Abstract

Tomasz Żyro, Greek Tragedy, the Tragic, and Politics
This essay focuses on a proto-political reflection that emerged in
Athens in the middle of 5th Century B.C. The intellectual context is clear
and picturesque due to sophists’ activity, but also to the three generations
of Greek dramatists.As a point of departure for considering origins of the political anthropology
the Sophocles’ Antigone was used. It is worth remarking
that it was an age of earnest optimism and of serious thinking. It was
the age of Man, as some scholars are inclined to term. Athenians’ success
in both military and naval warfare against the Persians at the beginning
of the century (491-479 B.C.) was momentous. It provided apparently
certain proof that the free institutions of the Athenian polis
were superior to any other kind of political organization.
It also gave impetus for intellectual debates in Athens in which “sophistoi”
and poets were taking essential part. The very important role
in debates accrues to dramatists. Whereas Aeschylus’ fame as a thinker,
apart from his poetic and dramatic fame, must always rest more on
his theology than on his political ideas, which centre round a poet’s
conception of dike and a belief that Zeus will punish the wicked and not
allow the righteous to perish, Sophocles’ fame rests upon his interest in
political issues.
Before the time of the analysis and synthesis, the classification and
imaginary construction of the various possible forms of constitution
for a polis was to become one of the chief concerns of Greek political
philosophers, Sophocles offered a very interesting discussion on origins
of the state and “nature” of citizenship. His drama follows the
most intricate debate in 5th century B.C. concerning relationships between
the “nature” (physis) and “laws” (nomoi).
The essay ends with some conclusive remarks on further changes in
treating the subject. As a point of references useful are St. Paul’s reflections,
that overcame the realm of “nature” by introducing a concept of
grace in understanding of man’s destiny, as well as Hobbes’ preliminary
disquisitions on the nature of man, that opened a chasm signifying
the coming of modernity.