Φάσματα and sensory perception in the last episode of Euripides' Alcestis

Flaminia Beneventano della Corte

Abstract:

The term φάσμα belongs to the semantic field of φαίνω and is therefore closely related to the visual dimension of perception. Τhe preponderance of sight and vision in the sources which deal with this kind of phenomenon is thus predictable. However, there are a number of cases in which other senses play a significant role in the definition of what φάσμα is. As an example, I examine the last episode of Euripides' Alcestis, especially lines 1112 ff., where Admetus' perception of Alcestis emerging from the Underworld is experienced through sight (λεύσσω, βλέπειν, (εἰσ)ὁρᾶν, ὄψεσθαι), touch (θιγγάνω), and hearing. Reference is also made to verbal interaction (προσειπεῖν). Admetus is progressively led to verify the bodily reality of Alcestis' apparition and consequently to admit that she is not merely a φάσμα.
Considering studies that have addressed the cultural representation of spirits and phantoms in classical Greece, especially in terms of the "image" and the "double", I give an account of some of the peculiarities which characterize φάσματα and their appearance. Special focus is placed on the relationship φάσματα establish with mortals and how such relationship is relevant to the distinction between phantoms and human beings.