ABSTRACT
It has been argued that the story of the rape was an invention of the Hellenistic period, 16 but there is some evidence which suggests that this may not have been the case. Beginning in the early sixth century there are numerous representations on vases and bronze reliefs of Aias' crime, and in these Cassandra is depicted naked or nearly naked. And even if this representation is strangely proleptic, Cassandra's nakedness - which is highly exceptional in Archaic art - can only have been meant as a reference to the rape; at least there can be no doubt about Aias' intentions. 17 Also, in the Lesche of the Cnidians at Delphi there was a painting by Polygnotus which depicted Aias swearing an oath 'concerning the outrage against Cassandra' in the presence of Agamemnon and Menelaus (Paus. 10.26.3): it has been plausibly suggested that Aias was swearing that he did not rape Cassandra, which would seem to presuppose a version in which he had actually done SO.18 Finally, in a passage attributed to Libanius, the author states that the rape of Cassandra was told 'by the poets who spoke about the capture of Troy' (Lib. Ref. 2.1). Unless 'Libanius' is mistaken, this is a reference to Cyclic poetry; and Davreux has argued that it is a reference to the Ilioupersis of Arctinus, 19 although Proclus, in his brief summary of the poem, says only that Aias dragged Cassandra from the image of Athena, upsetting the statue in the process, and that when the Greeks tried to stone Aias he ran as a suppliant to the very goddess he had offended (Procl. Chr., p. 108 Allen). The poet of the Little Iliad appears to have omitted the actual rape, and Stesichorus seems to have adopted a milder version. 2o Alcaeus possibly followed the tradition of the actual rape,21 but in the fifth century as far as we know the tragedians were silent about the rape, again probably because the actual violation of Cassandra was inconsistent with the tradition that she fell as booty to Agamemnon. 22
In contrast to Demetrius of Scepsis, Polybius wrote that the maidens began to be sent before the colony of Locri was founded, i.e. before the close of the eighth century or the first quarter of the seventh. Whom are we to believe, Demetrius or Polybius? Demetrius found a modern champion in Wilamowitz, who argued that he may have had a reliable source for his information. As for Polybius' statement, in Wilamowitz's opinion this indicates only that the Italian Locrians believed in the high antiquity of the tribute. 23 On the other hand, some scholars have felt that Demetrius, in his zeal to prove that Troy had been destroyed and abandoned, dated the institution of the tribute as late as possible - and Xerxes' visit to the temple of Athena Ilias in 480 (Hdt. 7.43.1-2) will have been widely known. 24 In short, it is possible that neither historian had solid grounds for his contention; but the archaeological evidence, pointing to the colonization of Troy in around 700, casts further doubt on Polybius' early dating of the tribute.
