Pharmako [φάρμακo]: Plague Miasma, and Exile in Sophocles' Three Theban Plays

10.30095/SYJH.200712.0007

Yu-Yen Chang

藥／毒 ； 索福克里斯 ； 底比斯城 ； 雅典 ； 瘟疫 ； 污染 ； 城邦 ； 放逐 ； 替罪者 ； Pharmako φάρμακo ； Sophocles ； Oedipus ； Thebes ； Athens ； plagues ； miasma ； polis ； exile ； scapegoat

中山人文學報

24期（2007 / 12 / 01）

123 - 140

英文

藥劑學的語源是希臘文pharmako [φάρμακo]，原意即同時指藥與毒，根據Lloyd的語義分析，其衍生字pharmakos，又指被放逐的替罪者。《伊底帕斯王》中，伊底帕斯既是污染底比斯城的罪魁禍首、又是解救底比斯城的良方、最終也成為自我放逐替罪者；伊底帕斯儼然成為pharmako [φάρμακo]一詞多重意涵的具體呈現。但是《伊底帕斯在科羅納斯》重新質疑這些意義，伊底帕斯不苒是毒、也非藥、更不是替罪者，伊底帕斯成為雅典公民、死後並成為保護雅典城的守護英雄。本文介紹pharmako [φάρμακo]一詞所涵蓋多層語義，分析索福克里斯如何運用此概念、並指出古希臘醫學與疾病觀念的轉折。這三齣悲劇不僅重塑伊底帕斯的神話故事，更進一步反思與重新界定疾病概念與公共空間、城邦與秩序等關聯。

The term pharmako [φάρμακo] conveys a semantic multiplicity: medicinal drugs, poisons, magic substance, spells or charms, and the scapegoat figure expelled out of the community. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus' ambivalent character exactly exemplifies the multiple sense of pharmako: the pollutant that must be eliminated and the role of scapegoat who is driven out of Thebes in order to save the community from certain troubles. However, in Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus is becoming an Athenian citizen and then becoming the protective hero; that is to say, Oedipus is not really ostracized, but simply transformed into an emigrant to another city. It is argued that the semantic multiplicity of the term pharmakos is somehow reversed or revoked in Oedipus at Colonus. Since this retraction can not be explained off by Oedipus' mythical metamorphosis at the end of his life, substantial attention is given to the abundant medical imagery and related conceptual metaphors in Sophocles' Three Theban Plays. This paper examines what is implicated in the multiple concepts of pharmako and evaluates if it is adequate to reckon Oedipus as pharmako. Central to the issue concerning the multiplicity of the term pharmako and its conceptual evolution is the way how the ideas of plague, pollution, and purification are deliberately elaborated in Sophocles' three tragedies.

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