In the selected passages, the expression bia politōn occurs twice, denoting in both cases the violation of the will of the citizens through the burial of Polyneices. Here politōn is clearly to be taken as an objective genitive (cf. v. 59: nomou bia). In the first instance, Ismene employs the phrase to specify that she would not act against the will of the citizens, while in the second, the same expression is used by Antigone. Although the prohibition against burying Polyneices was in fact issued by a decree of Creon—whose constitutional status is not entirely clear within the drama—it is noteworthy that both Ismene and later Antigone herself acknowledge Creon as a representative of the citizens and of their will (cf. v. 44, where the burial of Polyneices is described as aporrheton polei, with polei interpretable both as a dative of respect, “forbidden for the
city,” and as a dative of agent, “forbidden by the city,” Griffith). As the decree thus effectively assumed the force of law, it is evident that, in the imagination of the Athenian audience attending the performance of the Antigone, the term politai, when applied to Creon’s edict, evoked a distinctly institutional context—namely that of the process of nomothesia, naturally the prerogative of the citizens. It is surely no coincidence that at v. 908 Antigone employs the noun nomos, exploiting its ambiguity to contrast divine law (and the universal principle of Dikē, cf. vv. 451–452) with the unjust human law represented by Creon’s decree—one which, at least formally, ends up embodying the will of the citizens (cf. v. 191, where Creon himself uses the term nomoi, to be understood as the principles upon which he intended to base his authority, and thus his laws). It should also be noted that at v. 193 Creon refers to his kērygma, specifying that it was addressed to all the astoi (cf. v. 27).
We may therefore reasonably suppose that, while politai refers to an institutional framework in which the citizens, though subjected to Creon’s will, are nonetheless ultimately represented by him and by his decrees (so that, in the last analysis, it is as if they acted through Creon), the astoi of v. 193 designates the citizens merely as recipients of the law, and thus, in the collective imagination of classical Athens, as not being in the full exercise of their political rights.
1. 78-79
Ισ. [...]τὸ δὲ
βίᾳ πολιτῶν δρᾶν ἔφυν ἀμήχανος.
Ismene: non sono capace di agire andando contro il volere dei cittadini.
2. 192-193
Κρ. Kαὶ νῦν ἀδελφὰ τῶνδε κηρύξας ἔχω
ἀστοῖσι παίδων τῶν ἀπ’ Οἰδίπου πέρι.
Creonte: E ora, in pieno accordo con essi (scil. i principi poco prima enunciati) ho promulgato un decreto per tutti i cittadini in merito ai figli di Edipo.
3. 905-908
Ἀν. οὐ γάρ ποτ’ οὔτ’ ἂν εἰ τέκν’ ὧν μήτηρ ἔφυν
οὔτ’ εἰ πόσις μοι κατθανὼν ἐτήκετο,
βίᾳ πολιτῶν τόνδ’ ἂν ᾐρόμην πόνον.
τίνος νόμου δὴ ταῦτα πρὸς χάριν λέγω;
Antigone: Non avrei mai scelto di infliggermi un tale dolore andando contro la volontà dei cittadini se a putrefarsi fossero stati dei figli miei o un marito. In ossequio a quale norma parlo dunque così?
- J. Blok, Citizenship in Classical Athens, Cambridge 2017
- D. Cairns, Sophocles: Antigone, London – New York 2016
- G. Camassa, Scrittura e mutamento delle leggi nel mondo antico. Dal vicino Oriente alla Grecia di età arcaica e classica, Roma 2011
- E. Cohen, The Athenian Nation, Princeton 2000
- M. Griffith, Sophocles. Antigone, Cambridge 1999
- E.M. Harris, Antigone the Lawyer, or the Ambiguities of Nomos in E. M. Harris – L. Rubinstein (a cura di), The Law and the Courts in Ancient Greece, London 2004, 19-56 (rist. in E. M. Harris, Democracy and the Rule of Law in Classical Athens. Essays on Law, Society, and Politics, Cambridge 2006, 41-80)
