stray to a brighter sunny day, | When I kissed you and called you sweetheart?

The lyrics bring together four themes that play a part in this study: memory, emotion, the history of the night, and solitude. ‘Solitude’, as opposed to loneliness, can have a meaning that is much broader than the state of being or feeling deserted, isolated, or lonely. Solitude can be a personal choice – of the ascetic, the solitudinarian, or the misanthrope. In solitude, one simply is alone, while one may be lonely in the presence of others. There are activities performed in isolation by single individuals who do not necessarily feel lonely, while they act in solitude. In Greek antiquity, such activities during the night included inter alia fishing, thieving, performing necromancy, or depositing a curse tablet in a grave.¹ One can be alone, and yet feel the presence of others, as Ajax did, when he raised his hands in prayer, appealing to the gods, moments before his suicide.² And even when someone is both as isolated and lonely as Philoktetes on Lemnos, he could still be visited by dreams during the night. The chorus of sailors in Sophocles’ homonymous tragedy invoke Hypnos to send Philoktetes joyful dreams (Soph. Philoct. 827 – 832); although alone, Philoktetes does have company during the night.³ The Barberini Faun is alone in his sleep, but as the tense facial expression suggests, he too is visited by a dream.⁴ Absolute solitude is hard to achieve, even in the night.

Solitude is part of the human experience and as such it can be a subject of historical research. Historical inquiries require a context of some sort, and the context for my study is provided not by a historical period – the Archaic or the Hellenistic –, but by a recurring period of time: the period between twilight and dawn. Unlike other aspects of the night in which one recognizes developments and changes,⁵ as regards solitude, isolation, and loneliness during the night we are dealing with anthropological constants.

What is it that makes the period between sunset and sunrise an ideal time for the manifestation, perception, and representation of solitude? Why is loneliness observed as a particularly strong feeling during the night? What is the part played by nocturnal scenes of solitude and loneliness in ancient narratives? Why do ancient authors select a nocturnal setting to describe scenes of solitude and loneliness? Can these narratives and images contribute to our understanding of Greek ideas concerning community and solitude?

An explanation for the preference of a nocturnal setting for the description of scenes of solitude and loneliness is at hand. Since prehistoric times, the night interrupts day-time activities that can be conducted by individuals and not by groups. The night brings people together – in prehistoric times in a cave or a shelter, later in a house or a building dedicated to communal activities (a restaurant, a theater, a club, a music hall, a fitness studio). As soon as the sun sets and daytime activities stop, the night provides an opportunity for communal activities and relaxed interaction, for the joint consumption of food, for storytelling, singing, dancing, and recreation, and finally, for sex and sleep. Safety during the night requires joint efforts,⁶ and therefore, spending the night alone may increase anxieties and fears. Precisely because the night is associated with company – even of a lover or companion –, the absence of some sort of company strengthens the feeling of loneliness.

This diachronic and universal experience of the night has associated it with certain perceptions and feelings. Already in Hesiod’s Theogony, the children, to whom Nyx gave birth, allude both to the anxieties associated with the night and to human interaction.⁷ We find among them Hypnos (Sleep) and his brothers, the Oneiroi (dreams), Keres and Thanatos (Dying and the condition of Death), Suffering (Oizys), Moros, the fatal fate, Old Age (Geras), and Nemesis (retribution), but also Momos, the aggressive jokes and the sarcasm that presuppose the company of others, Apate, deception, and, finally, on a more pleasant note, Philotes, sexual desire.

In Greek antiquity, communal gatherings and interactions were typical activities after sunset: having dinner at home, visiting a friend’s home, attending a drinking party or the activities of a voluntary association, singing in the streets, participating in a nighttime ritual, in later times and in some cities also going to the baths.⁸ When nighttime activities that are typically done in the company of others are done in isolation, this enhances the feeling of loneliness and can be exploited by artists and narrators in texts and images. The famous statue of the Old Drunk Woman in Munich is a case in point.⁹ Drinking means conviviality; it presupposes company – the word symposion, drinking together, shows that. The Old Drunk Woman is a reversal of the sympotic imagery; she is a woman, not a man; the women who attend symposia are good-looking flutists, not old hags; she sits on the ground in a street, and does not recline on a couch in a home; instead of holding a baby in her arms, as in the image of the old nurse or grandmother, she embraces her lagynos, the wine container; and this wine container is her only company in a scene that possibly takes place after sunset, in the aftermath of a festival.¹⁰ Many things may be disputed concerning the interpretation of this statue, but one thing is clear: this woman is alone. Although a similar image from Skyros describes the feeling of the old woman with the jug as joy,¹¹ the feeling that the image in Munich arouses in the viewer is that of isolation.

That drinking alone in the night is ...