Dimoglidis, V. (2021), "A NEW COMMENTARY ON EURIPIDES’ ION - (J.C.) Gibert (ed.) Euripides: Ion. Pp. xiv + 383. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019", CR 72.1: 46-48. (original) (raw)
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Introduction to Euripides' Ion
All-purpose map of the Greek world Linguistic map of the classical Greek world Map of Attica Plan of the Athenian Acropolis Plan of Apollo's Sanctuary at Delphi Important regions and city-states: *Atticaregion controlled by *Athens Boeotia (north of Attica)region controlled by Thebes Thessaly (north of Boeotia)one of the few regions in Greece with good arable plains; noted for its horse-breeding The Peloponnese ("Island of Pelops")southern end of the Balkan peninsula, extending southwest of Attica (dominated militarily by Sparta) Laconia (southern Peloponnese)region controlled by Sparta Phocis (central Greecenorth of the Corinthian Gulf)site of *Delphi (cult center featuring the oracular shrine of Apollo) Corinthcity-state on the west end of the isthmus connecting the Peloponnese to the continent Euripides' Ion: Plot Summary The Ion (likely produced at some time around 414-410 BC) tells the story of the Athenian princess Creusa, daughter of King Erechtheus, who has been married to the Thessalian king Xuthus in return for the latter's services to Athens in a war against Chalcis (a city-state on the large island of Euboea, just off the east coast of Attica). 1 This kind of marriage is common in ancient Greek myth, and would have been the norm among aristocratic Athenians of the early fifth century BC and earlier. In late fifth-century Athens, however, it presented something of a problem. With the rise of the Athenian democracy, the responsibilities and the rewards of citizenship increased dramatically. As a result, in 451 BC the leader Pericles sponsored a law that restricted citizen rights to individuals who were descended from Athenian citizens on both their father's and their mother's side: offspring who failed to meet this requirement were considered illegitimate, both politically and, likely, in terms of their right to inherit property. Thus being a "true" Athenian became a real matter of concern, both personally and politically. The Ion is set in the mythological past, but you can see the influence of this contemporary outlook in both the treatment of Xuthus (who comes off as a bit of a buffoon) and the portrayal of Creusa's eventual rebellion in the course of the play. But Creusa had other problems besides being married off to a "foreigner." Prior to her marriage she was sexually assaulted by the god Apollo in a cave at the foot of the northwest slope of the Athenian Acropolis, at a place known as the Long Rocks. 2 Having successfully hidden her condition, she gave birth to her child (a boy) in secret and set him out in the same cave (along with various objects to serve as tokens of his birth) presumably to die. 3 Unknown to Creusa, Apollo sent his brother Hermes (the sly messenger god) to rescue the child and take it to Apollo's oracular shrine at Delphi, to be raised as a temple servant.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2022
? hl=fr&gbpv=1&dq=markantonatos+companion+euripides&printsec=frontcover "A Goliath of a manuscript" issued a Goliath of a book. In the aftermath of the Brill's Companion to Sophocles (2012), Andreas Markantonatos' (professor of Greek at the University of Peloponnese) editorial achievement is a survey of the entire Euripidean spectrum 1. The organization of the content, explained on p. 7-8, greatly facilitates reading: part 1, "the poet and his work", includes studies on the individual plays and the fragments; parts 2-7 guide us through "dominant themes, overriding ideas and prevailing motifs"; finally, part 8, "Euripides made new", deals with modern reception and translation. The latter is limited to English, but we welcome the advice to learn ancient Greek for a personal approach to the original text. The two indexes, in particular the first one (subjects), greatly facilitate the reading. Each of the 49 erudite chapters includes a relevant and updated multilingual bibliography suitable even for undergraduates under appropriate guidance.
Politics and Challenge: the Case of Euripides Ion
Euripides’ Ion was performed in 409 B.C. in order to strengthen the case for Alcibiades’ return from exile. There is a considerable overlap between the anecdotal tradition relating to Alcibiades, Pericles, and Aspasia and the characterization of Ion, Xuthus, and Creusa. Euripides puts across a pro-Alcibiadean message, excusing Alcibiades’ faults, both major and minor, rebutting charges that Alcibiades was of servile origin, promoting his religious policy, and providing him with a fresh genealogy to replace his supposed physical descent from Ajax. The case seems to be confirmed by details in Aristophanes’ Plutus (the plot of which ultimately derives from Ion), where the first person encountered on leaving Apollo’s temple also possesses Alcibiadean characteristics.
review of Euripides: "Orestes," ed. C. W. Willink and Euripides: "Orestes," ed. M. L. West
Classical Philology, 1990
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Cuadernos de filología clásica. Estudios griegos e indoeuropeos, 2022
The aim of this paper is to examine the plot-makers in Euripides' Ion, focusing in this way on an aspect of the Euripidean metapoetry. Ion's four characters (Apollo, Xuthus, Creusa, and Ion) are transformed into plot-makers, with each of them trying to compose a plot. I have suggested that Apollo is the poet's double, and thus his plot echoes that of Euripides. The fact that, despite various deviations (that is, unsuccessful sub-plots), the plot is redirected every single time to the god's original plot, credits Apollo with the title of a successful theatrical writer (internal playwright), a title that Euripides himself assumes.