The emptiness of Asia Aeschylus' Persians and the history of the fifth century Thomas Harrison.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harrison, Thomas, 1969- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aeschylus. Persae.

Aeschylus.

War and literature.

Greek drama (Tragedy).

Greece.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (194 pages)

Place of Publication:

London Duckworth 2000.

Summary:

"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?"--Bloomsbury Publishing

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?

Contents:

pt. I. Framing the play

pt. II. Finding Athens

pt. III. Conclusions

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

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

ISBN:

9781350113435

1350113433

9781472540287

147254028X

OCLC:

1099675132