Des Epimenides Erwachen

play by Goethe

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July 16, 2026

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Des Epimenides Erwachen (1815), translated as "Epimenides Awakes," is a festival play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It was written to commemorate the Allied victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. However, the play reflects Goethe's ambiguous feelings about the war and the subsequent political reaction in Europe. He was not a proponent of the nationalist fervor of the German Wars of Liberation and felt that the values he cherished were better represented in other eras. The play's themes touch upon a disillusionment with the contemporary age, a sentiment that permeated much of Goethe's work during this period.1

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Napoleonic period (1805–16) of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
He obliged with Des Epimenides Erwachen (1815; “Epimenides Awakes”), but the play shows that his feelings about the great victory were ambiguous. He had to be pleased that the Treaty of Paris signed in 1815 provided for the works of art looted from Italy to be returned, but…
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He obliged with Des Epimenides Erwachen (1815; “Epimenides Awakes”), but the play shows that his feelings about the great victory were ambiguous. He had to be pleased that the Treaty of Paris signed in 1815 provided for the works of art looted from Italy to be returned, but…
Read More