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of the old household slave who is to be flogged to death in the ritual. TtreSias makes
the transference partly because he fears the possibility of insurrection and rebellion
amo ng the slaves and because he sees it as an opportunity to participate in the slave's
role instead of his usual role as administrator of the ritual (12). Tiresias has arranged
that the floggers do not whip him mercilessly to death as they do the slaves but only
perform the symbolic flogging; nonetheless they almost flog the last breath out of his
body. when askedby Dionysos why he volunteered to play flagellant, Tuesias replies :
"The city must be cleansed . Filth , pollution. cruelti es. secret abominations - a whole
year's accumulation ... . Ifone more slave I1adbeen killed at the cleansing rites , or
sacrificed to that insatiable altar of oarion-build.ing •••• (10. 11). Tiresias wants to
sacrifice himself but oot completely; he identifies with the scapegoatbut not to the
extent of being flogged to death. Through Dionysos, Soyinka. demonstrates that
Pentheus, not Tiresias , is eligible as a scapegoat, to rake away the filth, pollution and
cruel ties of the whole year, since he is directly responsible for them, and more
importantly as Diooysos declares: "Ibere are risks I A king must take for his own
people- (70) . Soyinka also hints at the thousands of Nigerians whose lives were cut
short under the guise of -nation-building- during the past several decades .
In his Introduction, Soyinka explains the philosophy behind the ritual flogging
and how it benefits the oppressor at the expense of the slaves and lower classes:
The impact of the Dionysiac revival on the slave-sustained economy of
Greek society becomes understandable within this context. Punishment
for 'economic sabotage ' - malingering, rebelliousness, quota failure etc .
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