Dion Chrisostomos und Euripides

Euripides is the Greek poet, after Homer, most quoted by Dio Chrysostom. In the Imperial age tragedies and parts of tragedies were performed in theaters and in other public and private places and the tragic myths were well known. Dio uses the myths of Euripidean tragedies to attack the „false opinions“ (doxai, or. 11) of most people, to give an educational message (orr. 8, 66, 32), recognising the usefulness of Euripides for the education of the orator (or. 18). Although Dio attacks theater and performances, he makes free use of Euripides (orr. 13, 17, 82) from the perspective of morality and rhetoric. A special matter seems to be the tragic theme of Philoctetes (or. 52), which Dio rewrites (or. 59), probably suggesting an autobiographical identification with the protagonist of the lost Euripidean tragedy.