Between Charis and Philanthrōpia : The Heraclidae

This chapter explores the myth of the Heraclidae and shows that institutions enabled potentially conflicting ideas about the community to coexist in Athenian ideological practice. Theseus’ debt of reciprocity (charis) towards Heracles, which motivates the Athenians to protect the Heraclidae in Euripides’ Children of Heracles, is omitted in Lysias’ Funeral Oration, where the Athenians, with no private interests at stake, acted entirely out of altruism and justice. This chapter argues that this variation attests the influence of, respectively, the dramatic festivals and the state funeral for the war dead in fostering either of two distinct and only apparently contrasting ideas: the Athenians’ solicitude in reciprocating the charis due to benefactors, and their disposition to humaneness (philanthrōpia). A comparison is then introduced with Isocrates’ Panegyricus, a speech produced for private circulation. Isocrates states that the Heraclidae sought Athens’ help because it was the only city capable of reciprocating Heracles’ benefactions to humanity. It is shown that the orator, not bound by the discursive parameters of any institution, downplayed Athenian philanthrōpia and exploited charis to emphasise the power of the Athenians rather than their ideas about the importance of reciprocating benefactions.