Synopses & Reviews
This is a literary study of Aeschylus' Persians alongside Herodotus' Histories, which offers a comprehensive understanding what actually happened at the battle of Salamis and afterwards. Thomas Harrison examines the political and ideological motivating factors underpinning Persai in the context of the times.
Aeschylus Persians is not only the first surviving Greek drama. It is also the only tragedy to take for its subject historical rather than mythical events: the repulse of the army of Xerxes at Salamis in 480 B.C. It has frequently been mined for information on the tactics of Salamis or the Greeks knowledge of Persian names or institutions, but it also has a broader value, one that has not often been realised. What does it tell us about Greek representations of Persia, or of the Athenians self-image? What can we glean from it of the politics of early fifth-century Athens, or of the Athenians conception of their empire? How, if at all, can such questions be approached without doing violence to the Persians as a drama? What are the implications of the play for the nature of tragedy?
Synopsis
Aeschylus' "Persions" is the first surviving Greek drama. This book provides aims to provide both a more satisfactory reading of the "Persians" and a richer picture of fifth-century history - the history both of events and ideology.
Synopsis
This is a literary study of Aeschylus' Persians alongside Herodotus' Histories, which offers a comprehensive understanding what actually happened at the battle of Salamis and afterwards. Thomas Harrison examines the political and ideological motivating factors underpinning Persai in the context of the times.
Aeschylus Persians is not only the first surviving Greek drama. It is also the only tragedy to take for its subject historical rather than mythical events: the repulse of the army of Xerxes at Salamis in 480 B.C. It has frequently been mined for information on the tactics of Salamis or the Greeks knowledge of Persian names or institutions, but it also has a broader value, one that has not often been realised. What does it tell us about Greek representations of Persia, or of the Athenians self-image? What can we glean from it of the politics of early fifth-century Athens, or of the Athenians conception of their empire? How, if at all, can such questions be approached without doing violence to the Persians as a drama? What are the implications of the play for the nature of tragedy?
About the Author
Thomas Harrison is Professor of Ancient History and Classical Archaeology at the University of Liverpool.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I. Framing the play
1. Aeschylus the historian?
2. Politics and partisanship
3. Aeschylus, Atossa and Athenian ideology
Part II. Finding Athens
4. The use and abuse of Persia
5. Where is Athens?
6. Athens and Greece
7. The emptiness of Asia
8. Democracy and tyranny
Part III. Conclusions
9. Themistocles and Aristides
10. Athens and Persia
Notes
Bibliography
Index