Adultery (Lexical stuff)

From: D. Anthony Storm (dstorm@2xtreme.net)
Date: Tue Jan 27 1998 - 10:58:38 EST


(i apologize if you receive this twice. It did not seem to go through the
first time).

I am coming out of perpetual lurk mode. Much of the following has been
culled from TDNT and LSJ. These notes apply to ancient Greek society. I
trust they have application here as well. (Please be patient with my
transliteration).

The noun MOIXEIA means adultery or illicit intercourse, as is found in Plato
(R 443a; Lg. 839a) and in Lysias (1.36), as well in Andocides, PERI MEN OUN
MOIXEIAS KAI YUNAIKWN ALLOTRION (4.10), and in many other places. The
distinction between adultery or illicit intercourse depends on whether the
female is married or not. I maintain MOIXEIA can apply to any female under
the protection of a kurios, but that the most common situation in Greek
literature is that of a married woman committing what we would call
adultery.

The verb MOIXEUW is used in the active voice in an absolute (intransitive)
sense meaning I act as an adulterer, for example MH MOIXEUEIN MHD'
hUBRIZEIN (Arist. NE 1129b, 22), EMOIXEUSAS TI (Ar. Nub. 1076). When the
verb is used with the accusative case, which is the norm, it means to
commit adultery with (a woman), debauch her, or seduce her. In
Aristophanes we find, MOIXEUSONTES TAS ALKMHNAS (Av. 558), and in Lysias On
the Murder of Eratosthenes, hWS EMOIXEUEN ERATOSQENHS THN GUNAIKA THN EMHN
(1.4) and UPO GUNAIKOS UPOPEMFQEISA hHN EKEINOS EMOIXEUEN (1.15), and in
Plato, KAI THN GUNAIKA AUTOU MOIXEUSANTA (R 360b), and so forth. In
conjunction with the genitive, which is rare, MOIXEUW means to seduce or
violate a woman, and then figuratively, to adulterate (Lucianus DMar.
12.1). In the middle and passive voices, it means to be, or allow oneself
to be, seduced, (Arist. HA 586a3), but in the case of a woman it means to
commit adultery. Interestingly enough, it is also used figuratively for the
intermingling of men and animals or people of different races, (Arist. HA
619a).

The verb MOIXEUW generally means commit adultery. When a girl, who should
be guarding her virginity, is seduced, it means to commit illicit
intercourse. In either case, MOIXEUW covers the entire process of wooing a
woman (or girl) away from her kurios, as we see when we examine Lysias 1,
including illicit sex. The Greeks believed that men were powerful and women
susceptible, hence MOIXEIA does not only refer to the process when an
illicit affair is consummated, but also to the initial moment of seduction
that later leads to sexual intercourse.

The noun MOIXOS means adulterer, seducer or lover (Ar. Pl. 168; Lys. 1.30).
David Cohen says, ...there is no classical Greek term which corresponds to
adulteress. A woman serves as the object of moicheia, never the active
agent. Thus there is no functional noun *MOIXH which would cover the
meaning adulteress. However, Liddell and Scott do list MOIXH once (as well
as the variant MOIXIS) in Aristophanes Byzantinus, (third to second century
BCE, Eust. 1761.24). But since they cite the former as a rare form for
MOIXAS, we are thus to presume that these two words are aberrations. There
is also the noun MOIXEUTRIAI used by Aristophanes in the Symposium (191e),
but it is not the standard word, and as such is not found in the orators,
nor is MOIXAS, found in Aeschines Socraticus (fourth century BCE), nor again
is the word MOIXALIS, not found until the late Hellenistic period. These are
all exceptions that prove the rule. The standardized way of conveying the
meaning adulteress was to use the feminine participle (cf. Ps. D 59.110).
Not surprisingly, the androcentricity of Greek society is inherent in its
vocabulary. In some Ancient Near Eastern cultures both the man and the woman
were put to death. In Greek culture, the woman simply is not important
enough, nor sufficiently culpable, to be executed.

My study does not end here. But I thought it appropriate to stop since I am
sensitive to the specificity of B-Greek discussions. If some folks want to
read more, I can post more

----
D. Anthony Storm              dstorm@2xtreme.net
http://www.2xtreme.net/dstorm/


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