1.
Theatre of ancient Greece
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The ancient Greek drama, is a theatrical culture that flourished in ancient Greece from c.700 BC. Tragedy, comedy, and the play were the three dramatic genres to emerge there. Athens exported the festival to its numerous colonies and allies in order to promote a cultural identity. The word τραγῳδία, from which the tragedy is derived, is a compound of two Greek words, τράγος or goat and ᾠδή meaning song, from ἀείδειν, to sing. This etymology indicates a link with the practices of the ancient Dionysian cults and it is impossible, however, to know with certainty how these fertility rituals became the basis for tragedy and comedy. The classical Greeks valued the power of word, and it was their main method of communication. Bahn and Bahn write, To Greeks the spoken word was a living thing, socrates himself believed that once something was written down, it lost its ability for change and growth. For these reasons, among others, oral storytelling flourished in Greece. Greek tragedy as we know it was created in Athens around the time of 532 BC, being a winner of the first theatrical contest held in Athens, he was the exarchon, or leader, of the dithyrambs performed in and around Attica, especially at the rural Dionysia. By Thespis time, the dithyramb had evolved far away from its cult roots, under the influence of heroic epic, Doric choral lyric and the innovations of the poet Arion, it had become a narrative, ballad-like genre. Thus, Thespiss true contribution to drama is unclear at best, the dramatic performances were important to the Athenians – this is made clear by the creation of a tragedy competition and festival in the City Dionysia. This was organized possibly to foster loyalty among the tribes of Attica, the festival was created roughly around 508 BC. While no drama texts exist from the sixth century BC, we do know the names of three competitors besides Thespis, Choerilus, Pratinas, and Phrynichus, each is credited with different innovations in the field. He won his first competition between 511 BC and 508 BC and he produced tragedies on themes and subjects later exploited in the golden age such as the Danaids, Phoenician Women and Alcestis. He was the first poet we know of to use a historical subject – his Fall of Miletus, produced in 493-2 and he is also thought to be the first to use female characters. This century is regarded as the Golden Age of Greek drama. The centre-piece of the annual Dionysia, which took place once in winter, each submitted three tragedies, plus a satyr play. Beginning in a first competition in 486 BC each playwright submitted a comedy, aristotle claimed that Aeschylus added the second actor, and that Sophocles introduced the third
2.
Aeschylus
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Aeschylus was an ancient Greek tragedian. He is often described as the father of tragedy, academics knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier tragedies is largely based on inferences from his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in theater allowing conflict among them, fragments of some other plays have survived in quotes and more continue to be discovered on Egyptian papyrus, often giving us surprising insights into his work. He was probably the first dramatist to present plays as a trilogy, at least one of his plays was influenced by the Persians second invasion of Greece. This work, The Persians, is the surviving classical Greek tragedy concerned with contemporary events. Despite this, Aeschylus work – particularly the Oresteia – is generally acclaimed by modern critics and scholars. As soon as he woke from the dream, the young Aeschylus began to write a tragedy, and his first performance took place in 499 BC and he won his first victory at the City Dionysia in 484 BC. In 510 BC, when Aeschylus was 15 years old, Cleomenes I expelled the sons of Peisistratus from Athens, Cleisthenes reforms included a system of registration that emphasized the importance of the deme over family tradition. In the last decade of the 6th century, Aeschylus and his family were living in the deme of Eleusis, the Persian Wars played a large role in the playwrights life and career. In 490 BC, Aeschylus and his brother Cynegeirus fought to defend Athens against the army of Darius I of Persia at the Battle of Marathon. The Athenians emerged triumphant, a victory celebrated across the city-states of Greece, Cynegeirus, however, died in the battle, receiving a mortal wound while trying to prevent a Persian ship retreating from the shore, for which his countrymen extolled him as a hero. In 480, Aeschylus was called into service again, this time against Xerxes Is invading forces at the Battle of Salamis. Ion of Chios was a witness for Aeschyluss war record and his contribution in Salamis, Salamis holds a prominent place in The Persians, his oldest surviving play, which was performed in 472 BC and won first prize at the Dionysia. Aeschylus was one of many Greeks who were initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, initiates gained secret knowledge through these rites, likely concerning the afterlife. Firm details of specific rites are sparse, as members were sworn under the penalty of not to reveal anything about the Mysteries to non-initiates. Nevertheless, according to Aristotle, Aeschylus was accused of revealing some of the secrets on stage. Other sources claim that a mob tried to kill Aeschylus on the spot. Heracleides of Pontus asserts that the tried to stone Aeschylus
3.
The Persians
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The Persians is an ancient Greek tragedy written during the Classical period of Ancient Greece by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus. The first play in the trilogy was called Phineus, it dealt with Jason. In The Persians, Xerxes invites the gods enmity for his expedition against Greece in 480/79 BCE. Given Aeschylus’ propensity for writing connected trilogies, the theme of divine retribution may connect the three, Aeschylus himself had fought the Persians at Marathon. He may even have fought at Salamis, just eight years before the play was performed, the satyr play following the trilogy was Prometheus Pyrkaeus, translated as either Prometheus the Fire-lighter or Prometheus the Fire-kindler, which comically portrayed the titan’s theft of fire. Another fragment from Prometheus Pyrkaeus was translated by Herbert Weir Smyth as And do thou guard thee well lest a blast strike thy face, for it is sharp, expressing her anxiety and unease, Atossa narrates what is probably the first dream sequence in European theatre. This is a beginning for a tragedy by Aeschylus, normally the chorus would not appear until slightly later, after a speech by a minor character. An exhausted messenger arrives, who offers a description of the Battle of Salamis. He tells of the Persian defeat, the names of the Persian generals who have killed. The climax of the speech is his rendition of the battle cry of the Greeks as they charged, On. Set free / Your fatherland, set free your children, wives, / Places of your ancestral gods, at the tomb of her dead husband Darius, Atossa asks the chorus to summon his ghost, Some remedy he knows, perhaps, / Knows ruins cure they say. On learning of the Persian defeat, Darius condemns the hubris behind his son’s decision to invade Greece and he particularly rebukes an impious Xerxes’ decision to build a bridge over the Hellespont to expedite the Persian army’s advance. Xerxes finally arrives, dressed in robes and reeling from his crushing defeat. The rest of the consists of the king alone with the chorus engaged in a lyrical kommós that laments the enormity of Persia’s defeat. Aeschylus was not the first to write a play about the Persians—his older contemporary Phrynichus wrote two plays about them, the second, Phoenician Women, treated the same historical event as Aeschylus’ Persians. Neither of Phrynichus plays have survived, interpretations of Persians either read the play as sympathetic toward the defeated Persians or else as a celebration of Greek victory within the context of an ongoing war. The celebratory school argues that the play is part of a culture that would find it difficult to sympathize with its hated barbarian enemy during a time of war. During the play, Xerxes calls his pains a joy to my enemies, according to a scholium at Aristophanes Frogs 1028, Hiero of Syracuse at some point invited Aeschylus to reproduce The Persians in Sicily
4.
Seven Against Thebes
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Seven Against Thebes is the third play in an Oedipus-themed trilogy produced by Aeschylus in 467 BC. The trilogy is sometimes referred to as the Oedipodea and it concerns the battle between an Argive army led by Polynices and the army of Thebes led by Eteocles and his supporters. The trilogy won the first prize at the City Dionysia, the trilogys first two plays, Laius and Oedipus, as well as the satyr play Sphinx, are no longer extant. When Oedipus, King of Thebes, realized he had married his own mother and had two sons and two daughters with her, he blinded himself and cursed his sons to divide their inheritance by the sword. The two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, in order to avoid bloodshed, agreed to rule Thebes in alternate years, after the first year, Eteocles refused to step down, leading Polynices to raise an army of Argives to take Thebes by force. This is where Aeschylus tragedy starts, dialogues show aspects of Eteocles character. There is also a description of each of the seven captains that lead the Argive army against the seven gates of the city of Thebes as well as the devices on their respective shields. Eteocles, in turn, announces which Theban commanders he will send against each Argive attacker, finally, the commander of the troops before the seventh gate is revealed to be Polynices, the brother of the king. Then Eteocles remembers and refers to the curse of their father Oedipus, Eteocles resolves to meet and fight his brother in person before the seventh gate and exits. Following a choral ode, a messenger enters, announcing that the attackers have been repelled and their bodies are brought on stage, and the chorus mourns them. Due to the popularity of Sophocles play Antigone, the ending of Seven against Thebes was rewritten about fifty years after Aeschylus death, others appear as stock figures to fill out the list, Burkert remarks. The city is saved when the brothers simultaneously run each other through, the mythic theme passed into Etruscan culture, a fifth-century bronze mirrorback is inscribed with Fulnice and Evtucle running at one another with drawn swords. The Seven Against Thebes were Adrastus Amphiaraus Capaneus Hippomedon Parthenopeus Polynices Tydeus Allies, some sources, however, state that Eteoclus and Mecisteus were in fact two of the seven, and that Tydeus and Polynices were allies. This is because both Tydeus and Polynices were foreigners, however, Polynices was the cause of the entire conflict, and Tydeus performed acts of valour far surpassing Eteoclus and Mecisteus. Either way, all nine men were present in the battle, from the nineteenth century onwards, however, it has not generally been regarded as among the tragedians major works. Translators Anthony Hecht and Helen S. Bacon wrote that the play has been accused of being static, undramatic, ritualistic, guilty of an interpolated and debased text, archaic, and in a word, boring. Lille Stesichorus, a fragment of the Theban myth by the lyric poet Stesichorus A. S. Way,1906 – verse E. D. A. Morshead,1908 – verse. The Orientalizing Revolution, Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age Seven against Thebes pp 106–14, Burkert draws parallels between Greek and Ancient Near Eastern materials
5.
The Suppliants (Aeschylus)
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The Suppliants, also called The Suppliant Maidens, or The Suppliant Women, is a play by Aeschylus. It was long thought to be the earliest surviving play by Aeschylus due to the relatively anachronistic function of the chorus as the protagonist of the drama. However, evidence discovered in the mid-20th century shows it one of Aeschylus last plays, definitely after The Persians, the Danaids form the chorus and serve as the protagonists. They flee a forced marriage to their Egyptian cousins, when the Danaides reach Argos, they entreat King Pelasgus to protect them. He refuses pending the decision of the Argive people, who decide in the favor of the Danaids, Danaus rejoices the outcome, and the Danaids praise the Greek gods. Almost immediately, a herald of the Egyptians comes to attempt to force the Danaids to return to their cousins for marriage, Pelasgus arrives, threatens the herald, and urges the Danaids to remain within the walls of Argos. The play ends with the Danaids retreating into the Argive walls, the remaining plays of the tetralogy have been mostly lost. However, one significant passage from The Danaids has been preserved and this is a speech by the goddess of love Aphrodite praising the marriage between the sky and the earth from which rain comes, nourishing cattle, corn and fruits. As the plot of the remaining plays has been reconstructed, following a war with the Aegyptids in which Pelasgus has been killed. The marriage is forced upon his daughters, but Danaus instructs them to murder their husbands on their wedding night, all do except for Hypermnestra, whose husband, Lynceus, flees. Danaus imprisons or threatens to kill Hypermnestra for her disobedience, but Lynceus reappears and kills Danaus, Lynceus becomes the new king of Argos, opinions differ as to the ending, although certainly Aphrodite was involved in the denouement. An alternative opinion is that Hypermnestra is put on trial for disobeying her father, the trilogy was followed by the satyr play Amymone, which comically portrayed one of the Danaids seduction by Poseidon. George Thomson, expanding on D. S. Ridgeway, on the other hand, friis Johansen, H. and Whittle, E. W. Aeschylus, The Suppliants. Garvie, A. F. Aeschylus Supplices, Play and Trilogy. E. D. A. Morshead,1908 - verse, full text Walter George Headlam and C. E. S. Headlam,1909 - prose Herbert Weir Smyth,1922 - prose, full text G. M. Cookson,1922 - verse S
6.
Oresteia
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This trilogy also shows how the Greek gods interacted with the characters and influenced their decisions pertaining to events and disputes. The only extant example of an ancient Greek theater trilogy, the Oresteia won first prize at the Dionysia festival in 458 BC, many consider the Oresteia to be Aeschylus finest work. The principal themes of the include the contrast between revenge and justice, as well as the transition from personal vendetta to organized litigation. Orestia originally included a satyr play Proteus following the tragic trilogy, Agamemnon is the first of the three plays within the Oresteia trilogy. It details the homecoming of Agamemnon, King of Mycene, from the Trojan War, after ten years of warfare, Troy had fallen and all of Greece could lay claim to victory. Waiting at home for Agamemnon is his wife, Queen Clytemnestra, who has been planning his murder. The play opens to a watchman looking down and over the sea, reporting that he has been lying restless like a dog for a year and he laments the fortunes of the house, but promises to keep silent, A huge ox has stepped onto my tongue. The watchman sees a far off in the distance and is overjoyed at the victory. Clytaemnestra is introduced to the audience and she declares that there will be celebrations and sacrifices throughout the city as Agamemnon, upon the return of Agamemnon, his wife laments in full view of Argos how horrible the wait for her husband, and King, has been. After her soliloquy, Clytaemnestra pleads, and later convinces Agamemnon to walk on the laid out for him. This is a very ominous moment in the play as loyalties and motives are questioned, the Kings new concubine, Cassandra, is now introduced and this immediately spawns hatred from the queen, Clytaemnestra. Cassandra is ordered out of her chariot and to the altar where, once she is alone, is crying out insane prophecies to Apollo about the death of Agamemnon. Inside the house a cry is heard, Agamemnon had been stabbed in the bathtub. The chorus separate from one another and ramble to themselves proving their cowardice when another final cry is heard, when the doors are finally opened, Clytaemnestra is seen standing over the dead bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra. Clytaemnestra describes the murder in detail to the chorus, showing no sign of remorse or regret, suddenly the exiled lover of Clytaemnestra, Aegisthus, bursts into the palace to take his place next to her. Aegisthus proudly states that he devised the plan to murder Agamemnon, Clytaemnestra claims that she and Aegisthus now have all the power and they re-enter the palace with the doors closing behind them. Upon arriving, Orestes reunites with his sister Electra at Agamemnons grave, shortly after the reunion, both Orestes and Electra, influenced by the Chorus, come up with a plan to kill both Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus. Orestes then heads to the door where he is unexpectedly greeted by Clytaemnestra
7.
Agamemnon
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Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. When Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was taken to Troy by Paris, upon Agamemnons return from Troy, he was murdered by Aegisthus, the lover of his wife, Clytemnestra. In some later versions Clytemnestra herself does the killing, or they act together as accomplices, Atreus, Agamemnons father, murdered the children of his twin brother Thyestes and fed them to Thyestes after discovering Thyestes adultery with his wife Aerope. Thyestes fathered Aegisthus with his own daughter, Pelopia, and this son vowed gruesome revenge on Atreus children, Aegisthus successfully murdered Atreus and restored his father to the throne. Aegisthus took possession of the throne of Mycenae and jointly ruled with Thyestes, during this period Agamemnon and his brother, Menelaus, took refuge with Tyndareus, King of Sparta. There they respectively married Tyndareus daughters Clytemnestra and Helen, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had four children, one son, Orestes, and three daughters, Iphigenia, Electra and Chrysothemis. Menelaus succeeded Tyndareus in Sparta, while Agamemnon, with his brothers assistance, drove out Aegisthus and he extended his dominion by conquest and became the most powerful prince in Greece. Thus misfortune hounded successive generations of the House of Atreus, until atoned by Orestes in a court of justice held jointly by humans, Agamemnon gathered the reluctant Greek forces to sail for Troy. Preparing to depart from Aulis, which was a port in Boeotia, misfortunes, including a plague and a lack of wind, prevented the army from sailing. Finally, the prophet Calchas announced that the wrath of the goddess could only be propitiated by the sacrifice of Agamemnons daughter Iphigenia and her death appeased Artemis, and the Greek army set out for Troy. Several alternatives to the human sacrifice have been presented in Greek mythology, hesiod said she became the goddess Hecate. Agamemnon was the commander-in-chief of the Greeks during the Trojan War, during the fighting, Agamemnon killed Antiphus and fifteen other Trojan soldiers. The Iliad tells the story about the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles in the year of the war. Following one of the Achaean Armys raids, Chryseis, daughter of Chryses, Chryses pleaded with Agamemnon to free his daughter but was met with little success. Chryses then prayed to Apollo for the return of his daughter. After learning from the Prophet Calchas that the plague could be dispelled by returning Chryseis to her father, Agamemnon reluctantly agreed, however, as compensation for his lost prize, Agamemnon demanded a new prize. As a result, Agamemnon stole an attractive slave called Briseis, one of the spoils of war, Achilles, the greatest warrior of the age, withdrew from battle in response to Agamemnons supposedly evil deed and allegedly put the Greek armies at risk of losing the war. Although not the equal of Achilles in bravery, Agamemnon was a representative of kingly authority, as commander-in-chief, he summoned the princes to the council and led the army in battle
8.
Prometheus Bound
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Prometheus Bound is an Ancient Greek tragedy. In antiquity, it was attributed to Aeschylus, but now is considered by scholars to be the work of another hand. Despite these doubts of authorship, the designation as Aeschylean has remained conventional. The tragedy is based on the myth of Prometheus, a Titan who defies the gods and gives fire to mankind, the play is composed almost entirely of speeches and contains little action since its protagonist is chained and immobile throughout. At the beginning, Kratos, Bia, and the smith-god Hephaestus chain the Titan Prometheus to a mountain in the Caucasus, with Hephaestus alone expressing reluctance and pity, and then departing. According to the author, Prometheus is being punished not only for stealing fire and this punishment is especially galling since Prometheus was instrumental in Zeuss victory in the Titanomachy. The Oceanids appear and attempt to comfort Prometheus by conversing with him, Prometheus cryptically tells them that he knows of a potential marriage that would lead to Zeuss downfall. A Titan named Oceanus commiserates with Prometheus and urges him to peace with Zeus. Prometheus is then visited by Io, a human maiden pursued by a lustful Zeus, the Olympian transformed Io into a cow, Prometheus forecasts Ios future travels, telling her that Zeus will eventually end her torment in Egypt, where she will bear a son named Epaphus. He says one of her descendants, thirteen generations hence, will release him from his own torment, finally, Hermes the messenger-god is sent down by the angered Zeus to demand that Prometheus tell him who threatens to overthrow him. Prometheus refuses, and Zeus strikes him with a thunderbolt that plunges Prometheus into the abyss, the treatment of the myth of Prometheus in Prometheus Bound is a radical departure from the earlier accounts found in Hesiods Theogony and Works and Days. Hesiod essentially portrays the Titan as a trickster and semi-comic foil to Zeuss authority. Zeuss anger toward Prometheus is in responsible for mortal mans having to provide for himself, before. Prometheus theft of fire also prompts the arrival of the first woman, Pandora, Pandora is entirely absent from Prometheus Bound, and Prometheus becomes a human benefactor and divine king-maker, rather than an object of blame for human suffering. In Prometheus Unbound, Heracles frees Prometheus from his chains and kills the eagle that had been sent daily to eat the Titans perpetually regenerating liver. Perhaps foreshadowing his eventual reconciliation with Prometheus, we learn that Zeus has released the other Titans whom he imprisoned at the conclusion of the Titanomachy. In Prometheus the Fire-Bringer, the Titan finally warns Zeus not to lie with the sea nymph Thetis, not wishing to be overthrown, Zeus would later marry Thetis off to the mortal Peleus, the product of that union will be Achilles, Greek hero of the Trojan War. Grateful for the warning, Zeus finally reconciles with Prometheus, scholars at the Great Library of Alexandria unanimously deemed Aeschylus to be the author of Prometheus Bound
