Arione

Le ragioni di una riscrittura

Abstract

A figure suspended between history and legend, Arion is a musician who belongs to the vast category of forgetfulness with which the ancient world abounds. A native of Metimna, a city on the island of Lesbos, at the height of his fame he was the leading artist of the tyrant of Corinth, Periander; who, as part of a grand plan to revitalize the city's fortunes, sent him on a tour - one would say in today's parlance - around Magna Graecia, with the task of performing by illustrating the name and procuring substantial earnings for the coffers of Corinth. Arion racked up a series of triumphs, the last of which was in Tarentum, the city from whose port the ship on which he traveled must set sail to return to his homeland. So far so good, but from here on the waters get muddy and the imagination - of the protagonists, even before of those who narrated their vicissitudes - begins to travel.