Colonus (Attica)

Coordinates: 37°59′57″N 23°43′19″E / 37.99907°N 23.721885°E / 37.99907; 23.721885
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Hippeios Colonus
)

Colonus or Kolonos (

Peirithous, Theseus, Oedipus, and Adrastus.[4] According to Greek mythology, Oedipus was buried there, as described by Sophocles, who was born there, in his Oedipus at Colonus. The natural beauties of the spot are described by Sophocles in the magnificent chorus: "Here the nightingale, a constant guest, trills her clear note under the trees of green glades, dwelling amid the wine-dark ivy and the god's inviolate foliage, rich in berries and fruit, unvisited by sun, unvexed by the wind of any storm. Here the reveller Dionysus ever walks the ground, companion of the nymphs that nursed him."[5]

In the Athenian oligarchic revolution of 411 BCE, the oligarchs convened at the sanctuary of Poseidon Hippios at Colonus to frame their new constitution.[6]

The site of Colonus is at Agia Eleousa in modern Kolonos.[7][8] The modern neighborhood of Kolonos is named after it.

In literature

  • At the beginning of Oedipus at Colonus by the playwright Sophocles, a character named Xenos describes the area to the blind outcast Oedipus. He claims that the area is sacred to the sea-god Poseidon and to Prometheus, the Titan who brought fire to mankind. It is also sacred to a former ruler and charioteer named Colonus, for whom the region was named and who is now venerated as a hero-god. Later, Oedipus prays to the Eumenides to allow him to take refuge there. At the end of the play, Oedipus' death and burial are described, but his gravesite is to be kept secret to avoid desecration.
  • The Gospel at Colonus by Lee Breuer is a modern adaptation of Sophocles' play employing gospel music.

References

  1. ^ a b Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Vol. 8.67.
  2. ^ Cicero, de Fin. 5.1.
  3. ^ τὸν ἀργῆτα Κολωνόν, Sophocles, Oed. Col. 670.
  4. ^ Pausanias (1918). "30.4". Description of Greece. Vol. 1. Translated by W. H. S. Jones; H. A. Ormerod. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann – via Perseus Digital Library.
  5. ^ Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus, lines 671-680, trans Sir Richard Jebb (1889). From Perseus database.
  6. ^ "Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War 8.67". University of Chicago. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018.
  7. .
  8. ^ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainSmith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "A'ttica". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.

37°59′57″N 23°43′19″E / 37.99907°N 23.721885°E / 37.99907; 23.721885