STATIUS, THEB. 1 .72: IS JOCASTA DEAD OR ALIVE? 225
It appears that the differences in setting and timing between these
three versions of the same reconciliation-tradition are deliberate and
well-calculated in order to achieve very different dramatic effects. At
the same time these variations offer different dramatic opportunities.
For instance, in Statius, Jocasta’s relatively early death at the outbreak
of war and before the death of her sons (11.634ff.), creates the oppor-
tunity for Oedipus to enter the battlefield and look for his sons
(11.580–633). This is a highly original scene. If Jocasta had lived until
after the death of her sons, as in Phoin. 1454–9, this Oedipus-scene
would have been a mere duplication. In Statius, Oedipus is led by
Antigone, as in Sophocles’ OC, and his desire to die is very similar to
that in Seneca’s Phoen., but now the situation is very different. When
Oedipus in Theb. 11.627ff. is searching for the sword of one of his
sons to kill himself—in vain since the swords have been removed by
Antigone—we are reminded not only of Jocasta actually killing her-
self with one of these swords in Phoin. 1454–9, but also of Oedipus’
desperate wish to die—in a very different setting—in Sen. Phoen. 89–
110, which passage in turn reworks parts from Sophocles’ OC.
Jocasta’s suicide: timing and circumstancesNow that we have established and analyzed the two different story-
lines about Jocasta’s death, a close investigation of the timing, cir-
cumstances and means of her self-inflicted death in these two strands
of the Oedipodeia-tradition may help us to improve our understanding
of the intertextual references in Theb. 1.72 and to answer the question
whether Jocasta is dead or alive at the beginning of this epic. In the
chronological survey below, I will distinguish between version (A)
and (B), according to whether her suicide is put directly after the
anagnorisis (A), or—much later—at or after the outbreak of war (B).
In version (A) Jocasta traditionally hangs herself, with the exception
of Seneca’s Oedipus. In version (B) she uses a sword to kill herself;
the various identifications of the original owner of this sword allow
for the introduction of the theme of ‘identical weapons’.
In Homer (version A), Epikaste hangs herself, when she has dis-
covered the truth about her marriage: