🎵 Ion by Plato Dramatize Audiobook with Text, Illustrations, Sound Effect, Music

Audiobooks Dimension presents Ion by Plato Dramatize Audiobook with Text, Illustrations, Sound Effect, Music

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Author : Plato (Πλάτων)
Written : 380 BCE
Place of Origin : Ancient Greece
Original Media type : Papyrus fragments, Manuscript
Original Language : Ancient Greek
Genre(s) : Ancient Greece, Dialogue
Translator : Benjamin Jowett (1817 - 1893)
Reader : David Rintoul
Musician : Nature's Eye
Editor : Audiobooks Dimension
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The Ion (Ἴων) is the shortest, or nearly the shortest, of all the writings which bear the name of Plato, and is not authenticated by any early external testimony. The grace and beauty of this little work supply the only, and perhaps a sufficient, proof of its genuineness. The plan is simple; the dramatic interest consists entirely in the contrast between the irony of Socrates and the transparent vanity and childlike enthusiasm of the rhapsode Ion.

The Ion, like the other earlier Platonic Dialogues, is a mixture of jest and earnest, in which no definite result is obtained, but some Socratic or Platonic truths are allowed dimly to appear.

The elements of a true theory of poetry are contained in the notion that the poet is inspired. Genius is often said to be unconscious, or spontaneous, or a gift of nature: that ‘ genius is akin to madness ’ is a popular aphorism of modern times. The greatest strength is observed to have an element of limitation. Sense or passion are too much for the ‘ dry light ’ of intelligence which mingles with them and becomes discoloured by them. Imagination is often at war with reason and fact. The concentration of the mind on a single object, or on a single aspect of human nature, overpowers the orderly perception of the whole. Yet the feelings too bring truths home to the minds of many who in the way of reason would be incapable of understanding them. Reflections of this kind may have been passing before Plato’s mind when he describes the poet as inspired, or when, as in the Apology, he speaks of poets as the worst critics of their own writings — anybody taken at random from the crowd is a better interpreter of them than they are of themselves. They are sacred persons, ‘winged and holy things ’ who have a touch of madness in their composition, and should be treated with every sort of respect, but not allowed to live in a well-ordered state. Like the Statesmen in the Meno, they have a divine instinct, but they are narrow and confused; they do not attain to the clearness of ideas, or to the knowledge of poetry or of any other art as a whole.

In the Protagoras the ancient poets are recognized by Protagoras himself as the original sophists; and this family resemblance may be traced in the Ion. The rhapsode belongs to the realm of imitation and of opinion: he professes to have all knowledge, which is derived by him from Homer, just as the sophist professes to have all wisdom, which is contained in his art of rhetoric. Even more than the sophist he is incapable of appreciating the commonest logical distinctions; he cannot explain the nature of his own art; his great memory contrasts with his inability to follow the steps of the argument. And in his highest moments of inspiration he has an eye to his own gains.

The old quarrel between philosophy and poetry, which in the Republic leads to their final separation, is already working in the mind of Plato, and is embodied by him in the contrast between Socrates and Ion. Yet here, as in the Republic, Socrates shows a sympathy with the poetic nature. Also, the manner in which Ion is affected by his own recitations affords a lively illustration of the power which, in the Republic, Socrates attributes to dramatic performances over the mind of the performer. His allusion to his embellishments of Homer, in which he declares himself to have surpassed Metrodorus of Lampsacus and Stesimbrotus of Thasos, seems to show that, like them, he belonged to the allegorical school of interpreters. The circumstance that nothing more is known of him may be adduced in confirmation of the argument that this truly Platonic little work is not a forgery of later times.

Film adaptation : Socrates (1971)
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Persons of the dialogue :

• Ion (Ἴων) of Ephesus : the rhapsode. In poetry, he specialized in the works of Homer.
• Socrates (Σωκράτης) [c. 470–399 BCE] was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure.

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Persons mentioned in the dialogue :

• Achilles (Ἀχιλλεύς) : was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. A central character in Homer's Iliad, he was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, king of Phthia and famous Argonaut. Achilles was raised in Phthia along with his childhood companion Patroclus and received his education by the centaur Chiron. In the Iliad, he is presented as the commander of the mythical tribe of the Myrmidons.
• Aglaophon (Ἀγλαοφῶν) : was an ancient Greek painter, born on the island of Thasos. He was the father and instructor of Polygnotus. He had another son named Aristophon. As Polygnotus flourished before the 90th Olympiad, Aglaophon probably lived around the 70th Olympiad, that is, around the late 6th or early 5th century BCE.
• Andromache (Ἀνδρομάχη) : was the wife of Hector, daughter of Eetion, and sister to Podes. She was born and raised in the city of Cilician Thebe, over which her father ruled.
• Antilochus (Ἀντίλοχος) : was the son of King Nestor, and one of the Achaeans in the Trojan War.
• Apollodorus (Ἀπολλόδωρος) : one of the foreigners whom the Athenians had frequently placed at the head of their armies, but in what campaigns Apollodorus served the Athenians is not known.
• Archilochus (Ἀρχίλοχος) [c. 680 – c. 645 BCE] : was a Greek lyric poet of the Archaic period from the island of Paros. He is celebrated for his versatile and innovative use of poetic meters, and is the earliest known Greek author to compose almost entirely on the theme of his own emotions and experiences.
• Daedalus (Δαίδαλος) : was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, and possibly also the father of Iapyx. Among his most famous creations are the wooden cow for Pasiphaë, the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete which imprisoned the Minotaur, and wings that he and his son Icarus used to attempt to escape Crete. It was during this escape that Icarus did not heed his father's warnings and flew too close to the sun; the wax holding his wings together melted and Icarus fell to his death.
• Epeius (Ἐπειός) : was a mythological Greek soldier during the Trojan War or, in some accounts, one of the Achaean Leaders, at the head of a contingent of 30 ships from the islands of the Cyclades. He was also the architect of the Wooden Horse, by means of which the Achaeans took Troy; he was himself among those warriors who hid inside it. Epeius was the son of Panopeus, son of Phocus and Asterodia.
• Euripides (Εὐριπίδης) [c. 480 – c. 406 BCE] : was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Euripides is identified with theatrical innovations that have profoundly influenced drama down to modern times, especially in the representation of traditional, mythical heroes as ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.
• Glaucon of Rhegium [c. 410 BCE] : wrote an important work On the Ancient Poets and Musicians, which inaugurated the ancient study of the history of lyric poetry. It dealt with the chronological and musical relation between the poets. Glaucus is sometimes identified with Glaucon the rhapsode
• Hecamede (Ἑκαμήδη) : daughter of Arsinoos, was captured from the isle of Tenedos and given as captive to King Nestor. In her most prolonged mention, she serves Pramnian wine, a medicinal drink, to Nestor and Machaon.
• Hector (Ἕκτωρ) : is a Trojan prince, and one of four sons to the King of Troy, he was a hero and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. He is a major character in Homer's Iliad, where he leads the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy, killing countless Greek warriors and the occasional Hero. However he is ultimately killed in single combat by the Greek Hero Achilles, who later drags his dead body around the city of Troy behind his chariot.
• Hecuba (Ἑκάβη) : was a queen in Greek mythology, the wife of King Priam of Troy during the Trojan War.
• Hesiod (Ἡσίοδος) : was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BCE, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by Western authors as 'the first written poet in the Western tradition to regard himself as an individual persona with an active role to play in his subject.' Ancient authors credited Hesiod and Homer with establishing Greek religious customs. Modern scholars refer to him as a major source on Greek mythology, farming techniques, early economic thought, Archaic Greek astronomy, cosmology, and ancient time-keeping.
• Homer (Ὅμηρος) [born c. 8th century BCE] : was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the most revered and influential authors in history.
• Machaon (Μαχάων) : was a son of Asclepius; and the older brother of Podalirius. He and his brother led an army from Tricca in the Trojan War on the side of the Greeks.
• Melampus (Μελάμπους) : was a legendary soothsayer and healer, originally of Pylos, who ruled at Argos.
• Metion (Μητίων) : was an Athenian prince as the son of King Erechtheus and Praxithea, daughter of Phrasimus and Diogeneia. He had sons known collectively as the Metionadae which probably include Eupalamus, Sicyon, and Daedalus.
• Metrodorus of Lampsacus (Μητρόδωρος Λαμψακηνός) [5th century BCE] : was a Pre-Socratic philosopher from the Greek town of Lampsacus on the eastern shore of the Hellespont.
• Musaeus (Μουσαῖος) : was a legendary polymath, philosopher, historian, prophet, seer, priest, poet, and musician, said to have been the founder of priestly poetry in Attica. He composed dedicatory and purificatory hymns and prose treatises, and oracular responses.
• Nestor (Νέστωρ) : was a legendary king of Pylos. He is a prominent secondary character in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, where he appears as an elderly warrior who frequently offers long-winded advice to the other characters.
• Odysseus (Ὀδυσσεύς) : is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in that same epic cycle.
• Olympus (Ὄλυμπος) [or Olympos] : is an ancient Greek musician who lived in the 7th century BCE. Olympus was a great inventor in rhythm as well as in music.
• Orpheus (Ὀρφεύς) : was a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, and even descended into the underworld of Hades, to recover his lost wife Eurydice.
• Panopeus (Πανοπεύς) : was a son of Phocus by Asteria or Asterodia, and twin brother of Crisus. The two brothers were so inimical towards each other that they began fighting while still in their mother's womb, just like Proetus and Acrisius did. Panopeus participated in Amphitryon's campaign against the Taphians and the Teleboans, and swore by the names of Athena and Ares not to lay his hand on any part of the booty. He, however, broke his oath; as punishment, his son Epeius became unwarlike, but still a good boxer and a skilled mechanic.
• Patroclus (Πάτροκλος) : was a Greek hero of the Trojan War and an important character in Homer's Iliad. Born in Opus, Patroclus was the son of the Argonaut Menoetius. When he was a child, he was exiled from his hometown and was adopted by Peleus, king of Phthia. There, he was raised alongside Peleus' son, Achilles, of whom he was a childhood friend and close wartime companion. When the tide of the war turned against the Achaeans, Patroclus, disguised as Achilles and defying his orders to retreat in time, led the Myrmidons in battle against the Trojans and was eventually killed by the Trojan prince, Hector. Enraged by Patroclus' death, Achilles ended his refusal to fight, resulting in significant Greek victories.
• Phanosthenes : one of the foreigners whom the Athenians had frequently placed at the head of their armies.
• Phemius (Φήμιος) : In Homer's epic poem the Odyssey, Phemius is an Ithacan poet who performs narrative songs in the house of the absent Odysseus.
• Polygnotus (Πολύγνωτος) : was an ancient Greek painter from the middle of the 5th century BCE. He was the son and pupil of Aglaophon. He was a native of Thasos, but was adopted by the Athenians, and admitted to their citizenship.
• Priam (Πρίαμος) : was the legendary and last king of Troy during the Trojan War. He was the son of Laomedon. His many children included notable characters such as Hector, Paris, and Cassandra.
• Stesimbrotus of Thasos (Στησίμβροτος) [c. 470 BCE – c. 420 BCE] : was a sophist, a rhapsode and logographer, a writer on history, and an opponent of Pericles and reputed author of a political pamphlet On Themistocles, Thucydides, and Pericles.
• Thamyras (Θάμυρις) [or Thamyris] : was a Thracian singer. He is notable in Greek mythology for reportedly being a lover of Hyacinth and thus to have been the first male to have loved another male, but when his songs failed to win his love from the god Apollo, he challenged the Nine Muses to a competition and lost.
• Theoclymenus (Θεοκλύμενος) : was a prophet from Argos. In the Odyssey, he escaped from Argos after killing one of his relatives. He fled to Pylos and sought refuge aboard the ship of Telemachus, who had come to inquire about the fate of his father, Odysseus.
• Theodorus (Θεόδωρος) : was a 6th-century BCE ancient Greek sculptor and architect from the Greek island of Samos. Along with Rhoecus, he was often credited with the invention of ore smelting and the craft of casting. He is also credited with inventing a water level, a carpenter's square, a lock and key and the turning lathe. Theodorus is the architect of the Doric order temple Heraion of Samos temple. In some texts he is described, above all, as a great artist and in some statues he is depicted as a great inventor.
• Tynnichus (Τύννιχος) [6th century BCE] : was an ancient Greek doric poet from Chalcis. He developed distinctive paeans with musical accompaniment in honor of the god Apollo, particularly for the cessation of infectious diseases. This form of poetry, more religious in nature, was first perfected in Crete and from there spread to Delphi, ancient Sparta, and other regions of ancient Greece.

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Deities mentioned in the dialogue :

• Asclepius (Ἀσκληπιός) : is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis, or Arsinoe, or of Apollo alone. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters, the "Asclepiades", are: Hygieia ("Health, Healthiness"), Iaso (from ἴασις "healing, recovering, recuperation", the goddess of recuperation from illness), Aceso (from ἄκεσις "healing", the goddess of the healing process), Aegle (the goddess of good health) and Panacea (the goddess of universal remedy). He has several sons as well.
• Dionysus (Διόνυσος) : is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus.
• Erebus (Ἔρεβος) : is the personification of darkness. In Hesiod's Theogony, he is the offspring of Chaos, and the father of Aether and Hemera (Day) by Nyx (Night); in other Greek cosmogonies, he is the father of Aether, Eros, and Metis, or the first ruler of the gods.
• Muses (Μοῦσαι) : are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric songs, and myths that were related orally for centuries in ancient Greek culture. The number and names of the Muses differed by region, but from the Classical period the number of Muses was standardized to nine, and their names were generally given as Calliope, Clio, Polyhymnia, Euterpe, Terpsichore, Erato, Melpomene, Thalia, and Urania.
• Proteus (Πρωτεύς) : is an early prophetic sea god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea".

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Place mentioned in the dialogue :

• Andros (Άνδρος) : is the northernmost island of the Greek Cyclades archipelago.
• Athens (Ἀθῆναι) : is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens is one of the world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years, and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BCE.
• Clazomenae (Κλαζομεναί) : was one of the 12 ancient anatolian ionic cities. It is located at the south coast of symrna gulf Ionia and a member of the Ionian League. It was one of the first cities to issue silver coinage.
• Cyzicus (Κύζικος) : was an ancient Greek town in Mysia in Anatolia.
• Ephesus (Ἔφεσος) : was a city in Ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital, by Attic and Ionian Greeks. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League.
• Epidaurus (Ἐπίδαυρος) : was a small city (polis) in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula at the Saronic Gulf.
• Heaven : is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to Earth or incarnate and earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife or, in exceptional cases, enter Heaven without dying.
• Ithaca (Ιθάκη) : was, in Greek mythology, the island home of the hero Odysseus.
• Lampsacus (Λάμψακος) : was an ancient Greek city strategically located on the eastern side of the Hellespont in the northern Troad. An inhabitant of Lampsacus was called a Lampsacene.
• Rhegium (Ρήγι) [or Reggio Calabria] : is the largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Regional Council of Calabria. After Cumae, Reggio was one of the first Greek colonies in southern Italy. The colony was settled by the inhabitants of Chalcis in 730 or 743 BCE.
• Sparta : was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece.
• Thasos (Θάσος) : is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea. It is the northernmost major Greek island, and 12th largest by area.
• Troy (Τροία) [or Ilion] : was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlık, Turkey. The place was first settled around 3600 BCE and grew into a small fortified city around 3000 BCE.

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Term used in the dialogue :

• Athenians : pertaining to Athens (Ἀθῆναι), the capital and largest city of Greece.
• Bacchic [or Dionysian Mysteries] : is the central religious cult of Dionysus in ancient Greece. Its ritual sometimes used intoxicants and other trance-inducing techniques (like dance and music) to remove inhibitions and social constraints, liberating the individual to return to a natural state. It also provided some liberation for men and women marginalized by Greek society, among which were slaves, outlaws, and non-citizens.
• Chalcidian : pertaining to Chalcis (Χαλκίς), the chief city of the island of Euboea or Evia in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point.
• Corybantian : pertaining to Korybantes/Corybantes (Κορύβαντες), the armed and crested dancers who worshipped the Phrygian goddess Cybele with drumming and dancing.
• Dithyramb (διθύραμβος) : was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility; the term was also used as an epithet of the god.
• Ephesians : pertaining to Ephesus (Ἔφεσος), a city in Ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia.
• Epidaurians : pertaining to Epidaurus (Ἐπίδαυρος), a small city (polis) in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula at the Saronic Gulf.
• Festival of Asclepius : called the Asclepiaea, was celebrated wherever there was an Asclepiaeon (a temple of Asclepius). The Asclepiaea of Epidaurus, held every fifth year, were particularly important. These included athletic as well as musical competitions. Athens, which had another important sanctuary of Asclepius, celebrated both an Asclepiaea (twice per year) and an Epidauria (to commemorate the day when Asclepius was brought to Athens from Epidaurus). On feast days and in his various temples, Asclepius received different types of sacrifices. These included standard burnt sacrifices, but also hair sacrifices to him or his daughter Hygieia.
• Gods : In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the universe or life, for which such a deity is often worshipped".
• Hellenes (Έλληνες) : are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Albania, Anatolia, parts of Italy and Egypt, and to a lesser extent, other countries surrounding the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea.
• Hellenic : of or pertaining to ancient Greece, ancient Greek people, culture and civilization.
• Heraclides (Ἡρακλείδης) : was any individual of the legendary clan of the Heracleidae, the mythological patronymic applying to persons descended from Hercules.
• Homeridae (Ὁμηρίδαι) : were a family, clan or professional lineage on the island of Chios claiming descent from the Greek epic poet Homer.
• Iliad (Ἰλιάς) : "[a poem] about Ilion (Troy)"] is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer.
• Odyssee (Ὀδύσσεια) : is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer.
• Paean : is a song or lyric poem expressing triumph or thanksgiving. In classical antiquity, it is usually performed by a chorus, but some examples seem intended for an individual voice (monody). It comes from the Greek παιάν (also παιήων or παιών), "song of triumph, any solemn song or chant". "Paeon" was also the name of a divine physician and an epithet ("byname") of Apollo.
• Panathenaea [or Panathenaia] : was a multi-day ancient Greek festival held annually in Athens that would always conclude on 28 Hekatombaion, the first month of the Attic calendar. The main purpose of the festival was for Athenians and non-Athenians to celebrate the goddess Athena. Every four years, the festival was celebrated in a larger manner over a longer time period with increased festivities and was known as the Great (or Greater) Panathenaea. In the years that the festival occurred that were not considered the Great Panathenaea, the festival was known as the Lesser Panathenaea. The festival consisted of various competitions and ceremonies, culminating with a religious procession that ended in the Acropolis of Athens.
• Pramnian Wine : is wine made on the Greek island of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea. The island has a long history of winemaking dating back to at least the 7th century BCE when it was mentioned in the works of Homer. During this time the area competed with the wines of Chios for the Greek market. The most noted Lesbos wine was known as Pramnian.
• Rhapsode (ῥαψῳδός) : a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE (and perhaps earlier). Rhapsodes notably performed the epics of Homer (Iliad and Odyssey) but also the wisdom and catalogue poetry of Hesiod and the satires of Archilochus and others.
• Samian : pertaining to Samos (Σάμος), a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of western Turkey. In ancient times, Samos was an especially rich and powerful city-state, particularly known for its vineyards and wine production.
• Stone of Heraclea : a magnet.

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