ABSTRACT
Schopenhauer traces his pessimistic worldview to ancient Greek authors, including Herodotus, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Furthermore, he thinks of pessimism as an essential feature of Greek history and tragedy, which also distinguishes them from the optimism dominant in their day. This chapter compares Schopenhauer's discussions of Herodotus and the tragedians in both his published and unpublished writings. For him, both similarly lean toward pessimism in focusing on the depiction of individuals to convey the human condition and stressing the prevalence and inevitability of human suffering, but also ultimately approach optimism, due to endorsing superstitious conceptions of divine portents and fate.
