1.5 Depiction and Portrayals: Historical Barbarians OCR A Level Classical Civilisation

Aechylus' Persians first peformance

472 BCE (only 8 years after the battle of Salamis)

Atossa (Aeschylus)

Dependent on her son; panic and summon dead husband; has wisdom and perception making comments on wealth and the Persian court; aware of power of Gods and importance of religious observance; however everything she does doesn't really work, she never makes the sacrifice, Darius' ghost isn't helpful, Xerxes isn't give new clothes and enters in rags

Darius (Aeschylus)

Powerful, intimidates chorus even in death; amazement at bridging of Hellespont; sorrow at death of many Persians; concerned with Xerxes' hubris; states that Zeus punishes arrogant men (inaccuracy); predict Persia's loss at Plataea

Xerxes (Aeschylus)

Does not recognise his own failings; grieves like a Greek woman, formulaic exchange with chorus; Atossa and Darius suggest a sense of hubris to him

Chorus (Aeschylus)

Intimidated by the royals, don't give opinions; grieve for Persia; worry of Persia's downfall

The Persians freedom vs slave theme

Xerxes' dream, the Persian 'sister' accepts the yoke and the Greek 'sister' rejects it; Atossa is surprised that the Greeks have no masters; Messenger describes the joy and freedom of Greeks in battle in contrast with the forced Persians; chorus think that freedom could come to Persia now that the king has lost strength

The Persians "other" theme

The list of Persian names would have sounded unusual and remind the Greeks that the Persians were different

The Persians tragedy or triumpalist

Tragedy side: Persian brides abandoned, chorus and Atossa lost without Xerxes, then Xerxes returns in rags. Triumphalist side: seeing the Persian loss when the battle was only 8 years ago, emphasis on Greek victory

The Persians hubris theme

Persians supposedly overreached by going to Greece and they suffered great losses; Darius thinks the failure caused by Xerxes greed, he wanted to defy nature and enslave the sea; Persian desecration of Greek temples; warning to Athenians to not overreach from Aeschylus; the Delian league

Delian League

Formed 477 BCE (5 years before the play), this was the precursor of the 'Athenian empire'

The Persians war theme

War was universal theme for both Persians and Athenians, overall tragic; messenger speech would likely make the audience remember their own experiences with the war, dead bodies in the sea

Herodotus on Aeschylus' brother

Herodotus said that Aeschylus' brother served in Salamis in Book 6, Aeschylus could have been there

The Persians Themistocles context

In 472 BCE Themistocles was very unpopular, Aeschylus could have been trying to remind people of Themisocles' achievement at Salamis in the play

The Persians excess theme

Aeschylus describes the wealth of the Persian Empire, describing "golden" multiple times and "silken beds"

Herodotus context

Born c. 484 BCE, born in Halicarnassus which was a part of Ionian Greece in the Persian Empire; travelled to Egypt, Persia and Athens

Herodotus' intent

Herodotus states that the purpose of his "researches" is so that "events may not fade from the memory of mankind and so that the great and wonderful achievements both of Greeks and barbarians might be remembered, most especially the reasons why they came into conflict"

Herodotus' portrayal of the Persians

At times displays sympathetic and impressive Persians for example Artabanus defying Xerxes but also portrays un-Greek Persians such as the hubristic Xerxes

Herodotus' portrayal of Xerxes

Impulsive (cutting the heads of the people who built the bridge off), excessive (huge army), hubristic (whipping the sea), wants to live up to his father's legacy (crossing Hellespont)

Theme of supernatural in Herodotus

Many oracles such as the wooden walls of Themistocles, as well as signs like the eclipse and Xerxes' dreams

Herodotus' topoi

Speeches, thoughts, assessment of sources, different explanations/interpretations, grading the information (how he found out)

Logoi

tales/stories, used to describe the different stories in Herodotus

Thomata

Wonders, used in Herodotus as his mission was to share great things (as he said in his intro) for example the architectural feat of the Persians building the second bridge

Ate

Blindness that pushes hubristic people into making bad decisions

Comparisons between the Persians and the Histories

Aeschylus presents the Greeks as a united front while in Herodotus they are very disjointed, Herodotus' Themisocles uses Greek tragedy language, ideas of whipping Hellespont in both, in Aeschylus Xerxes' hubris is seen as un-Persian by Darius, Herodotus gives much more detail on what exactly happened at Salamis