Μάντις πολύτροπος: i ruoli di Anfiarao nell’Ipsipile di Euripide

Abstract

In Euripides’ fragmentary Hypsipyle (frag. 752‑69 K.) the seer Amphiaraus plays many and crucial roles: he first unwittingly causes Hypsipyle’s troubles, then becomes her saviour and prevents her execution; he also acts as a messenger of Opheltes’ death; finally, he is responsible for the recognition between Hypsipyle and her two sons. In Greek tragedy there is not another character who plays so many and so important roles in the same drama: Hypsipyle’s Amphiaraus is absolutely one of a kind, a product of Euripides’ late and experimental period of activity as a dramatist. This paper aims to analyse each of the roles played by the seer in this tragedy to evaluate the uniqueness and complexity of his dramaturgical function.