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IN HECATE'S REALM: A NOTE ON SOZOMEN, HIST. ECCL. 7.23*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2015

Alberto J. Quiroga-Puertas
Alberto J. Quiroga-Puertas*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada, Spain
*
aquiroga@ugr.es
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Extract

‘Can you tell me, Philocles, what in the world it is that makes many men so fond of lying that they delight in telling preposterous tales themselves and listen with especial attention to those who spin yarns of that sort?’

(Lucian, Philops. 1)
In the seventh book of his Historia Ecclesiastica the church historian Sozomen provides us with a detailed account of the social and political climate and subsequent motives which precipitated the outbreak of the Riot of the Statues in Antioch a.d. 387. According to his version ‘on the night before the sedition occurred, a spectre was seen in the form of a woman of prodigious height and terrible aspect, pacing through the streets of the city, lashing the air with an ill-sounding whip, similar to that which is used in goading on the beasts brought forward at the public theatres. It might have been inferred that the sedition was excited by the agency of some evil and malicious demon. There is no doubt but that much bloodshed would have ensued, had not the wrath of the emperor been stayed by his respect for this sacerdotal entreaty.’

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Shorter Notes
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The Classical Quarterly , Volume 65 , Issue 1 , May 2015 , pp. 427 - 433
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Copyright © The Classical Association 2015 

‘Can you tell me, Philocles, what in the world it is that makes many men so fond of lying that they delight in telling preposterous tales themselves and listen with especial attention to those who spin yarns of that sort?’

(Lucian, Philops. 1)

In the seventh book of his Historia Ecclesiastica the church historian SozomenFootnote 1 provides us with a detailed account of the social and political climate and subsequent motives which precipitated the outbreak of the Riot of the Statues in Antioch a.d. 387. According to his version ‘on the night before the sedition occurred, a spectre was seen in the form of a woman of prodigious height and terrible aspect, pacing through the streets of the city, lashing the air with an ill-sounding whip, similar to that which is used in goading on the beasts brought forward at the public theatres. It might have been inferred that the sedition was excited by the agency of some evil and malicious demon. There is no doubt but that much bloodshed would have ensued, had not the wrath of the emperor been stayed by his respect for this sacerdotal entreaty.’Footnote 2

The allusion to the spectre in the form of a woman is a remarkable feature, which will form the basis of analysis within this paper. In it I will attempt to reveal the identity of the ghostly woman to be that of the goddess Hecate through means of dissecting the physical description provided by Sozomen.

In addition, the paper will examine the inclusion of a ghost story within a literary genre such as ecclesiastical history and its significance within the context of Sozomen's account of the Riot of the Statues.

THE RIOT OF STATUES IN ANTIOCH a.d. 387

In February 387 Emperor Theodosius' decision to levy an extraordinary tax (either to commemorate his son and his own anniversary as emperor or to finance his continuous wars against barbarians and usurpers) caused severe unrest amongst the Antiochenes, the upshot of which was a spontaneous demonstration which spread right throughout the city.Footnote 3 As the situation intensified, more and angrier citizens joined the protest and before long the uprising soon became violent with imperial statues and portraits being stoned, humiliated and torn down. In response, a series of arrests, trials and executions were carried out with a large proportion of the population being forced to flee amidst the ensuing panic and pandemonium.

As a result, two imperial emissaries – Caesarius, magister officiorum, and Hellebichus, magister militum – were sent to the city in order to evaluate the situation whilst one of the leading bishops of Antioch, Flavian, travelled to Constantinople as an ambassador to plead with Theodosius for forgiveness. After much deliberation, the emperor finally agreed to absolve and annul the enforcement of all precautionary punishments (namely the closure of public places such as baths and hippodrome, the distribution of food and the loss of the status of metropolis).Footnote 4

Sozomen had at hand a number of different sources which reported these events; however, the sophist Libanius of Antioch and John Chrysostom were amongst the authors whose contributions proved to be of intrinsic value.Footnote 5 Several divergences between these two accounts and the rest were strikingly evident nevertheless: both agreed to exonerate the Antiochenes from bearing responsibility for the incident, blaming it on the intervention of the devil instead,Footnote 6 an accusation which had become commonplace during this period with regard to any kind of adversity which may have been inflicted upon a town or city, irrespective of religious affinity.Footnote 7

Nevertheless, whilst Peter Van Nuffelen suggestsFootnote 8 that Sozomen's account of the riot relies heavily upon John Chrysostom's version in so far as levelling blame upon the demon (Sozom. Hist. Eccl. 7.23: οὕτω τις ἀλαστόρων δαιμόνων ἐπιβουλῇ τὴν στάσιν ἐκίνησεν), the provenance of the story of the gigantic woman with a whip (Sozom. Hist. Eccl. 7.23: φάσμα γυναικὸς θεαθῆναι μεγέθει ἐξαίσιον καὶ θέᾳ φοβερόν ... μαστίζειν ὑπὸ μάστιγι δυσήχῳ) remains something of a mystery. Incidentally it should be noted that the passage begins with a careless φασί.Footnote 9

A WORKING HYPOTHESIS: THE ΦΑΣΜΑ ΓϒΝΑΙΚΟΣ AS HECATE

Stories about apparitions of a φάσμα γυναικός were part of a taste for irrationality in late antique literatureFootnote 10 which permeated different literary genres throughout classical antiquity.Footnote 11 What seems particularly surprising in Sozomen's account however is the resemblance of the φάσμα γυναικός to previous descriptions of the goddess Hecate and in particular to many of her own physical and personal attributes.Footnote 12 The church historian describes the ghostly apparition as a ‘woman of prodigious height and terrible aspect’ (θεαθῆναι μεγέθει ἐξαίσιον καὶ θέᾳ φοβερόν), a description which noticeably parallels that of the rich Eucrates' depiction of the goddess in Lucian's Philopseudes (Philops. 22): γυναῖκα ὁρῶ προσιοῦσαν φοβεράν, ἡμισταδιαίαν σχεδὸν τὸ ὕψος ‛I saw a terrible woman coming toward me, quite half a furlong in height.'Footnote 13 Intriguingly, the gigantic depiction of the apparition – a feature which is used to help distinguish its supernatural character – is also affiliated to Hecate in PGM IV.2711 (δεῦρ', Ἑκάτη, γιγάεσσα),Footnote 14 although, as Stramaglia points out,Footnote 15 the interpreter of dreams Artemidorus associated abnormal stature with death, which happens to be one of Hecate's main realms (1.50): τὸ δὲ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον μέγαν δοκεῖν γεγονέναι θάνατον τῷ ἰδόντι σημαίνει ‛if a man dreams that his size exceeds the natural limitations of a man, it signifies death for him'.Footnote 16

Indeed, the fact that Sozomen's φάσμα γυναικός was seen ‘on the night before the sedition occurred … pacing through the streets of the city’ (τῆς φθασάσης νυκτός, μεθ' ἣν εὐθὺς ἐπιγενομένης ἡμέρας ... μετάρσιόν τε διατρέχον ἀνὰ τὰς ἀγυιὰς τῆς πόλεως)Footnote 17 serves to remind us somewhat of Hecate ἐνόδια, that is, a divinity whose presence in streets and crossroads during the night is expected.Footnote 18PGM IV.2727–9 for instance reads as follows: δεῦρ', Ἑκάτη, τριοδῖτι, πυρίπνοα φάσματ' ἔχουσα χἀτ' ἔλαχες δεινὰς μὲν ὁδούς ‘Come, Hekate, goddess of three ways, who with your fire-breathing phantoms have been allotted dreaded.’Footnote 19

In García Teijeiro's words, Hecate was a goddess frequently associated with tombs, crossroads and the netherworld.Footnote 20 Death and darkness it seems were ideas which formed part of her syncretism with other goddesses such as Selene or Persephone.Footnote 21 It should not be forgotten that Hecate was the patron deity of ghosts. Numerous references from Christian authors describe her as the ‘Mistress of Ghosts’,Footnote 22 a goddess who wielded a substantial level of control and authority and who ‘became associated with daemones and daemonic creatures because they were liminal entities, wandering between worlds or between states of existence’.Footnote 23 Liminal in fact may appropriately describe the situation in Antioch during the riot, a transitional period from stability to temporary turmoil under the guidance of Hecate.

Nevertheless, Sozomen indicates that the spectre was ‘lashing the air with an ill-sounding whip, similar to that which is used in goading on the beasts brought forward at the public theatres’ (τὸν ἀέρα μαστίζειν ὑπὸ μάστιγι δυσήχῳ, οἵαις εἰς θυμὸν προκαλοῦνται τοὺς θῆρας οἱ περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα θέατρα πονοῦντες, Hist. Eccl. 7.23). Representations of Hecate holding a whip can be found in terracottas, coins and gems,Footnote 24 and in the specific case of the evening prior to the Riot of the Statues, the reference to a whip serves almost as if to reinforce and anticipate the wave of punishment and destruction set to engulf the city in the aftermath of the event.

Moreover, in the middle of the fifth century a.d., when Sozomen composed and circulated his Ecclesiastical History,Footnote 25 pagan deities such as Hecate and the plethora of demons that populated the classical antiquity had merged into a multiform amalgam that came to embody the battle between good and evil, that is, Christian orthodoxy standing in opposition against heresies and what remained of paganism.Footnote 26 Indeed this ineptitude at being unable to determine explicitly which δαίμων was to be held accountable for the riotous events in Antioch seems to legislate somewhat for Sozomen's omission of Hecate's name.

Thus far I have aimed to prove that the φάσμα γυναικός can be identified with Hecate. However, what seems apparent is that the apparition of this gigantic woman in the streets of Antioch the evening before the Riot of the Statues serves as a warning apparition, a subtype of ghost which has been defined as a distinct phenomenon and whose categorization is determined by a series of prominent features, namely: (a) a relationship to political crisis, wartime, seditions; (b) appearing mostly in the guise of a female, semi-deity or divine messenger; (c) possessing an unusual stature; and (d) having the ability to prophesy either by speech or by figurative action.Footnote 27

Subsequently, these warning apparitions provided much scope and pedigree for many ancient writers: Cassius Dio (55.1) tells us that a gigantic woman foretold Drusus' death, and according to Plutarch (Dio, 55) Dion saw a γυναῖκα μεγάλην just days before his son threw himself from the roof and died. Likewise, Herodotus (8.84) narrates how a φάσμα γυναικός (most likely the goddess Athena) reproached the Hellenic fleet for their clumsiness whilst rowing. A number of similarities between Herodotus' and Sozomen's accounts may lead us to think that the church historian was thinking of Herodotus' story: the use of the same expression – φάσμα γυναικός – the reference to an anonymous source (Herodotus introduces the passage with λέγεται, and Sozomen with φασί) and a taste for ‘charming narrations’Footnote 28 seem indicative of a common conviction to deploy a φάσμα γυναικός as the catalyst of violent events.

Sozomen's narrative therefore needs to be read and understood within this context and as a warning apparition itself, since its characteristics seem to correspond to the kind of atmosphere which commonly precipitates the arrival of such an apparition (that is, the evening before the Riot of the Statues), in addition to the fact that the apparition in question is that of a woman of abnormal stature who by means of figurative action – ‘lashing the air with an ill-sounding whip’ – manages to predict the future punishments that Antioch will incur in the aftermath of the riot.

A GHOST STORY IN AN ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

Caution is essential in dealing with ghost stories so as to avoid overestimating their worth, or overlooking relevant information disguised as spectral anecdotes which could help contribute towards explaining the story.Footnote 29 However, the ghost apparition in Hist. Eccl. 7.27 was not the only supernatural story in Sozomen's work which related to spectres.Footnote 30 Demons for instance occupy a constant presence throughout, harbouring ill intentions aimed at undermining the unity of the Church (Hist. Eccl. 1.19) and shuttling the long-maintained ascetic life of holy men (Hist. Eccl. 5.5; 6.29); in turn, ghosts enable Sozomen to mock the irrational superstitions of the apostate emperor Julian (Hist. Eccl. 5.2), contrasting the purifying healing powers of the tomb of the Holy Notaries with the malign nature of the ghosts that had dwelt there previously (Hist. Eccl. 4.3). They also test the forbearance of Apelles when tempted by a νύκτωρ φάσμα δαίμονος ὡς γυνὴ εὐπρεπής (Hist. Eccl. 6.28: ‘one night the devil undertook to tempt him to incontinence, by appearing before him in the form of a beautiful woman’), and present a crowd of armed men of immense stature as a παραδόξου θεάματος ‘an extraordinary spectacle’ within the context of Gaïnas' attack on Constantinople (Hist. Eccl. 8.4).

Puzzling as it may seem to the (post-)modern mind, late antique historiography gave ample room to the supernatural element.Footnote 31 The prevailing Zeitgeist, for instance, helped endorse Libanius' biographical anecdotes, which were inextricably interwoven with magic or divine interventions as well as the hagiographical and miraculous deeds carried out by Theodoret's monks in their fight against evil.Footnote 32 Ammianus Marcellinus also used omens and apparitions of supernatural figures as a literary device on more than one occasion.Footnote 33

A more political and religious perspective reveals how the intriguing and ludic nature of the φάσμα γυναικός story also assists Sozomen in composing an orthodox version of the church history in post-Constantine times.Footnote 34 In that respect, Sozomen's account of the supernatural event that took place in Antioch the evening before the riot seeks to eulogize the efficient diligence shown by the bishop Flavian in his efforts to combat evil in a moment of need.Footnote 35 From the year a.d. 327 until the end of the fourth century a.d. the Church of Antioch was split on account of diverse religious and theological disputes, with the bishop Flavian representing the Nicene doctrine which eventually came to terms with the imperial power,Footnote 36 a fact that Sozomen sought to acknowledge in depicting Flavian as the saviour of Antioch.

Flavian's recourse to piety and cunningness helped him succeed in his role as ambassador on behalf of the city, pleading for forgiveness after the riot, as Hist. Eccl. 7.23 recounts: ‘On his arrival, finding that the resentment of the emperor at what had occurred was unabated, he had recourse to the following artifice. He caused some young men accustomed to sing at the table of the emperor to utter these hymns with the litanies of the Antiochenes. It is said that the humanity of the emperor was excited, he was overcome by pity at once; his wrath was subdued, and as his heart yearned over the city, he shed tears on the cup which he held in his hand.’ Hence Hecate's presence in Antioch under the guise of a φάσμα γυναικός is very telling of Sozomen's consideration of the history of the Antiochene Church as the ghostly figure provides a holy man such as the bishop Flavian with an opportunity to attain the prestigious growth of the Church.Footnote 37

Footnotes

*

My gratitude goes to Mr Mark Hunter, Dr Peter Van Nuffelen, Dr Iveta Adams, Dr Manuel García Teijeiro and the anonymous referee for their kind suggestions. I would also like to thank for their support the Secretaría de Estado de Universidades e Investigación del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia de España, and the research groups ‘Diversidad cultural, paz y resolución de conflictos en el cristianismo antiguo’ (HUM2006-11240-C02-02), Head Director Dr Fernández Ubiña, and HUM 404 ‘Tradición y Pervivencia de la Cultura Clásica’, Head Director Dr Calvo Martínez.

References

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6 Chrys. De Statuis 3.6; 12.1; 15.1; Lib. Or. 1.252; 19.29; 22.10.

7 Brown, P., Religion and Society in the Age of Saint Augustine (London, 1972)Google Scholar, 131: ‘For pagan and Christian alike, misfortune was unambiguously the work of suprahuman agents, the daemones.’ Lib. Or. 16.15 considers that demons are more than often responsible for Antioch's proverbial misbehaviour.

8 Van Nuffelen (n. 1), 493.

9 Van Nuffelen (n. 1), 245.

10 See the theoretical elaboration of this term in Guidorizzi, G., ‘La letteratura dell'irrazionale’, in Cambiano, G., Canfora, L. and Lanza, D. (edd.), Lo spazio letterario della Grecia antica, vol. 2 (Rome, 1995), 591–627.Google Scholar See also Reardon, B.P., Courants littéraires grecs de IIe et IIIe siècles après J.-C. (Paris, 1971), 237–43.Google Scholar

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14 Stramaglia (n. 11), 41. See also West, D.R., Some Cults of Greek Goddesses and Female Daemons of Oriental Origin (Especially in Relation to the Mythology of Goddesses and Daemons in the Semitic World) (Kevelaer, 1995)Google Scholar, 282.

15 Stramaglia (n. 11), 41 n. 118.

16 Translation is taken from White, R.J., The Interpretation of Dreams by Artemidorus (Park Ridge, 1975).Google Scholar

17 A classical use of ἀγυιά as ‘the hollow way’ (κοίλαν πρὸς ἄγυιαν) to Hades is found in Pindar, Ol. 9.34. Furthermore it is used frequently in the Odyssey when referring to dusk (Hom. Od. 2.388; 3.487, 497; 11.12; 15.185, 296, 471): δύσετό τ' ἠέλιος σκιόωντό τε πᾶσαι ἀγυιαί.

18 West (n. 14), 203–7; Johnston, S.I., ‘Crossroads’, ZPE 88 (1991), 217–24Google Scholar. For her relationship with night, see Bacchyl. Frag. 1B: Ἑκάτα[ ⌊δαϊδοφόρε⌋] ταν ἱε[ρ] Νυκ⌊τὸς μεγαλοκόλπου θύγατερ⌋. Felton, D., Haunted Greece and Rome: Ghosts Stories from Classical Antiquity (Austin, TX, 1999)Google Scholar, 7: ‘simply put, ghosts belong to the night because night-time is dark, and darkness is associated with death’.

19 Translation is taken from Betz, H.D., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation (Chicago and London, 1986).Google Scholar

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21 On Hecate's syncretism, see for instance Martínez, J.L. Calvo, ‘La Diosa Hécate: un paradigma de sincretismo religioso del helenismo tardío’, Florentia Iliberritana 3 (1999), 71–82Google Scholar; Faraone, C.A., ‘Hymn to Selene-Hecate-Artemis from a Greek magical handbook (PGM 2714-83)’, in Kiley, M. (ed.), Prayer from Alexander to Constantine (London, 1997), 195–9Google Scholar; Rabinowitz, J., ‘Underneath the moon: Hekate and Luna’, Latomus 56 (1997), 535–43Google Scholar. PGM IV.2241–2358; 2602; 2664–2665. West (n. 14), 214: ‘it is clear that the PGM developed the chthonian, malevolent connections of Hekate to a greater extent than any other literature. There is also considerable syncretism, and some very imaginative animal epithets appear, that are clearly derived from the motifs of the earlier literature.’

22 Euseb. Praep. evang. 3.11, 13, 16; 4.22–3; 5.8. Gregor. Naz. In Sanct. Lum., PG 36.340.9; more specifically his Carmina quae spectant ad alios 1572.1: νυχίης Ἑκάτης κακὰ φάσματα. Theodoret, Graec. Aff. Curatio, 3.63–4; 10.22.

23 Collison-Morley, L., Greek and Roman Ghost Stories (London, 1912)Google Scholar, 144. See also García, A. Bravo, ‘Η Μαγικὴ κακοτεχνία. Materiales para una historia de la magia y la demonología bizantinas’, MHNH 2 (2002), 5–70Google Scholar, especially 46; Mitchell, S., Anatolia: Land, Men and Gods in Asia Minor (Oxford, 2002), 140–4Google Scholar; Teja, R., ‘Historias de magia y santidad en la Historia Religiosa de Teodoreto de Ciro’, in Torres, J. (ed.), Historica et philologica: in honorem José María Robles (Santander, 2002), 71–84Google Scholar; West (n. 14), 199–200; Winkler, J., ‘Lollianos and the Desperadoes’, JHS 100 (1980), 155–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar, especially 159–61.

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25 Bidez et al. (n. 1), 25–31; Van Nuffelen (n. 1), 59–61.

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30 Bidez et al. (n. 1), 38–41.

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33 Amm. Marc. 19.12.20; 24.7.3–6; 25.10.1–3; 30.5.15–19; 31.1.2–4 takes recourse to the supernatural. See also Kelly, G., Ammianus Marcellinus: The Allusive Historian (Cambridge, 2008), 24–5Google Scholar; den Boeft, J., de Jonge, P., den Hengst, D., Teitler, H.C. and Drijvers, J.W., Philological and Historical Commentary on Ammianus Marcellinus XXIV (Leiden, 2002)Google Scholar, 212.

34 Bidez et al. (n. 1), 34. Also Van Nuffelen (n. 1), 190–1. Emmett Nobbs (n. 29), 3 considers that Sozomen has ‘a broader concept of the Church than Socrates’. See Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. 1.1.18; 3.15.

35 According to Cracco Ruggini (n. 32), 109, ‘the Church historians’ task was basically a common one: to show how evil was in due course overcome by good … Three features emerge as singularly relevant in all the Ecclesiastical Histories after Eusebius, in connection with supernatural interventions in history. 1) The role of emperors; 2) The role of holy men; 3) The emerging importance of native traditions.'

36 On the Schism of Antioch, see Chadwick, H., The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great (Oxford, 2001)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Maraval, P., ‘Antioch et l'Orient’, in Mayeur, J.M., Petri, C., Petri, L. and Biarne, J. (edd.), Histoire du Christianisme, vol. 2 (Paris, 1995), 903–20Google Scholar; Cavallera, F., Le schisme d'Antioche (Paris, 1905).Google Scholar

37 Van Nuffelen (n. 1), 132. Similarly C. Mango (n. 26), 215: ‘I would even go so far as to say that demonology contributed very powerfully to the spread of the Christian religion.’ Also Markus, R., The End of Ancient Christianity (Cambridge, 1990), 91–5.Google Scholar