Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-fvjsw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T12:38:56.393Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Vocabulary of Prometheus Bound

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Mark Gruffith
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley

Extract

A few years ago, as part of an investigation of the authenticity of Prometheus Bound, I published figures for the occurrence of non-Aeschylean words in that play, as compared with two undisputedly Aeschylean plays (Th., Pers.) and with one Sophoclean play (Aj.) The figures showed that Prom, contained a greater number of words not found elsewhere in the surviving plays of Aeschylus (Eigenwörter); and also that, like Soph. Aj., but unlike the six undisputed plays of Aeschylus, it contained a relatively large number of Eigenwörter that occur more than once in the play, some of them quite common and familiar words. The discrepancy between Prom, and the two Aeschylean plays chosen for comparison was quite marked; and the high rate of repeated Eigenwörter for Soph. Aj. seemed to confirm that this criterion might be a good one for distinguishing unAeschylean characteristics in a non-Aeschylean play. But the sample was very small, and I was conscious that the criterion (or the particular application of it) was somewhat arbitrary; I was therefore not very confident of the value of my findings.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable