The Ion Of Euripides

By Euripides

Book Overview

The Ion of Euripides is a Greek tragedy written by the ancient playwright Euripides. The play tells the story of Ion, a young man who works as a temple servant at the shrine of Apollo in Delphi. Ion has always believed that he is an orphan, but he soon discovers that he is actually the son of the god Apollo and the mortal princess Creusa.As Ion struggles to come to terms with his divine heritage, he must also navigate the political intrigue and power struggles of the ancient world. His mother, Creusa, is married to Xuthus, a powerful Athenian who believes that Ion is his long-lost son. Xuthus and Creusa both want Ion to succeed them as ruler of Athens, but Ion is torn between his loyalty to his mortal parents and his newfound connection to the god Apollo.The Ion of Euripides is a complex and thought-provoking play that explores themes of identity, family, and power. It is a classic example of Greek tragedy, with a cast of characters that includes gods, mortals, and mythical creatures. The play is known for its intricate plot, poetic language, and vivid imagery, and it continues to be studied and performed by scholars and theater enthusiasts around the world.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1162977582
• ISBN13: 9781162977584
• Release Date: September 2010
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC
• Length: 204 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Euripides exposes Apollo, the god of truth, as a liar

"Ion" is one of many plays by Euripides in which he tried to show his Athenian audience that when judged by ordinary human standards the gods themselves would fall short. In this play, Apollo, the god of truth, brutally rapes a helpless young girl, Creusa, and then abandons her, which is not exactly something new for one of the Olympian deities. Creusa has a son (Ion), whom she abandons in a cave; when she goes back to find the child, he is gone. Years later she marries Xuthus, a solider of fortune who becomes king of Athens, which is where Euripides picks up the story. At the start of the play Xuthus and Creusa are childless and go to Delphi for aid. There they are told that Ion, a young temple servant who has been raised from infancy, is the son of Xuthus. Creusa, outraged that Apollo let their own son die but preserved the life of a child begotten by Xuthus on some Delphian woman, tries to have Ion killed. Of course, in reality, Ion is her own child, abandoned in that cave. Condemned to death by the Delphians, Creusa escapes Ion's vengeance by taking refuge at Apollo's altar. There the priestess presents the tokens that allow Creusa to recognize Ion as her own son. Telling him the truth about his father, Ion tries to enter the temple to demand of Apollo the truth. There is some academic debate over how much "Ion" reflects the noted religious skepticism of Euripides. After all, we can certainly believe that Creusa was raped by a human and that he child died in that cave and that the priestess who bore Ion was simply setting up a convenient fiction that would make her son the prince of Athens. Apollo is the subject of the indictment, but the gods who introduce and end the play are Hermes and Athena. However, I do consider "Ion" to be one of the best examples of Euripides's cynical view of the gods the Greeks were supposed to be worshipping. Athena forestalls a confrontation between Ion and Apollo, but this particular example of deus ex machina certainly rings hollow. After all, Delphi is Apollo's holy place and if Athena's words are true, he should be there to reveal the truth to his son instead. Ultimately, "Ion" is one of the more provocative of the extant plays of Euripides.