Andromache and Motherhood Across Epic and Tragedy Through the Lens of Trauma

Lillian Boehlke
Dr. Joshua Nudell, Faculty Mentor

This paper explores the character Andromache and her role as a mother even with the trauma she has suffered throughout ancient Greek and Roman literature. Andromache, Hector’s wife in the Iliad, appears in ancient literature from both Greece and Rome. Having suffered a traumatic life even before the Iliad, she is again faced with unimaginable tragedy, losing her husband, her home, and her child. Andromache has often been the focus of scholarship concerning her valor in motherhood and femininity. However, Andromache’s trauma has been left out of the conversation when assessing her contemporary Greek and Roman reception. Euripides (a Greek playright) focuses on her representation of grieving within a community, while Seneca (Roman) focuses on her as an individual, each giving her character different levels of rationality and agency. Observing the limitations of trauma represented in Andromache deepens understanding of Ancient Greek and Roman reactions to it. 

 

Keywords: Classics, Latin, Tragedy, Epic , Literature, Interdisciplinary , Ancient History

Topic(s):Classics
Latin

Presentation Type: Oral Presentation

Session: TBA
Location: TBA
Time: TBA