The Emptiness of Asia: Aeschylus' 'Persians' and the History of the Fifth Century

ISBN-13: 9780715629680 / Angielski / Twarda / 2001 / 240 str.

Thomas Harrison; Thomas Harrison

Opis

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?

Recenzje

[This] is a literary study of Aeschylus' Persai alongside Herodotus' Histories which will provide the reader with comprehensive understanding what actually happened at the battle of Salamis and afterwards. A scholarly dissection of political and ideological motivating factors underpinning the Persai in the context of the times, The Emptiness of Asia is a fascinating and thoughtfully insightful analysis -- and a welcome addition to Hellenic Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists. The Midwest Book Review

Spis treści

AcknowledgementsAbbreviationsIntroductionPart I. Framing the play1. Aeschylus the historian?2. Politics and partisanship3. Aeschylus, Atossa and Athenian ideologyPart II. Finding Athens4. The use and abuse of Persia5. Where is Athens?6. Athens and Greece7. The emptiness of Asia8. Democracy and tyrannyPart III. Conclusions9. Themistocles and Aristides10. Athens and PersiaNotesBibliographyIndex

O autorze

Thomas Harrison is Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews, UK. His publications include Divinity and History: the religion of Herodotus (2000), The Emptiness of Asia: Aeschylus' Persians and the history of the fifth century (2000); as editor Greeks and Barbarians (2002) and the Edinburgh Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome (2006).