Di alcuni motivi fiabistici nel Fetonte di Euripide

Silvia Onori

Abstract:

This paper aims to demonstrate how some familiar topics of Euripides’ Phaethon — in particular, the rash and fatal promise of Helios to guarantee an undefined gift, the excessive wish expressed by Phaethon, and the proof of paternity by driving the sun chariot — can be analyzed and interpreted as fairy-tale motifs, not only akin to other Euripidean tragedies like Hippolytus, but also shared by different mythical-cultural heritages. Euripides’ Phaethon has always been studied by scholars as a domestic drama, with the exception of Pickard-Cambridge who noticed that the tragic plot seems to be inserted into the atmosphere of a fairy-tale. Therefore, drawing from his interesting observation, I propose to investigate and read Euripides’ Phaethon, through the analysis of some fragments, as a possible fairy-tale before a familiar tragedy.