Esuli e aggressori che vengono dal mare: la costruzione dell’immagine dello straniero nelle Supplici di Eschilo

Abstract

This article analyzes the construction of the alien’s image in The Suppliants of Aeschylus. First, the foreigner excites curiosity and fascination, then he stirs up anxiety and rejection and he becomes ‘barbarian’, member of a culture uncivilized. Moreover, the author uses the look of the Other to describe apologetically his own culture and his own democracy. The analysis of the tragedy is useful to understand how we relate to other cultures and how we create the alien’s image even in the present.