SEX, FAMILY, AND CHTHONIC JUSTICE: On the Cosmology of the Choephoroi

The essay examines the chthonic cosmology of Dikē (justice) in Aeschylus’ Choephoroi, assisted by Walter Burkert’s theorization of the hunt as precursor to sacrificial ritual and chthonic cult. The Choephoroi exposes the feeling of hatred as constitutive to justice: earth and hatred are cosmologically linked to yield revenge, and this link is linguistically reinforced via their alliteration. Though the chthonic is typically associated with women (the Furies, its most dreaded expression, are female deities), the essay focuses on the male participation in the chthonic through heroic cult. In light of recent critiques of autochthony in the ancient Greek context, the essay concludes with a reappraisal of the chthonic as a figure for cultural cohesion and continuity through its evocation of the memory of the ancestral dead.