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Ion
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Lines 1106-1249Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Lines 1106-1249 Summary: “Fourth Episode”
A messenger hurries onto the scene and explains to the chorus that Creusa’s ruse was discovered in the following way: Xuthus asked Ion to erect a giant tent for the Delphian banquet. The tent was a dedication made to Apollo by Heracles, who himself acquired it as spoils from his victory over the Amazon women. The tapestry depicted woven scenes of mythology, such as the sun god in his chariot and the night goddess in hers. Among them, too, appeared constellations such as Orion, the Pleiades, and the bear Arktos, followed by the goddess of the dawn, Eos. Finally, the tapestry shows foreign ships from the east attacking the Greeks, centaurs fighting lions, and the legendary snake-king and founder of Cecrops making an offering to Athena (for which reason the messenger supposes that the artist of the tapestry must be Athenian).
Next, the messenger explains that after everyone feasted, Ion was given a crown of garlands (in recognition of his status as Xuthus’s named son). When the time came for libations of wine in celebration of Apollo, Creusa’s slave entered and suggested that small wine glasses be filled with larger ones to enhance the merry-making. Another slave suspected treachery and commanded everyone to dump out their wine. Sure enough, when the wine was spilled, a flock of doves entered the tent, and one of the doves drank from Ion’s spilled wine (which contained the slave’s poison) and immediately fell over dead. When pressed by Xuthus, Creusa’s slave immediately confessed to the plot.
The messenger warns the chorus that the rulers of Delphi now seek Creusa in order to stone her to death as punishment for her contrivance. The handmaidens cry their lament for Creusa’s fate. They chant their hopelessness for Creusa’s survival and their own.
Lines 1106-1249 Analysis
The events of these lines can be considered the climax. Though the audience knew of the inherent conflict between the ostensibly childless Creusa and her duped husband Xuthus, the central characters are now aware of this conflict too. These lines also demonstrate a technique common in Greek tragedy, whereby a messenger delivers critical information to the main characters. This strategy existed for two principal reasons. The first is that murder was not generally shown on stage. Even in the plays with especially heinous plots (such as Medea, whose titular character runs off stage with a knife while her children scream), Greek tragedians studiously avoided depicting tragedy on stage. Though the reasons for this are debated by modern scholars, it is suggested that either religious or social sensibilities dictated this tradition.
The second reason for the prevalence of messenger figures in Greek tragedy is that the plays were performed using one setting only. Unlike modern theater, which encourages the audience to imagine various settings by means of scene transitions, lighting, and props, ancient Greek theater insisted on just one setting. The reason for this, too, is a matter of academic debate. However, according to Aristotle (the most famous ancient literary critic, chiefly because of his Poetics, which specifies rules for various literary genres), the tragedy genre should exhibit a unity of place (i.e., setting), time (as there are no flashbacks in ancient theater), and action (which discourages comic relief, for example). According to Aristotle, all action should contribute directly to the advancement of the plot.
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