Emma J. STAFFORD Observing Proper Limits: Aidôs, Hybris and the Sanctuary of Nemesis at Rhamnous

Much recent work at Rhamnous, on the NE coast of Attika, has concentrated on the fortress, one of the major boundary garrisons especially prominent in the later fourth and third centuries BC. That the fortress had close social links with the nearby sanctuary of Nemesis is clear from a number of inscriptions, including the recently-published decree of c.255 BC proposing that the Rhamnousians sacrifice to the Macedonian king Antigonos Gonatas ‘at the athletic contest of the Great Nemesia’. What I shall explore in this paper is a number of conceptual links between the geopolitical position of Rhamnous and the goddess worshipped at the sanctuary there from at least the sixth century BC; in the course of this it will be necessary to engage with current debates on the nature of hybris and aidôs, and the relationship of both to nemesis.

Rhamnous offers a safe harbour on an otherwise inhospitable coast, connecting up with a land route to inland Attika, of crucial importance for the importation of corn supplies from Euboia during the Peloponnesian War. It is also just a few miles north of Marathon, a geographical association exploited by ancient authors commenting on the over-ambitiousness of the Persian invasion of 490. Pausanias even characterises the Persians’ crime as the kind of thing likely to be punished by Nemesis, the particular connections he makes coming at the end of a long line of literary characterisations of Nemesis as punisher of those who overstep boundaries, defender of those who observe the proper limits of aidôs. This association can be seen from Nemesis’ earliest appearances in Hesiod, and is later made explicit in the attributes of measuring rod and bridle which she acquires in Hellenistic literature and art. The connection between Nemesis and transgressive barbarians from the East is further articulated in the goddess’ role as mother of Helen, the earliest source for which is a fragment of the Kypria which tells of Nemesis’ rape by Zeus. If, as has been argued on linguistic grounds, the Kypria is of Attic origins, and no earlier than c.550 BC, it is not implausible that the Nemesis story might be a specifically Attic variation on Helen’s parentage, prompted by the author’s knowledge of a local sixth-century cult of Nemesis at Rhamnous. Just such an Attic appropriation of Sparta’s most famous daughter is stressed in the early years of the Peloponnesian War, for example in Kratinos’ comedy Nemesis and one or two possibly related vase-paintings; at the same time the sanctuary at Rhamnous underwent considerable refurbishment, acquiring a new temple and the famous cult statue by Agorakritos. I shall argue that Athens’ sudden interest in the remote deme of Rhamnous c.430 BC can best be explained by the coincidence of the fortress’ strategic position and the fact that the associated sanctuary honoured a goddess who was not only predisposed to bring divine retribution upon the enemy, but had proved efficacious against invaders in the past.