Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Part I. Framing the play 1. Aeschylus the historian? 2. Politics and partisanship 3. Aeschylus, Atossa and Athenian ideology Part II. Finding Athens 4. The use and abuse of Persia 5. Where is Athens? 6. Athens and Greece 7. The emptiness of Asia 8. Democracy and tyranny Part III. Conclusions 9. Themistocles and Aristides 10. Athens and Persia Notes Bibliography Index
A literary study of Aeschylus' Persians alongside Herodotus' Histories, which offers a comprehensive understanding what actually happened at the battle of Salamis and afterwards
Thomas Harrison is Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews, UK. His publications include Divinity and History: the religion of Herodotus (2000), and as editor Greeks and Barbarians (2002) and the Edinburgh Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome (2006).
[This] is a literary study of Aeschylus' Persai alongside
Herodotus' Histories which will provide the reader with
comprehensive understanding what actually happened at the battle of
Salamis and afterwards. A scholarly dissection of political and
ideological motivating factors underpinning the Persai in the
context of the times, The Emptiness of Asia is a fascinating and
thoughtfully insightful analysis -- and a welcome addition to
Hellenic Studies reference collections and supplemental reading
lists.
*The Midwest Book Review*
This is a vigorous and captivating book with a mighty sting in its
tail. Tom Harrison does what many have done before, he reads
Aeschylus’ Persai alongside Herodotus’ Histories. But...he compares
them to reveal the commonplaces and assumptions about Persia that
shaped not only the writing of the play, but the reactions of the
audiences. The powerful account of the play’s political and
ideological force that results overturns a century of modern
scholarship, unmasking the projections of their own views that
literary critics have wished upon the play and questioning our
romantic assertion of the uniqueness of classical Athenian
culture.
*Robin Osborne*
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