Argumentative essay. Pozniakova Maria

Ancient Greek dramas can be a valuable source for political history of ancient polices and especially Athens – home of the most of the authors. Foremost, dramas (and especially tragedies) are very broad and relatively well preserved texts. When dealing with ancient history one can find such big sources quite rarely. That is why dramas can't be ignored in case of historical investigation.

Of course, one can object by stating that most of the dramas described mythical events, or great deeds of the past, with no link to the modern times of the authors, thus, being of non use in deconstruction of the historical reality. The only preserved tragedy that describes historical events is Persians by Aeschylus. However, some modern researchers share the point of view that even this tragedy does not reflect the real historical situation in Athens: there are too much inaccuracies and discrepancies to regard this tragedy as a serious historical source (Kitto 46).Yet, that's only the first sight.

Deeper textual analysis shows that dramas contained multiple allusions to real events which took place at that time. They did reflect inner political tendencies, such as the development of democracy in Athens, competitions between groups of citizens of this polis for the political power, figures of leaders, and social changes in Ellada. Moreover, ancient tragedies are a good source for investigation of the international events as well, beginning with the Greco-Persian Wars and finishing with the Peloponesian War. All those allusions in tragedies can be seen not in the form of direct narration, but camouflaged into mythological events or ancient heroes.

Therefore, knowing that fact and possessing methodology to uncover those hidden links to actual history, makes ancient dramas irreplaceable historical source for scholars researching history of ancient polises.

Source:
Kitto H.D.F. Tragedia Grecka. Studium Literackie. Bydgoszcz, 1997.