Plot-makers in Euripides’ Ion

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the plot-makers in Euripides’ Ion, focusing in this way on an aspect of the Euripidean metapoetry. Ion’s four characters (Apollo, Xuthus, Creusa, and Ion) are transformed into plot-makers, with each of them trying to compose a plot. I have suggested that Apollo is the poet’s double, and thus his plot echoes that of Euripides. The fact that, despite the various deviations (unsuccessful sub-plots), the plot is redirected every single time to the god’s original plot, credits Apollo with the title of a successful theatrical writer (internal playwright), a title that finally Euripides himself assumes.