Francis Mace

The Trial of Miltiades the Capture of Miletos Francis Mace

Of Miltiades' trial, it is too early to assess the repercussions. On his return to Athens (Spring 493BCE), he has been prosecuted on a charge of tyranny in the Chersonese, a former Athenian colony. His daughter Elpinike finds herself cast in roles both divine and semi-scandalous. Both she and her father are outsiders, if less so than their enemies imply. The prosecution's case is reasonable and specious. Meanwhile Miltiades seems an unlikely defender of the democratic city and her values. There's a kind of Tom and Viv (or Perikles-Aspasia) scenario, Elpinike having worked with her father on his speech. From a fevered city and international crisis, an olive grove near the Sacred Way provides a haven...at least for the younger daughter Kallidike. The drama 'On the Capture of Miletos', by Phrynichos son of Polyphrasmon, was produced in the same spring. The work provides insight into the psychological development, and genesis of an Athens that will be a paradigm, political and cultural, for future generations, and perhaps indeed (in accordance with the prophecy), 'an eagle in the clouds forever'. The present text represents an attempt to resuscitate this famous but lost (and banned) play.