''Erofili'', also spelled as ''Erophile'' ( el, Ερωφίλη), is the most famous and often performed

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

of the

Cretan Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

theater. It was written around 1600 in

Rethymno Rethymno ( el, Ρέθυμνο, , also ''Rethimno'', ''Rethymnon'', ''Réthymnon'', and ''Rhíthymnos'') is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 30,000 inhabitants ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

(then a Venetian colony) by

Georgios Chortatzis Georgios Chortatzis or Chortatsis ( el, Γεώργιος Χορτάτζης/Χορτάτσης; c. 1545 – c. 1610) was a Greek dramatist in Cretan verse. He was, along with Vitsentzos Kornaros, one of the main representatives of a school of lite ...

and first published in 1637 in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, probably after Chortatzis' death. Erwfili exwfyllo

Composition

Although the exact date is unknown, Chortatzis must have started to work on ''Erofili'' during the last few years of the 16th century. As was customary at the time, ''Erofili'' was written in verse. The composition consists of 3205 verses in

Cretan Greek Cretan Greek, or the Cretan dialect ( el, Κρητική Διάλεκτος, ), is a variety of Modern Greek spoken in Crete and by the Cretan diaspora. Geographic distribution The Cretan dialect is spoken by the majority of the Cretan Greeks ...

, rhymed in fifteen-syllable except from the

choral A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...

parts which are in

hendecasyllable In poetry, a hendecasyllable (sometimes hendecasyllabic) is a line of eleven syllables. The term may refer to several different poetic meters, the older of which are quantitative and used chiefly in classical (Ancient Greek and Latin) poetry, and ...

terza rima ''Terza rima'' (, also , ; ) is a rhyming verse form, in which the poem, or each poem-section, consists of tercets (three line stanzas) with an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme: The last word of the second line in one tercet provides the rh ...

form. ''Erofili'' is organized in five acts, between which there are four lyrical interludes ( intermezzi). ''Erofili'' is modeled after ''

Orbecche ''Orbecche'' is a tragedy written by Giovanni Battista Giraldi in 1541. It was the first modern tragedy written on classical principles, and along with Sperone Speroni's ''Canace'', was responsible for a sixteenth-century theoretical debate on ...

'' by

Giovanni Battista Giraldi Giovanni Battista Giraldi (12 November 1504 – 30 December 1573) was an Italian novelist and poet. He appended the nickname Cinthio to his name and is commonly referred to by that name (which is also rendered as Cynthius, Cintio or, in Italian, ...

(published in 1547), however it includes several changes in the plot and is dramatically more concise. The interludes are inspired by the Rinaldo and Armida episode from

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' ( Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

's ''

Jerusalem Delivered ''Jerusalem Delivered'', also known as ''The Liberation of Jerusalem'' ( it, La Gerusalemme liberata ; ), is an epic poem by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso, first published in 1581, that tells a largely mythified version of the First Crusad ...

''.Puchner (1991), pp. 130–131

Plot summary

Filogonos, king of

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

, murders his brother to gain his throne and marries his widow. Filogonos has a daughter, Erofili, which he raises together with Panaretos, an orphan boy of royal descent. Due to his competence at war, Panaretos is proclaimed general of the King's army. A love affair develops between Panaretos and Erofili and leads to their secret marriage. Filogonos, who planned to wed Erofili to the heir of a rival kingdom, asks Panaretos to act as an intermediary. This results in the secret marriage's disclosure and the King's rage. Filogonos orders the death of Panaretos and sends his head, heart and hands as a wedding gift to his daughter. Upon receiving the appalling gift, Erofili stabs herself to death. The chorus of maids overthrows Filogonos and kills him.

Reception

Along with ''

Erotokritos ''Erotokritos'' ( el, Ἐρωτόκριτος) is a romance composed by Vikentios Kornaros in early 17th century Crete. It consists of 10,012 fifteen-syllable rhymed verses, the last twelve of which refer to the poet himself. It is written in t ...

'', a long romantic

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meaning ...

, ''Erofili'' stands at the apogee of the Cretan Renaissance literature. It became a popular read in several Greek-speaking regions and parts of it were even orally passed from generation to generation.

References

Sources

External links

*{{cite web, url= http://anemi.lib.uoc.gr/php/pdf_pager.php?filename=/var/www/tkl-portal-neo//metadata/7/9/d/attached-metadata-265-0000116/72205.pdf&pageno=5&width=426&height=605&maxpage=187&pagestart=1&lang=en , title=''Erofili'' in digital form by C. Sathas Greek plays Greek literature Greek poems 1637 plays Cretan Renaissance literature