Ion of Chios
Ion of Chios(/ˈaɪɒn/;Greek:Ἴων ὁ Χῖος;c. 490/480 – c. 420 BC) was aGreekwriter, dramatist, lyric poet and philosopher. He was a contemporary ofAeschylus,EuripidesandSophocles.Of his many plays and poems only a few titles and fragments have survived. He also wrote some prose works, including aPythagoreantext, theTriagmos,of which a few fragments survive.
Life
[edit]He was the son of Orthomenes, and was surnamed the son of Xuthus: probably a nickname alluding toXuthus,the father of the mythicalIon.[1]When very young he went toAthens,where he enjoyed the society ofCimon,of whom he left laudatory notices in some of his works which are quoted byPlutarch.[2]Plutarch informs us that Ion severely criticisedPericles,[3]who is said to have been his rival in love.[4]Ion was familiarly acquainted withAeschylus,if we may believe an anecdote related by Plutarch,[5]but he did not come forward as a tragedian till after Aeschylus' death. We also learn from Ion himself[6]that he metSophoclesat Chios, when the latter was commander of the expedition againstSamos,440 BC.
His first tragedy was brought out in the 82ndOlympiad(452 BC); he is mentioned as third in competition withEuripidesandIophon,in Olympiad 87.4 (429-8 BC); and he died before 421 BC, as appears from thePeaceofAristophanes,[7]which was brought out in that year. Only one victory of Ion's is mentioned, on which occasion, it is said, having gained thedithyrambicandtragicprizes at the same time, he presented every Athenian with a pitcher of Chian wine.[8]Hence it would seem that he was a man of considerable wealth. He is mentioned byStraboamong the celebrated men of Chios.[9]
Works
[edit]The number of his tragedies is variously stated at 12, 30, and 40. We have the titles and a few fragments of eleven plays, namely,Agamemnon;Alcmene;Argeioi;Eurytidai;Laertes;Mega Drama;Omphale;Phoinix or Kaineus;Phoinix Deuteros (The Second Phoenix);Phrouroi;andTeucer.TheOmphalewas a satyric drama.Pseudo-Longinusdescribes the style of Ion's tragedies as marked by petty refinements and want of boldness,[10]and he adds an expression that no one in his senses would compare the value of theOedipuswith that of all the tragedies of Ion taken together. Nevertheless, he was greatly admired, chiefly, it would seem, for a sort of elegant wit. There are some beautiful passages in the extant fragments of his tragedies. Commentaries were written upon him byArcesilaus,Baton of Sinope,Didymus,Epigenes,and even byAristarchus.[11]Besides his tragedies, we are told by thescholiaston Aristophanes, that Ion also wrote lyric poems,comedies,epigrams,paeans,hymns,scholia,andelegies.Some remnants of his elegies are in theGreek Anthology.
His prose works, mentioned by the scholiast on Aristophanes, are one calledPresbeutikon(Πρεσβευτικόν), which some thought spurious;Ktisis(Κτίσις);Kosmologikos(Κοσμολογικός);Hypomnemata(Ὑπομνήματα); and some others, which are not specified. The nature of the first of these works is not known. The full title of theKtisiswasChiou Ktisis(Χίου Κτίσις): it was a historical work, in the Ionic dialect, and apparently in imitation ofHerodotus:it was probably the same as theSyngraphe(Συγγραφή), which is quoted by Pausanias.[12]TheKosmologikosis probably the same as the philosophical work, entitledTriagmos(Τριαγμός) orTriagmoi(Τριαγμοί), which seems to have been a treatise on the constitution of things according to the theory of triads; the few surviving fragments suggesting it hadPythagoreanleanings.[13]TheHypomnemataare by some writers identified with theEpidemiai(Ἐπιδημίαι) orEkdemetikos(Ἐκδημητικός),[14]which contained either an account of his own travels, or of the visits of famous people to Chios.
Notes
[edit]- ^Scholiumad Aristoph. Pac.830; Suda, Eudocia, Harpocr.,Ion
- ^Plutarch,Cimon,5, 9, 16
- ^Plutarch,Pericles5, 28
- ^Athenaeus, x. 436
- ^Plutarch,De Profect. in Virt.8
- ^ap. Athenaeus, xiii. 603
- ^Aristophanes,Peace,830
- ^Scholiumad Aristoph. Pac.830; Suda,Athenaios;Athenaeus, i. 3; Eustath.ad Hom.p. 1454, 24.
- ^Strabo, xiv.
- ^Pseudo-Longinus, 33
- ^Diogenes Laertius, iv. 31; Athenaeus, x. 436, xi. 468, xiv. 634
- ^Pausanias, vii. 4. 6
- ^Diels–Kranz36
- ^Julius Pollux, ii. 88
References
[edit]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Smith, William,ed. (1870).Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.{{cite encyclopedia}}:Missing or empty|title=(help)Article: "Ion of Chios"- Smith William. “Ion of Chios” ‘’Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.’’ Volume 2. p. 606
External links
[edit]
GreekWikisourcehas original text related to this article:Ἴων ὁ Χῖος
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- 480s BC births
- 5th-century BC writers
- 5th-century BC Greek philosophers
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- Ancient Chians
- Ancient Greek dramatists and playwrights
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- Old Comic poets
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- Ancient Greek poets
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- Pythagoreans
- Metic philosophers in Classical Athens
- 420s BC deaths