ABSTRACT
The two epistolary collections translated in their entirety below are really a subset of the pseudo-historical letters that will be presented in the following chapter. They are attributed to famous figures from the past, and while the fifth-century Athenian politician Themistocles is better known to most modern readers than the fourth-century tyrannicide Chion, both would have been familiar names to ancient audiences. The Letters of Themistocles and Chion of Heraclea consist of freestanding epistles with no connective narrative, and in both cases all the letters are from one sender to multiple addressees. As with all the pseudonymous material, historical accuracy is not the author’s main concern; instead, these two collections explore the psychological developments of protagonists who unwillingly leave their homelands and face unexpected challenges in foreign lands. Their dramas unfold in letters home, as they express their political and philosophical viewpoints, complain about rude acquaintances or hostile hosts, request loans of cash, or just send their regards to family members. The Roman poet Ovid followed much the same impulse when he wrote the Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters from Pontus) and Tristia (Laments), two collections of verse letters composed while banished from Rome and addressed to his friends and family back home. Although Ovid writes in his own voice, he evokes a character very much like that of the exiled Themistocles.
