In 415 B.C. the Athenians woke to find that during the night most of the herms in Athens (priapic statues of the Greek god Hermes) had been vandalized. The damage was too widespread for the act to be dismissed as a youthful prank. What was it, then: a conspiracy brewing against the democracy? Or merely a bad omen for their upcoming expedition to Sicily? The so-called "mutilation of the herms" is an important episode in Athenian history. Nearly 2500 years later, basic questions about the crime continue to exercise scholars—who done it and why they done it. In "The Mutilation of the Herms: Unpacking an Ancient Mystery," Debra Hamel provides a comprehensible account of the vandalism and its aftermath. This booklet is written for an audience of general readers and students. No previous knowledge of the period is assumed. The text could profitably be assigned for undergraduate classes in Greek history. Topics discussed include the Eleusinian Mysteries, the role of drinking groups in the vandalism, Alcibiades' involvement in the affair, and Eva Keuls' feminist take on the episode.
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About the Author
Debra Hamel is the author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece. Her most recent book, Reading Herodotus: A Guided Tour through the Wild Boars, Dancing Suitors, and Crazy Tyrants of The History, will be published by The Johns Hopkins University Press in the fall of 2012. When she’s not writing about wild boars and ithyphallic statues, Debra can be found in her subterranean lair tending her fleet of web sites, which include the literary sites TwitrLit.com, KidderLit.com, and ScatterLit.com. She is also the creator of TheTwitterHerodotus.com, where she is posting an abbreviated version of Herodotus’ History for the modern age.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By K. Fearon
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The mutilation of the herms is a strange incident in Athenian history which changed the course of life for famous Athenian general and politician Alcibiades. Hamel does a great job of describing, in informal English, exactly what happened and why it had so many serious repercussions for Athenian society.
While modern readers might think it's funny that a gang of drunk lads went out one night knocking the penises off statues of Hermes and defacing them, the event was perhaps an equivalent scandal to finding that David Cameron and his mates from the Bullingdon Club had dressed up as nazis and gone to a war cemetery, pushed graves over and sprayed swastikas on them. This was a religious crime of sacrilege for which several people later lost their lives and others were exiled. It led directly to Alcibiades' exile and his subsequent politicking and agitation abroad to go home and regain power and status.
This is a very readable, accessible summary of the facts and analysis of why it was important, written in plain English throughout with complete references to back up each assertion and a really good bibliography. Recommended for anyone tackling the subject for the first time or who just wants a ready reference to the sources.
While modern readers might think it's funny that a gang of drunk lads went out one night knocking the penises off statues of Hermes and defacing them, the event was perhaps an equivalent scandal to finding that David Cameron and his mates from the Bullingdon Club had dressed up as nazis and gone to a war cemetery, pushed graves over and sprayed swastikas on them. This was a religious crime of sacrilege for which several people later lost their lives and others were exiled. It led directly to Alcibiades' exile and his subsequent politicking and agitation abroad to go home and regain power and status.
This is a very readable, accessible summary of the facts and analysis of why it was important, written in plain English throughout with complete references to back up each assertion and a really good bibliography. Recommended for anyone tackling the subject for the first time or who just wants a ready reference to the sources.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By C. Dudman
Format:Kindle Edition
I don't know much about Ancient Greece, but I did find I learnt a lot through this short book on a weird incident. It's entertainingly written, doesn't require much previous knowledge, and yet I think would be of value to more specialised students too. All the possibilities of what could have happened are there, succinctly told, and through it I got a good impression of life back then. Well worth reading.
By Chris Andrew
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an ingenious, readable, persuasive and succint interpretation of a curious episode in the history of Athens during its golden age
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