The Sea in the Greek Imagination - Marie-Claire Beaulieu

Published in 2015 by University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA

280 pages

ISBN: 978-0-8122-4765-7

LCC: BL785.O34B43 2016

Growing up on the Carolina coast, I always found the sea to be a powerful and beautiful force. It was a place of refuge, the ocean’s waves washing over me in a consistent embrace. I’ve spent a fair amount of time on the open ocean, and its awesome and awful power never ceases to fascinate me. There is something transcendent about living on the shore and sailing on the sea, as you are forced to reckon with the sea’s immense beauty, but also its imminent danger.

       I am certainly not alone in this ambivalent feeling toward the sea. From Homer to Melville, storytellers have painted the sea as a tempestuous and liminal space. The ancient Greeks, well-versed in seafaring and naval battles, also built a mythos around the sea. Ubiquitous in its presence, the sea was a place that provided food and transport while also facilitating commerce, war, and religious purification rituals. The sea defined the context of Greek life while also standing as the limit of possibility, embodying the dichotomy of life and death. In her 2015 book, The Sea in the Greek Imagination,  Marie-Claire Beaulieu (Associate Professor of Classical Studies at Tufts University) dives into the depths of Greek mythology to discover the multifaceted ways in which the Greeks imagined the role of the sea. 

Overview:

       The book is composed of six in-depth case studies in Greek literature and culture that reveal the significance of the sea in Greek thought. According to Beaulieu, the sea is a liminal space infused with multivariable meanings. Depending on the context within the myth, these meanings can sometimes be contradictory or conflicting, which gives it the status of a liminal space between life/death, fertility/barrenness, mortality/immortality, human/gods, sanity/madness, etc. Just as the waves are ceaselessly changing and shifting within its wide expanse, the sea is filled with endless inspiration for the ancient Greeks, serving as not only a cosmological boundary but also a place of transition and renewal. 

Deeper Dive:

       After providing an overview of what previous scholarship says about the role of the sea in Greek thought in the Introduction, Beaulieu turns her attention to the broad categories that define the sea in Chapter One. Laying down the foundation that will inform the following chapters, Beaulieu utilizes the works of Homer, Plutarch, Hesiod, and Plato to establish the liminal status of the sea as a boundary between both life/death and human/divine. 

       In Chapter Two, Beaulieu examines the role of the sea in various coming-of-age narratives in Greek mythology. Focusing primarily on Perseus’s flight over the ocean to defeat the Gorgons, Thesus’s leap into the ocean to visit the palace of Poseiden, and the various voyages and conquests of Jason, Beaulieu posits that the sea serves as a transitory space in which the Greek hero transitions into adulthood. This passage is also predicated on the re-establishment of the Greek household and reinforcing the social order, as Berlieu writes, “Political change, like a sea crossing, is a transcendent experience. In mythical terms, the sea brings heroes across the boundaries of the cosmos, to come into contact with the gods and the dead. In the human realm, the sea offers a pathway to new territories and is therefore a metaphor for the attainment of a new status or a new order within the community” (87-88). 

       Chapter Three turns our attention toward the role of women and their relationship to the sea in Greek mythology. In particular, Beaulieu analyses a series of myths in which women are sealed within chests and thrown into the sea, often with their newborn child in tow. Beaulieu compares and contrasts three mythological women -- Danae, Auge, and Rhoeo -- as she argues, “the indeterminate space of the sea represents the indeterminate status of the girl, who may end up married and established in a proper household or wander endlessly without a recognized social identity…Thus, the sea is an ambivalent intermediary space for women that represents the liminal status of girls before marriage” (114, 118). 

       In Chapter Four, Beaulieu investigates the unique and pervasive iconographic representations of dolphins in both Greek art and literature. Dolphins hold a place of pride within Greek mythology, often serving on behalf of deities, guiding sailors through the dangers of the sea, and sharing in human emotion. Thus, just as the sea, dolphins serve a mediating role between humans and the divine. 

       Chapter Five concerns the motif of individuals leaping into the sea as an act of radical transformation. This trope usually involves an individual jumping from the edge of a cliff to avoid a more gruesome death. Whether out of madness or desperation, this act severs them from the social order and ostracises them from the realm of regular mortals. While this leap is imminently dangerous, Beaulieu argues that often transforms the individual into a higher state of being, although this has different implications for men and women. While men often return from such a leap with higher social capital and prestige, women seldom reintegrate into the social order, often transforming into birds or goddesses of the sea. 

       Finally, Chapter Six focuses on the god Dionysus and his deep connection with dolphins and the sea. As the god of wine and fertility, it might be surprising to see this agricultural god often riding dolphins in ancient Greek art. Beaulieu argues that this depiction arises from the tales of Dionysus and the pirates who capture him. Dionysus turns his captors into dolphins, who leap into the sea. Beaulieu compares the flowing rhythm of the sea to the revelry of the Symposium. Just as the sea separates everyday life from the divine, so does the Symposium and the mad Dionysian leap into the sea provide freedom from everyday concerns. 

Commendations: 

       The Sea in the Greek Imagination has many strong aspects. First and foremost, this volume is a robust and expansive examination of the fascinating connection between the sea and the values of ancient Greek culture. Beaulieu’s account is extensively sourced and serves as fertile ground for further inquiry from literary scholars, religious studies scholars, and historians alike. It is filled with fascinating insights, such as the distinction between fresh water and salt water as bearers of fertility and sterility respectively, and the ritualistic and ceremonial significance of fresh water in ancient Greek religious traditions.

       Of particular interest is Beaulieu’s attention to the gendered disparity that is reflected in the Greek myths of sea voyages. She makes the astute connection between leaps into the sea with gender expectations within ancient Greek society, writing: 

This is a common pattern for young girls and women who dive into the sea. Instead of returning as glorious favorites of the gods like their male counterparts, they usually remain in the sea as marine deities or receive divine honors on land as heroines or goddesses. They are also often metamorphosed into aquatic birds as an indication of their transition to the divine sphere. Thus, while both males and females can reach the divine world by way of a leap into the sea, the glory and elevated social and political status that accompanies a safe return from such a voyage is reserved for males. For females, the transition is a one-way ticket, and they do not return to tell the tale, although they become hallowed by their transition out of the mortal realm. (137)

       Here, we see that there seems to be a gendered disparity between the treatment of men and women within these tales, which reflects the condition of ancient Greek society. Men are much more active in their endeavors and voyages out at sea and are often showered with rewards and social prestige in the mortal realm. Women, on the other hand, take a much more passive role, as they are often cast into the sea, severing them from the existing social order. They are either rescued by the intervention of a deity, or they are irrevocably transformed into goddesses themselves. Sections such as these open up myriad avenues for comparative literature studies and can facilitate fruitful discussions across academic disciplines. 

Critique:

       That being said, there is one small weakness to this volume. First of all, even as an academic work, the writing can err on the side of being a bit overly dry. Unless the reader is a scholar of ancient Greek history and literature, it is easy to get lost in the wide array of references that Beaulieu makes to various writers. As such, while Beaulieu’s work is fortunately relatively free from jargon and specialized vocabulary, the average reader might find it difficult to follow some of the more nuanced points of her analysis. 

       Additionally, since the book is a compilation of six separate case studies, there is a fair amount of repetition throughout its pages. It has become a bit of a meme within folklore and mythology studies that “liminal spaces” have become a bit of a catchall for anything ambiguous and seemingly contradictory. As such, Beaulieu repeatedly hammers home the idea that the sea is a liminal space between life and death, mortal and immortal, fertility and sterility, etc. While it was interesting to learn about so many different examples that illustrate this point, it became a bit overly repetitive at certain points. 

Conclusion:

Overall, The Sea in the Greek Imagination is an excellent and expansive examination of the role that the sea plays in ancient Greek mythology and art. While it can be repetitive in places, this work is a wide-ranging and entertaining collection of case studies that further our collective understanding of the ancient Greeks and their relationship to the natural world around them. The chapters can be read either together as a whole or stand alone on their own, which makes this work imminently versatile for pedagogical purposes. Any of these chapters would be useful and manageable assigned reading for a wide range of undergraduate courses and can open up myriad avenues of discussion across academic fields.  As such, this book is a valuable addition to the library of any historian, comparative literature scholar, or religious studies professor.