The tragic portrait of Xerxes in Aeschylus and Herodotus
LE3 .A278 2010
2010
Provencal, Vernon
Acadia University
Bachelor of Arts
Honours
Classics
History & Classics
This thesis examines the tragic portrait of Xerxes found in Aeschylus‟ play Persians and the Xerxes in Herodotus‟ Histories. To better understand how the Western portrait of Xerxes developed into a stereotypical barbarian ruler, we must consider all the major ancient sources in which he played a role. It will first consider the primary evidence of the archaeological remains of ancient Persian civilization in the Near East which raises the question: what do we know of this real Xerxes and how much of him is to be found in Western antiquity. In Chapter Two, this question is partially answered by a consideration of the earliest appearance in the literary evidence of the Western tradition: the Xerxes of Aeschylus‟ Persians, a play which dramatizes the retreat of Xerxes back into Asia after he failed to subject Greece to his empire. Chapter Three examines the Xerxes of Herodotus and finds that both Western portraits ( the Aeschylean and the Herodotean) depict him as a tragic figure corrupted by the imperialist nomos of Persia. These tragic portraits of Xerxes were used as warnings to the Greeks in the 5th century BCE.
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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:658