In "Poetics", Aristotle accepts history as one of the possible themes for poetry, on condition that the poet reaches the universal level by narrating events that respect the rules of the eikos and anankaion. By altering the history of Athens in the "Menexenus" dialogue and Solon's poem about Atlantis in the "Critias" dialogue, Plato precedes Aristotle's reflection and attributes to the historical narrative a central role in the paideia of citizens. In the fifth century Greek poetry of historical subject, from the passage "The Persians" by Aeschylus to the poem "The Persians" by Timothy of Miletus, anticipated and put into practice the themes that Plato and Aristotle would later discuss on the theoretical level, namely: intertwining between the particular of the story and the universal of poetry, the models for mimesis, the reaction of the public ranging from eleos, phobos and geloion. |