Emotion in Politics: Envy, Jealousy, and Rulership in Archaic and Classical Greece

Abstract

This dissertation explores the association between the emotions of envy and jealousy and the figure of the sole ruler, which is discernible in even the oldest ancient Greek literary texts. These emotions—most easily identified by the Greek words phthonos and zelos, but in many cases left unnamed on account of an enduring social stigma—are overwhelmingly negative and often dangerous in the works of Homer, Hesiod, Sophocles, and Herodotus, and this is especially true when a ruler is involved. When a ruler acts out of envy or jealousy, there are never direct positive effects for others, and the only instance in which envy or jealousy aimed at a ruler can be considered to produce a societal benefit is when it originates from the divine realm. In such circumstances, it reestablishes proper order by punishing the overly arrogant. There are various scenarios in which envy, jealousy, and rulership appear in combination, and the widening range of permutations in the literature of the fifth century B.C. (and beyond) reflects a heightened anxiety about the precariousness of one-man rule. Already in the works of Homer and Hesiod, it is readily apparent that envy and jealousy typically relate to issues of honor. Accordingly, many rulers attract the envy of their subjects (particularly of potential rivals), and conversely, many rulers exhibit jealousy in their attempts to maintain their position or their status. In the classical period, arguments about why specific individuals do not and why people in general should not envy rulers become increasingly prevalent, as does the idea that overly powerful individuals provoke the jealousy of the gods. There are also depictions of rulers who internalize the commonplace that they are wont to incur envy to such a degree that they either become excessively cautious and fearful or they dismiss any opposition on the grounds that it stems from envy. In the world of epic, while envy and jealousy were already regarded as untoward and potentially destabilizing emotions, monarchy was still a perfectly acceptable and widespread form of rule. Over time, however, with the Athenians’ hatred of tyranny burgeoning and their influence growing, the association between the emotions of envy and jealousy and rulership was invoked more and more frequently, as democrats and oligarchs alike could use it to justify their distrust of tyranny, and thus the increasingly negative perceptions of tyranny contributed in turn to the further vilification of envy and jealousy.PHDClassical StudiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143951/1/mkutter_1.pd