A murder in Delphi : some remarks on Aesop as φαρμακός and his heroization

Abstract

The first part of this study questions the appropriateness of comparison with the rite of the φαρμακός to explain the episode of Aesop’s death in Delphi. Despite the presence of common details, this episode presents a sequence of events that is quite different from that ritual pattern: rather than a scapegoat, Aesop recalls many heroes first killed or wronged and then worshipped by their enemies, after the intervention of an oracle. For this reason, I reconsider the evidence about the heroic cult that is paid to the fabulist. I show that there are two different traditions regarding the punishment of Delphians. The heroic cult is only mentioned by sources that emphasize the need to appease the wrath of the dead Aesop, a fact that leads me to suggest a new interpretation of some pieces of evidence, in particular a fragment of Plato Comicus, that seem to allude to a return to life of Aesop as a “revenant”.