Un’altra Itaca : Micene ricca d’oro sulla scena tragica

The 'golden' Homeric city of Mycenae, in Greek Tragedy, is one of the most tragic cities, covered in blood, devasted by murder, pain, deception, injustice... But memory of the ancient epic brilliance can be felt, and, if we look carefully, its recovery is the inner sense of the Mycenaean Tragedies. We find a regular mythical structure around this city: Mycenae, in Tragedy, is first of all the 'stolen city', because the hero has been violently driven out from his homeland, during prior events; but Mycenae is also the 'missed and recovered city' because in the present of drama the hero desires to return home, and something happens (a character arrives from off-stage) that makes this return possible - a return that corresponds to the restoration of the Homeric golden age. The 'Mycenaean Tragedies' can be divided in two great groups: 1) evil is 'inside' the city: in this situation, the hero has not only to return but also to free Mycenae from its usurpers (this is the case of Sophocles' 'Electra', Euripides' 'Electra', and Euripides' 'Heracleidae'). The model here is that of the 'Telemachia', in particular the case of the royal palace of Ithaca invaded by the Suitors; 2) evil is 'outside' the city, by now free from the usurpers: so, the hero must simply return to his homeland, to recover the ancient Homeric happiness (Euripides' 'Iphigenia in Tauris' and 'Suppliants'). The model can be recognized in Odysseus' painful journay, fraught with vicissitudes, to get back to Ithaca.