THE CITY’S PACT OF OBLIVION: NICOLE LORAUX AND STASIS

Nicole Loraux extensively studied the question of internal discord in Greek representations of the city. In this article, I propose to understand her reflections on stasis and Greek politics through the lens of sexual division. The narratives of amnesty and noble death, both founded on the homage to autochthony, correspond to a discourse on family. The social bond is based on fraternity, that is, on those born from the same land: brothers. Yet, according to Loraux, what structures political life is not internal conflict, but its denial. The exclusion of women in these narratives of parenthood, which aim to establish peace and unity in a divided city, suggests that political life is structured on the basis of the denial of an internal conflict (the division of the sexes) that is silenced. Only tragedy will reveal this conflict in the open.