Iliad and Aethiopis on the Stage

Aeschylus and Son

Bibliographic Data

ID9294702
AuthorsM L West (corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume50
Issue2
Pages338-352
Publication date2000-12-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Classical Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0009-8388 • E-ISSN: 1471-6844
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1093/cq/50.2.338
OpenAlexW2038407453
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited14

Aeschylus, according to a famous report, described his tragedies as ‘cuts from Homer's great banquets’. The anecdote has the ring of truth, particularly as ‘Homer’ here must include the Epic Cycle, which would hardly have been possible after the fifth century; and there is an obvious source from which Athenaeus might have taken the story, the ’Eπιδημαι of Ion of Chios, which he cites in three other places. This work had the character of a personal memoir describing notable Athenian statesmen, poets, and philosophers whom Ion had known. The emphasis was on their personalities as revealed in their public speeches and private conversation. One of Athenaeus’ quotations from it is about Sophocles, and we know from other evidence that as a young man Ion had met Aeschylus too. The anecdote would have been perfectly in place in such a book

Anecdote · Art · Character (mathematics · Conversation · EPIC · Linguistics · Literature · Memoir · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · History · Philosophy

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