Susanna Cries: Attending to the Auditory Dimension of the Susanna Narrative

Since antiquity, the story of Susanna has inspired interpretations that focus on its visual dimensions. The auditory dimension of the narrative has received much less attention. While some scholars have recently directed their attention to the use of voice in this narrative by employing speech act theory to analyse the forensic dialogue in the narrative, these contributions focus only on the voice of logos, the voice of structured, rational, persuasive speech. This article posits that there is another voice at work in the Susanna narrative: the voice of phōnē, the bare voice of inarticulate utterances and sounds. Drawing from the discipline of sound studies, this article explores the sighs, cries, and laments in the ancient Greek text of the narrative, and argues that, from a modern perspective, Susanna is a victim who actively uses her voice, despite scholarly interpretations that inadvertently aestheticise and ultimately silence her voice.