Astrateia and Lipostration: Staging Desertion on the Attic Comic Stage

Abstract

When asked to define what 'courage' (ἀνδϱεία) is, Laches replies without hesitation: 'anyone who is willing to stay at his post and face the enemy, and does not run away, you may be sure is courageous' (&#7936νδϱεῖος, PL <i>La.</i> 190e4). The concept of <i>andreia</i> in ancient Greece cannot be dissociated from a martial context. As Sluiter and Rosen put it, 'war is the prototypical scene for manifestations of courage and manliness' . Conversely, one could say that 'running away in the middle of the battle' is a sign of ἄνανδϱία, a lack of manly qualities. This paper further explores the association between unmanliness and failure to comply with military obligations in tragic and comic dramatizations of draft-dodging (&#7936στδατεία) and desertion (λιποστδάτιον).