The fabrication of Theseus' democratic identity: a comparative analysis between Bacchylides' dithyrambs 17 and 18 and Euripides' The Suppliant Women
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25187/codex.v5i2.12501Keywords:
Euripides, Bacchylides, The Suppliant Women, Dithyramb, DemocracyAbstract
This article will seek to identify the political characteristics of the Athenian hero Theseus in Bacchylides' dithyrambs 17 and 18 and in Euripides' Suppliant Women. I will argue that elements of Athenian democracy can be traceable in these poems by two main aspects of the hero: his bellicosity and his benevolence towards the weak. These two attributes shall be the fundamental principles to shape a democratic Theseus, such as will be seen mainly through the above cited Euripides' play. I will show that Bacchylides' dithyrambs 17 and 18, by their turn, can be located in the beginning of a particular poetic tradition related to Theseus that settle its basis along with the Athenian democracy.
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