Padilla Peralta, Dan-el. "Biopolitics and citizenship in Euripides’ Ion." Throughlines. www.throughlines.org/suite-content/biopolitics-and-citizenship-in-euripides-ion. [Date accessed].

Biopolitics and citizenship in Euripides’ Ion

How was the concept of citizenship constructed in ancient Athens and how is it deeply tied to race, belonging, and women's bodies?

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Dan-el Padilla Peralta
Princeton University

Questions of citizenship, belonging, and ­national identity shape contemporary life. Who is and who is not a citizen, and how this is determined across national and racial lines, has a deeply rooted history. In ancient Greece, tragedians like Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides responded to their particular political moment with plays that demanded audiences to consider the nature of citizenship and nationality within their society. Dan-el Padilla Peralta expounds on how Euripides’ Ion deals with the question of citizenship and how it resonates across the long history of racialization.

Further learning

Syllabus

Citizenships ancient and modern

This course, developed by Dan-el Padilla Peralta, maps a history of citizenship as a concept and an institution from the ancient Mediterranean world to the 21st century.

Dan-el Padilla Peralta
Essay

Deep dive: Biopolitics and citizenship in Euripides' Ion

Dan-el Padilla Peralta dives into the question of citizenship in the ancient Mediterranean world and how it resonates across the long legacy of racialization.

Dan-el Padilla Peralta

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