{"title":"The Downfall of Croesus and Oedipus: Tracing Affinities Between Herodotus' Histories and Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus","authors":"Janie F. Haywood, Doris Post","doi":"10.1353/clw.2022.0008","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:In this paper, we compare the downfall of Herodotus' Croesus and Sophocles' Oedipus against four central themes: ignorance and learning too late; misplaced hope; mutability of fortune; and fate and responsibility. Our analysis reveals striking affinities between the two author's works, not only in their conception of human fortune and the working of divine and human causation, but also in how Herodotus and Sophocles engage their audiences by employing similar narrative techniques, notably through the use of different focalizations. Moreover, it shows that many of the features highlighted in Aristotle's Poetics for the finest tragedy not only apply to Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus but also to Herodotus' Croesus logos.","PeriodicalId":46369,"journal":{"name":"CLASSICAL WORLD","volume":"115 1","pages":"225 - 259"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"CLASSICAL WORLD","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/clw.2022.0008","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"CLASSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT:In this paper, we compare the downfall of Herodotus' Croesus and Sophocles' Oedipus against four central themes: ignorance and learning too late; misplaced hope; mutability of fortune; and fate and responsibility. Our analysis reveals striking affinities between the two author's works, not only in their conception of human fortune and the working of divine and human causation, but also in how Herodotus and Sophocles engage their audiences by employing similar narrative techniques, notably through the use of different focalizations. Moreover, it shows that many of the features highlighted in Aristotle's Poetics for the finest tragedy not only apply to Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus but also to Herodotus' Croesus logos.
期刊介绍:
Classical World (ISSN 0009-8418) is the quarterly journal of The Classical Association of the Atlantic States, published on a seasonal schedule with Fall (September-November), Winter (December-February), Spring (March-May), and Summer (June-August) issues. Begun in 1907 as The Classical Weekly, this peer-reviewed journal publishes contributions on all aspects of Greek and Roman literature, history, and society.