Arion on a sea horse, as pictured by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1855)

Arion was a legendary poet and citharode in ancient Greece (originally of Lesbos) who lived in the court of Periander, tyrant of Corinth. He attended a musical competition in Sicily, which he won. On his return trip from Sicily, avaricious sailors plotted to kill Arion and steal the rich prizes he carried home. Arion was given the choice of suicide with a proper burial on land, or being thrown in the sea to perish. Neither prospect appealed to Arion, and he asked for permission to sing a last song to win time. Download high resolution version (900x570, 140 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (900x570, 140 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... William-Adolphe Bouguereau, self-portrait (1886). ... The poor poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. ... In ancient Greece, a citharode was a poet-performer who sang while accompanying himself on the kithara. ... The Temple of Athena, the Parthenon Ancient Greece is a period in Greek history that lasted for around nine hundred years. ... Lesbos (Greek: Lesvos (Λέσβος)), is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. ... Periander Periander (Greek: Περίανδρος) was the second tyrant of Corinth, Greece in the 7th century BC. He was the son of the first tyrant, Cypselus. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Temple of Apollo at Corinth Corinth, or Korinth (Κόρινθος) is a Greek city, on the Isthmus of Corinth, the original isthmus, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. ... // Music is an art form consisting of sound and silence expressed through time. ... Sicily (Sicilia in Italian and Sicilian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,708 km² (9,926 sq. ... Mayor of Leipzig, Germany, committed suicide along with his wife and daughter on April 20, 1945. ...

Playing his cithara, Arion sung a praise to Apollo, the god of poetry, and his song attracted a number of dolphins around the ship. At the end of the song, Arion threw himself into the sea rather than be killed, but one of the dolphins saved his life and carried him to safety at Cape Taenarum. Arion then continued to Corinth by other means and arrived before the sailors that tried to kill him. On his return to Corinth, the king didn't quite believe Arion's fantastic story. The sailors believed Arion was dead in the sea, and on arrival in Corinth they told the king that Arion had decided to remain in Italy. The king then understood that Arion's story was true and punished the sailors with death. (Herodotus I, 23-24) The kithara, also spelled cithara, was an ancient Greek musical instrument. ... For other uses, see Apollo (disambiguation). ... Dolphins appear in a number of Greek myths, invariably as helpers of humankind. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Other variations of the story exist. In 1994, it was adapted by Vikram Seth and Alec Roth into the opera Arion and the Dolphin, commissioned by the English National Opera for professional performers with community chorus and children's chorus. It premiered at Plymouth in 1994 under conductor Nicholas Kok and director Rebecca Meitlis. Vikram Seth (pronounced ), born June 20, 1952 is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, childrens writer, biographer and memoirist. ... The London Coliseum, home of the English National Opera English National Opera (ENO), located at the Coliseum Theatre on St. ... Smeatons tower on the Plymouth Hoe Plymouth is a city in the Westcountry of England, situated at the mouths of the rivers Plym and Tamar in the traditional county of Devon. ... Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. ...

Arion is mentioned in Act 1, scene ii of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

Trivia

• Arion was credited with the invention of the dithyramb.
• The Jimmy Buffett song Jolly Mon is based on this fable.
• The Arion fable inspired the central sculptural group in the main water basin of the formal gardens of Schloss Schwetzingen, Germany.
• There is a poem by A. S. Pushkin named Arion.
• There is an Japanese animation (anime) film named Arion that blends various Greek tales into an original story, following the story of a Hercules-like boy named Arion who struggles against various forces. The music in the film is by Joe Hisaishi, the main composer of all the music in Hayao Miyazaki's films.
• A poem by Seamus Heaney called 'Arion' appeared in Electric Light (2001)
• The Greek music awards show is called the ARION.
• There is a cantata by the french baroque composer André Campra telling the story of Arion
• There is a mystical character in DC Comics called Arion, Lord of Atlantis.
• A trianually published journal of humanities and the classics published by Boston University is titled Arion[1].

The dithyramb was originally an ancient Greek hymn sung to the god Dionysus. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Schwetzingen is a German city lying in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg, around 10 km southwest of Heidelberg and 15 km southeast of Mannheim. ... Pushkin may refer to: People Aleksandr Pushkin - a famous Russian poet Apollo Mussin-Pushkin - chemist and plant collector Aleksei Musin-Pushkin - statesman, historian, art collector Other Pushkin, a town in Russia Pushkin Square - square in Moscow Pushkin Museum - fine arts museum in Moscow This is a disambiguation page — a... The main cast of the anime Cowboy Bebop (1998) (L to R: Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Ed Tivrusky, Faye Valentine, and Ein the dog) For the oleo-resin, see Animé (oleo-resin). ... Mamoru Fujisawa (藤澤 守 Fujisawa Mamoru), known professionally as Joe Hisaishi (久石 è­² Hisaishi Jō, born December 6, 1950) is a composer and director responsible for over 100 soundtracks and conventional albums dating back to 1981. ... Hayao Miyazaki ) (Born January 5, 1941 in Tokyo, Japan) is a director of animated films and a co-founder of the animation studio and production company Studio Ghibli. ... Seamus Justin Heaney (IPA: //) (born 13 April 1939) is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer from County derry, Northern Ireland. ... Electric Light (2001) is a collection of poems written by Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney. ... Arion is a fictional character from DC Comics universe. ...

External links

• Arion in Bullfinch's Mythology A longer version of the myth.