The Sea in the Greek Imagination

Marie-Claire Beaulieu (2016). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Beaulieu argues for the sea of Greek myth as a space of transition between real and imaginary geographies (e.g., between life and death, mortals and gods). This allows the sea to become a space which transforms narratives and characters. Rather than attempting a comprehensive survey of Greek conceptualisations of the sea, the book limits itself to mythic depictions and is divided into six ‘case-studies’ which each demonstrate the central thread of liminality. The first explores the sea as a pathway, both as a way of communicating with other lands and as a pathway between real and imagined spaces, namely the journey between life and death. Particularly interesting here is the discussion of fresh and salt water and their varying roles in sustaining life. From there, Chapter 2 moves to a discussion of how journeys across the sea are key to the coming-of-age of heroes such as Perseus, Theseus and Jason. Perseus also appears in Chapter 3, which engages with the myths of Danae (Perseus’ mother), Auge and Rhoeo, who were all cast out to sea locked in a chest by their fathers, and how this experience variously impacted their coming-of-age and marriage. Chapter 4 examines the prevalence of dolphins over other marine creatures, suggesting that they are an intermediary presence between immortality, life and death which parallels the sea itself. In Chapter 5, the attention shifts to the act of diving as a separation of individual from community and representative of changes in mental state. There is also interesting discussion of the role of aquatic birds, especially in regard to love stories involving women. The final chapter turns to Dionysus’ relationship with the sea, discussing the incident with the Tyrrhenian pirates and images of the symposium (with a returning focus on dolphins), and arguing that Dionysus, who bridges the gap between mortality and immortality (he is a god with a mortal mother), is an ideal figure to represent the transitional nature of the mythic sea. Throughout, Beaulieu combines textual analysis with religious practices (e.g., the Eleusinian Mysteries at the end of Chapter 5) and iconographic evidence (e.g., pottery, wall-paintings), which successfully illustrate and enrich her arguments.

Example Quotation

‘In the Greek worldview, the sea is not only an intermediary space between countries and continents, but also the boundary between the worlds of the living, the dead, and the gods. In other words, the sea separates the visible and invisible worlds. For this reason, physical transitions at sea can represent psychological transformations. The sea is thus an appropriate setting to illustrate mental changes as diverse as male and female coming-of-age and contact with the divine, madness, and death.’

(p. 188)