SOLONE E CRESO. VARIAZIONI LETTERARIE, FILOSOFICHE E ICONOGRAFICHE SU UN TEMA ERODOTEO

The dialogue between Solon and Croesus and the subsequent events befalling the king of Lydia are among the most famous pages of Herodotus’ works. During the encounter between the two characters (placed at the beginning of The Histories, and therefore at the beginning of the western historiography), the discussion focuses on the relationship between happiness and wealth. The debate is followed by and finishes with a discussion on wisdom and arrogance, self-control and exaggeration. Herodotus uses Solon’s argumentation and the description of the existential parable of Croesus to expresses his religious and ethical views, as well as his historical and philosophical ideas. This explains why the matter has received so much attention from antiquity to today. The intention of the day of study dedicated to ‘Solon and Croesus’ – 10th May 2015, Macerata – was to follow its revivals and revisitations in western culture through a selective but varied pattern that looked at the channels through which the story reemerged (literature, philosophy and painting) and the literary form its revisitation took: a new literal edition, allusion, explicit reference, and rewrites.

About Luisa Moscati
Luisa Moscati Castelnuovo is a professor of Greek History at the Department of Humanities at the University of Macerata.