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"Dark" Mind and Heart in Aeschylus

Shirley Sullivan

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Sullivan Shirley. "Dark" Mind and Heart in Aeschylus. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 75, fasc. 1, 1997.
Antiquite - Oudheid. pp. 59-67;

doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/rbph.1997.4163

https://www.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_1997_num_75_1_4163

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 "Dark"
Mind and Heart in Aeschylus

Shirley D. Sullivan

In several passages in the extant tragedies of Aeschylus we find

references to a phrën or kardia that is "dark". Why does Aeschylus describe
these psychic entities in this way? What is the nature and source of their
darkened condition? This paper will examine these references and
suggest why mind and heart are described in this way (').

I. "Dark" Psychic Entities

What do we know of "dark" or "black" psychic entities in poets earlier

and contemporary with Aeschylus? Certain mentions of these are well-
known, especially those of "black phrenes (άμφιμέλαιναι φρένες)"
described in Homer. Twice in the Iliad we hear that "black phrenes are
filled about greatly with rage (μένος) and eyes are like blazing fire". This
happens at II. 1.103 as Agamemnon reacts to the suggestions of Calchas

(1) Citations of the text of Aeschylus are from M.L. West, Aeschyli Tragoediae cum
incerti poetae Prometheo (Stuttgart 1990). References to Homer are from the Oxford
texts. Theognis is taken from M.L. West, Iambi et Elegi Graeci (Oxford, vol. I2, 1989).
Pindar is taken from H. Maehler, post B. Snell, Pindari Carmina cum Fragmentis
(Leipzig 1971, 1989), Parts 1 and 2.
Works relevant to this topic include the following. These will be referred to by
author's name alone. M.M. Assmann, Mens et Animus, Diss. (Amsterdam 1917), 159-60;
J. Böhme, Die Seele und das Ich im Homerischen Epos (Leipzig and Berlin 1929);
P. Chantraine, Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque (Paris 1968-80), Vol. 3,
680-1 ; F. Combellack, "Agamemnon's Black Heart", GB 4 (1975), 81-7; S. Darcus,
"An Echo of Homer in Pindar, Pythians 4", TAPA 107 (1977), 93-101; J. Dumortier,
Le vocabulaire medical d'Eschyle et les écrits hippocratiques (Paris 1935), 2-9,
M. Groselj, "Quid apud Homer, //. 1.103 significant", Ζ Ant 2 (1952), 77; Ε. Irwin,
Colour Terms Organe
"'Schwärzliche' in Greekim frühgriechischen
Poetry (TorontoDenken",
1974), Medizin-historisches
62-78, 144-56; F. Journal
Kudlein,8
(1973), 53-8 ; R.B. Onians, The Origins of European Thought1 (Cambridge 1954);
R. Padel, In and Out of Mind (Princeton 1992), 1-77; Whom Gods Destroy (Princeton
1995), 47-77; J. de Romilly, La crainte et l'angoisse dans le théâtre d'Eschyle (Paris
1958); "D'Homère à la tragédie: le témoignage des images", WS 20 (1986), 27-38;
F. Rüsche, Blut, Leben und Seele (Paderborn 1930); D. Sansone, Aeschylean Metaphors
for Intellectual Activity (Wiesbaden 1975); B. Snell and others, Lexikon des
frühgriechischen Epos (Göttingen 1955 -, in progress), s.v. άμφιμέλαιν(α); W.B. Stanford,
"Pelias and His Pallid Wits" in Studies in Honour of Gilbert Norwood (Toronto 1952),
42-5; E. Suârez de la Torre, "Μέλαινα καρδία: algunas notas pindâricas", E Clàs 25
(1981/83), 5-9; S.D. Sullivan, Psychological Activity in Homer, A Study of Phrën (Ottawa
1988); W.J. Verdenius, "Archaïsche denkpatronen, 1-3", Lampas 5 (1972), 101-2.
60 S. D. SULLIVAN

and Achilles about his behaviour and at Od. 4.661 when Antinoos hears
of the news of Telemachus' journey. At II. Π .499 Automedon, in answer
to prayer, "is filled with courage and strength (αλκή και σθένος)
about black phrenes". At II. 17.573, as he guards the body of Patroclus,
Athena fills Menelaus "with daring (θάρσος) about his black phrenes".
At II. 17.83 "terrible pain (αχός) strikes Hector about his black phrenes",
as he hears of the death of Euphorbus.
Discussions of these "black phrenes" have suggested the following (2).
Phrenes are not usually "black" but become so in certain situations,
namely those involving strong emotion (3). In these five passages we find
"rage", "courage", "strength", "daring", and "pains" affecting phrenes.
Two explanations of the "blackening" have been offered. First, phrenes,
during these strong emotions, may become suffused with "blood" (4). We
find blood itself often described as "black" in Homer (5). According to
this view, "blood" would fill phrenes, adding to their capacity for anger,
increasing their strength and vitality, and intensifying their pain. Second,
strong emotion may kindle like a fire within, just as anger appears to do
when it is compared to "smoke (καπνός)" at II. 18.108-10 (6). This "fire"
would "blacken" phrenes. It may be this "fire" also that "blazes forth"
from the eyes when Agamemnon and Antinoos grow angry.
Both these explanations appear to describe well what may happen to
phrenes
"darkening"
in strong
them emotion.
and strongly
Blood
affecting
or smoke
the either
person's
fill subsequent
or cover phrenes,
behaviour. This "darkening" of phrenes seems to be associated with an
intensified capacity to act or to suffer on the part of the individual.
After Homer we do not find references to "black phrenes" in Hesiod, or
in the lyric and elegiac poets (7). In Theognis and Pindar, however, we find
mentions of a "black heart (kardia)". At 1 199 Theognis says that "the voice
of the crane strikes (πατάσσω) his black kradië (κραδίην μέλα ιναν)"
because others possess his fields (8). As in //. 17.83, where "pain"
affected "black phrenes", here a "black kradië" suffers. It too may be suf-

(2) See especially Chantraine, Combellack, Darcus, Groselj, Irwin, Kudlein, Onians,
Rüsche, Snell and others, and Sullivan.
(3) So Irwin, 138-9, Kudlein, 53-8, and Sullivan, 45. Onians, in contrast, 23-7,
assumes that phrenes are normally "black".
(4) For this suggestion see Böhme, 29-30, Combellack, Rüsche, 41-2, Sansone, 76,
Snell and others, s.v. άμφιμέλαιν(α), and Verdenius, 101-2. Kudlein suggests a less
definite substance than blood as the cause of "blackening".
(5) See, e.g., //. 7.262, 10.298; Od. 3.455, 24.189 (μέλας); //. 1.303, 7.329, 11.829,
845; Od. 1 1.98, 16.441, 19.457 (κελαινός); //. 4.140, 5.798, 14.437, 16.667; Od. 1 1.36,
153 (κελαινεφής).
(6) For this suggestion see Irwin, 138.
(7) On the reference to a black phrën in Pseudo-Solon, Scol. Anon. 32.4, see below
note 28.
(8) This line is a clear echo of Hes., W. & D. 451 where "the voice of the crane bites
(δάκνω) the kradië" of the farmer without oxen when the time of ploughing comes.
 "DARK" MIND AND HEART IN AESCHYLUS 61

fused with extra blood or covered in a darkening smoke as it hears the

crane's cry.
In two fragments Pindar speaks of a "black heart". At fr. 123.4-6 we hear
that the person who fails to respond to the charms of the young man,
Theoxenus, "has been forged (χαλκεύω) with a cold flame (ψυχραφλογ ί)
in his (9).
iron" black
Thekardia
fragment
(μέλαιναν
proceedsκαρδίαν)
to say that
so this
that person
he is of
is adamant
not "honoured
or of

by Aphrodite" and spends his life in hoarding wealth and guarding his
psyche in a cowardly way (6-9). If a kardia is "forged" with a normal,
hot flame, it would, it seems, grow hot. In this case, the flame has been
a "cold" one. It has had the effect, apparently, of making kardia hard,
of "adamant" or of "iron" (l0). It has too, it appears, "blackened" it.
Like phrenes that may be "blackened" by smoke, so here kardia may
experience the same effect. Unlike "black phrenes", however, that in a
darkened state are filled with strong emotion, this "black kardia''' seems
to be unable to feel at all. The "forging" of kardia has lessened, not
enlarged, its capacity for emotional response.
At fr. 225 Pindar appears to suggest that sufferings precede joys for
human beings: "whenever god sends joy (χάρμα) to a man, first he strikes
(στυφελίζω) his black kradia (μέλαιναν κραδίαν)". This "black kradia"
seems to be filled with pain. Suffused with blood or darkened by smoke,
it suffers. The "joy" to come will clearly soothe the kradia. It may,
perhaps, lessen its darkness.
These instances of darkening of psychic entities in Homer, Theognis,
and Pindar have shown us its connection with emotion. When phrenes or
kardia are "black", they seem to be characterised by an enlarged capacity
for emotion (except in the case of the man "forged in his black kardia
with a cold flame"). The state of "black phrenes" appears to be a negative
one in the case of "rage" and "pain" but a positive one in the case of
"courage", "strength", and "daring". The state of a "black kardia" appears
to be negative in all three passages where it is mentioned. It is associated
with hardness and pain.
What references does Aeschylus make to a "dark" mind or heart ? We hear
of such at Per. 115, Supp. 785, Ag. 546, Choe. 158, 413, and Enm. 459.

II. Persians 115

The Chorus at the beginning of the play fear for the fate of the
Persian army. They say: "in respect to these things my black-robed
phrën (μελαγχίτςν φρήν) is torn (άμύσσεται) with fear (φόβω)". In this
passage we have a situation of emotion affecting phrën. Is it the case that

(9) On this fragment see especially Irwin, 146-8, 223-7.

(10) Elsewhere too we hear of an "iron" kradië: Od. 4.293, Hes., Theog. 764.
62 S. D. SULLIVAN

fear, like "rage", "courage", "strength", "daring", and "pain", can

"blacken" phrënl Is that why phrën is called "black-robed", as Aeschylus
uses an adjective found only here in his extant works ? If this is the case,
how do we relate this effect with the association we find of fear with
"paleness"?
In Homer we hear often in a formulaic expression that fear (δέος) is
"pale (χλωρός)" ("). Thus, at //. 7.479, "pale fear" takes hold of the
Achaeans and Trojans as they listen to Zeus thundering while they are
feasting (l2). Dolon, terrified by Odysseus and Diomedes, is "pale from
fear" (χλωρός ύπαί δείους: //. 10.376). So too are the Trojans in flight
(II. 15.4).
After Homer we do not hear of "pale fear" in our extant poetry but
Aeschylus makes one reference to such fear. At Supp. 566 he describes
the reaction that people had to Io: "mortals shook in their thumos with
pale fear (χλωρωδείματι)" (l3). Euripides refers likewise once to "pale
fear" at Supp. 599: "pale fear (δεΐμα χλοερόν) beneath the liver
harasses" the mothers of dead warriors.
Why is fear "pale" (χλωρός)"? Irwin argues persuasively that χλωρός
is related to the words for "bile": χόλος and χολή (Ι4). What was thought
to happen in fear may have been two things. The person becomes "pale"
because, on the one hand, bile suffuses the skin (I5). The person,
therefore, becomes "sickly yellow" because of the presence of bile and
because of the absence of blood on the periphery of the body. It may be,
therefore, that in fear the heart "darkens" because of the presence of
extra blood (l6). This blood rushes from the body into the heart.
This "darkening" of heart in fear, however, seems to differ from that
occurring in other emotions. The emotions that we heard of in Homer -
rage, courage, pain - that "darken" appear to enlarge the capacity of phre-
nes and to enhance their response. With fear, the heart may "darken" but
the fear itself, being "pale" and associated with bile, may largely fill the
person but not itself "darken" the heart.
Another passage in Aeschylus perhaps lends support for this picture of
the state of fear. At Ag. 1121 the Chorus, apparently in fear as Cassandra

(11) See especially the discussion of Irwin, 62-78.

(12) See other examples of "pale fear" at//. 8.77, 17.67; Od. 11.43, 12.343; H. Dem.
190.
(13) In our extant Aeschylus we find χλωρός only once elsewhere and there the text
is in question. At Ag. 677 the Chorus refer to Menelaus as possibly "pale and seeing
(χλωρόν και βλέποντα)" after the fall of Troy.
(14) Aristotle, fr. 243, mentions the first phenomenon, Theocritus, 23.13, the second.
See Irwin, 63, and also H. Friis Johansen and G. W. Whittle, Aeschylus, The Suppliants
(Copenhagen 1980), Vol. 2, ad 566-7.
(15) Irwin, 31-3.
(16) Irwin, 152, Johansen-Whittle (note 14), ad 785, Padel, In and Out of Mind, 68,
and Sansone, 52, speak of kardia being "blackened" by fear.
 "DARK" MIND AND HEART IN AESCHYLUS 63

describes Clytemnestra's killing of Agamemnon, say: "to my kardia runs

the saffron-dyed
"blood" C7) but seems
drop better
(κροκοβαφής
interpreted
σταγών)".
as "bile" This
(l8). It
"drop"
may be
could
that be
in
fear blood fills the heart but, attendant with this state of the heart, bile
may fill the person, perhaps right up to the heart itself. "Darkness" may
be at the core of the person, in the heart, but the rest of the individual
may be filled with sickly bile. Thus the heart may be "dark" but the
person may be "pale".
This same condition of bile may be present also in Electra who, on
spotting Orestes' lock of hair, says: "a wave of bile stands before my
kardia and I am struck as if by a weapon piercing through" {Choe. 183-4).
"Bile" here "stands before" the heart. We do not, however, hear of the
condition of the heart nor is there any mention of "paleness" in Electra
in this passage.
Let us return to Per. 115. Here we have a "black-robed phrën torn with
fear". In light of our discussion above, we may suggest that part of the
blackness of phrën comes from the effect of fear: it has caused blood to
fill this phrën in a degree more than usual ("). But "black-robed" may
indicate as well another image of phrën. Broadhead convincingly argues
that "black-robed" refers to the state of grief that the Chorus have
already entered (20). They have "clothed" their phrën in "black garments",
mourning already the army which they fear has been lost. Fear "tears"
and rips, as it were, this robe (21). The imagery at Per. 1 15, therefore, may
include the following. Grief has put a black-robe onto phrën. Fear may
drive blood into this phrën, darkening it. This fear itself, perhaps "pale"
and associated with bile, attacks and "tears" phrën itself.

III. Suppliants 785

After Danaus has spotted the Aegyptiads and left to seek help, the Danaids
say: "my dear kear, black-skinned (κελαινόχρων), throbs (πάλλεται)" (22).

(17) See E. Fraenkel, Aeschylus, Agamemnon (Oxford 1950), ad 1 122, J.D. Denniston
and D.L. Page, Aeschylus, Agamemnon (Oxford 1957), ad 1121, and G. Thomson, The
Oresteia of Aeschylus (Amsterdam 1966), ad 1121-3.
(18) See Dumortier, 4, Irwin, 63-4, Onians, 84-9, de Romilly, Crainte, 30, and W.G.
Thalmann, "Aeschylus' Physiology of the Emotions", AJP 107 (1986), 503-4.
(19) Note that phrën is associated with fear also in the following passages but with
no indication of its colour: Per. 606, 703; Supp. 379, 513; Eum. 88, 518. Cf. too P.V.
181 and 881.
(20) H.D. Broadhead, The Persae of Aeschylus (Cambridge 1960), ad 115-16. Cf. the
reference to the "black-clothed assaults (έφόδοις μελανείμοσιν)" of the Furies.
(21) Cf. the appearance of the same verb, άμύσσω, at Per. 161 when Atossa says
that "worry (φρόντις) rends (άμύσσει) her in her kardia". This and Per. 115 are the
only instances of this verb in our extant Aeschylus.
(22) We hear of kear "throbbing (πάλλω)" also at Choe. 410 in grief. As we learned
above, thumos "throbs (πάλλω)" with fear at the sight of Io (Supp. 566).
64 S. D. SULLIVAN

At 786, they say also: "I am undone (οϊχομαι) with fear (φόβω)". Once
again we encounter a psychic entity, kear, in the context of fear (23). Like
phrën in Per. 1 15, hear is "black", this time "black-skinned". As with Per.
115 the "blackness" of kear here may be caused by the state of fear.
Blood may fill kear, perhaps moving there from other parts of the body.
But, as in Per. 1 15 also, the reference to "black-skinned" may indicate in
addition a different image of kear. The Danaids may suggest that their
kear is "dark" just as their skin likewise is.
Elsewhere in the Suppliants we hear that both the Danaids and the
Aegyptiads are a "dark-skinned" race. At Supp. 154 the Danaids are called
a "dark race (γένος μελανθές)". At Supp. 719 the Aegyptiads are
described as having "dark (μελάγχιμος) limbs"; they are attended by a
"dark (μελάγχιμος) army" (745). When Pelasgus greets the Danaids on
their arrival, he likens them to women of Libya or India (279-86).
The adjective "black-skinned", then, appearing only here in our extant
Aeschylus, may indicate a kear that is "dark" in nature just as the Danaids
are themselves of a dark complexion. In addition to this image, it could
be too that fear, causing blood to fill kear, brings about its dark
condition. The imagery in this passage of the Suppliants of a "dark kear",
therefore, is a rich one.

IV. Agamemnon 546

When the Herald asks whether the Argive warriors were missed when
they were at Troy, the Chorus tell him that they longed so greatly for them
that they "groaned (άναοτένειν) from a dark phrën (άμαυρας φρενός)".
Aeschylus uses the adjective άμαυρός once elsewhere with phrën (see
below, Choe. 158). He uses it also of an "uncertain rumour (κληδών)" at
Choe. 853 and of a "weak person" at Ag. 466.
In this passage, Ag. 546, the Chorus experience grief in phrën. Its
"darkness"
may derive from the effect of the emotion of grief upon it. As with
the emotions in Homer that could make phrenes "black", so here grief
may "darken" phrën by causing blood to fill it or by clothing it in smoke.
The effect of this "darkening", however, is not as with other emotions, to
invigorate phrën or to enlarge its capacity. The opposite is the case. The
adjective άμαυρός appears to be particularly apt because in its "dark"
state of grief phrën may also be "weak".
The adjective άμαυρός may also indicate more. Just as at Per. 1 15 where
"black-robed" suggested a covering of mourning, so here too άμαυρός may

(23) "Kear" is the reading of West; other editions print "kardia". On the text see
Johansen-Whittle (note 14), ad 784-5. We hear of both these psychic entities involved
in fear without indications of colour as follows. Kear: Sept. 287. Kardia: Sept. 288, Ag.
977, Choe. 102, 167, 1024, Eum. 523. Cf. also P.V. 881.
 "DARK" MIND AND HEART IN AESCHYLUS 65

suggest the mourning that the Chorus experienced for the army. Many
Argives did not return home. The groans from a "dark phrën" were
appropriately expressed in the past. The άμαυρά phrën at Ag. 546,
therefore, appears to be one darkened and weakened by grief and one clothed
in mourning and sadness. Once again the image of "darkness" in this
passage appears to have several facets.

V. Choephoroi 158

In this passage the Chorus call on the dead Agamemnon to listen: "hear
me, o master, from a dark phrën (άμαυρας φρενός)". In this passage the
adjective άμαυρός has a meaning different from other instances of "dark".
No emotion is present here. No phrën in the living person is referred to,
a phrën that could be "darkened" by blood or smoke (24). In Homer we
hear that the dead do not have phrenes, except for Teiresias in whom they
stayed "firm" (//. 23.104, Od. 10.493). Pindar, in contrast, speaks of the
dead having a. phrën or phrenes (01. 2.57, Pyth. 5.101). In a similar way
Aeschylus here suggests that Agamemnon still has a phrën, but one
obviously quite separate from a body.
How is phrën άμαυρά? The adjective may suggest, first of all, the
appropriate colour of a phrën of a dead person. It may suggest too the "weak"
and "fragile" nature of this phrën ("). The capacity of phrën in the dead
Agamemnon is a dim one.

VI. Choephoroi 413

In this passage we do not hear of a specific psychic entity but of

"innards (σπλάγχνα)" that "grow dark". At 410-14 the Chorus say
during the exchange between Orestes and Electra: "my dear hear again
throbs (πέπαλται) as I listen to this lament, and then I am bereft of hope
and my innards (σπλάγχνα) grow dark (κελαινοΰ ται) as I hear the word".
They contrast this condition with that which "confidence (θάρσος)" can
bring (415-17) (26). As we heard at Ag. 546 "grief" was associated with
a "dark phrën". Here the emotions of grief and hopelessness seem
capable of "darkening" the "inward parts" of the Chorus. These "inward parts"

(24) Note that at Choe. 323 the Chorus explain that fire "does not destroy the thought
(φρόνημα) of the dead person".
(25) For this interpretation see Frankel (note 16), ad Ag. 546, A.F. Garvie, Aeschylus,
Choephoroi (Oxford 1986), ad 157-8, Thomson (note 16), ad 157, and A.W. Verrall,
Aeschylus, Choephoroi (London 1893), ad 156.
(26) The text in Choe. 415-17 is in question, but a situation opposite to lines 4
ΙΟΙ 4 seems to be suggested.
66 S. D. SULLIVAN

would include various organs, such as heart, liver, lungs, and kidneys (27).
Here again the image may be of "blood" filling or "smoke" covering inner
organs. The emotions mentioned in this passage do not enliven or
invigorate; instead they depress and perhaps make weak. They bring on
a condition that the Chorus wish to be replaced by its opposite,
"confidence (θάρσος: 416)".

VII. Eumenides 459

We find in Aeschylus one compound adjective involving "dark" and a

psychic entity. At Ewn. 459 Orestes describes Clytemnestra in her
murder seems
"dark" of Agamemnon
to suggest as
"evil"
"dark-minded
or "wicked"
(κελαινόφρων)".
(28). Clytemnestra
In 'sthis
phrën
context
may
be one suffused with blood or covered in smoke as it devises its ghastly
deeds. At Ag. 1428 we hear the Chorus say that Clytemnestra 's phrën
"rages with blood-dripping fortune". At Choe. 626 they mention "devis-
ings of phrenes planned by a woman", clearly referring to Clytemnestra.
A phrën "clothed in darkness" appears to be one that acts as a source of
evil (29).

VIII. Conclusion

In the article we have examined the references that Aeschylus makes to

a "dark mind or heart". We have seen in the case of phrën darkness
related to fear {Per. 115), grief and mourning {Per. 115, Ag. 546), weakness
{Choe. 158), and evil {Eum. 459). We encountered in the case of hear
darkness related to fear and to the colour of skin {Supp. 785). "Innards" too
can "grow dark" in grief and hopelessness {Choe. 413). In each case we
suggested that the reference to "dark" had more than a single image
associated with it. Possible physical effects were indicated in the
"darkening"; emotional responses seemed to be present as well. "Darkness" in
both phrën and hear is associated with negative conditions of these
psychic entities. In Homer "black phrenes" could be positive or negative.
In Theognis and Pindar a "black kardia" was only negative. Aeschylus

(27) On the meaning of splanchna see Dumortier, 14-16, Padel, 13-18, and Sansone,
50, note 27.
(28) On this passage see Irwin, 152-3. A similar association of "dark" and
wickedness appears in Sophocles' reference to a "dark-faced thumos (κελαινώπαν θυμόν)" at
Aj. 955-6. An association with evil occurs also in the scolion ascribed to Solon, Scol.
Anon. 32.4, where a hypocrite's tongue speaks "from a black phrën (μέλαινας φρενός)".
(29) We can contrast this "dark phrën" with the "white phrenes" of Pelias in Pindar,
Pyth. 4.109. These phrenes too appear to be the source of reprehensible actions. See
further discussion in Darcus and Stanford.
 "DARK" MIND AND HEART IN AESCHYLUS 67

focuses on the negative association of "darkness". A "dark mind" and a

"dark heart" in Aeschylus point always to suffering of some kind that is
present. Each reference that he makes to this type of mind or heart is a
rich and effective one.