Editing Arion (section)

== The dithyramb ==
Arion is often called the inventor of the dithyrambic poetry, and of the name dithyramb. As Arthur Wallace writes: "As a literary composition for chorus dithyramb was the creation of Arion of Corinth,"<ref>Pickard-Cambridge, Sir Arthur Wallace. 1927. ''Dithyramb Tragedy and Comedy''. Second edition revised by T.B.L. Webster, 1962. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-19-814227-7}}.</ref> His fame was established in antiquity, and [[Herodotus]] says "Arion was second to none of the lyre-players in his time and was also the first man we know of to compose and name the [[dithyramb]] and teach it in Corinth".<ref>Herodotus, ''Histories'' 1.23</ref> However, [[John Herbert Sleeman|J. H. Sleeman]] observes of the dithyramb, or circular chorus, "It is first mentioned by [[Archilochus]] (c. 665 BC) ... Arion flourished at least 50 years later ... probably gave it a more artistic form, adding a chorus of 50 people, personating satyrs... who danced around an altar of Dionysus. He was doubtless the first to introduce the dithyramb into Corinth".<ref>J.H. Sleeman, ed. ''Herodotus Book I''.</ref> [[Armand D'Angour]] notes that Arion's contribution to the reform of the dithyramb, which was eventually performed in a circle and called ''kuklios choros'', was recognised by ancient sources by the fact that they named his father ''Kukleus'' ("Circle-man").<ref>'How the Dithyramb got its shape'. ''Classical Quarterly'' 46.2 (1997) 331-351.</ref>

Arion is also associated with the origins of tragedy: of [[Solon]] John the Deacon reports: “Arion of Methymna first introduced the drama [i.e. action] of tragedy, as Solon indicated in his poem entitled ''Elegies''".<ref>Solon, Fragment 30a W, noted in Eric Csapo and Margaret Christina Miller, ''The Origins of Theater in Ancient Greece and beyond: from ritual to drama'', 2007 "Pre-Aristotelian fragments", p. 10.</ref>