ABSTRACT
Sources on maschalismos can roughly be divided into two groups: the literary and the scholiastic or lexicographic. The little information one gathers from these two passages is that maschalismos is performed after the killing, and that it is an outrage – meant to elicit indignation in the addressees of both these utterances – as well as a dishonor to the dead. Much more troubling than apparent inconsistencies is the almost complete silence of classical sources on the purpose of maschalismos. Hanging body parts strung together from the neck, with a curious twist down under the armpits, closely resembles the manner in which one particular everyday garment was worn; the so-called shoulder cord or shoulder strap. Since revenge is symbolically associated in sources with both hands and feet,56 then perhaps amputating them from a murder victim could indeed be constructed as means of enfeebling his vindictive wrath – if, indeed, these were the body parts affected by maschalismos.
