For 25 centuries Greek tragedy has had a lasting impact on Western culture: from Roman literature and Renaissance art, to the creation of opera, the language of philosophy and modern psychology (Freud’s ”Oedipus complex”), and innumerable modern plays These Greek plays remain deeply embedded in Western culture. In this SDG we will read and discuss three plays each by the three greatest tragedians: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Each year the playwrights wrote, staged, and choreographed a slate of three plays – a trilogy - in a competition before an audience of 14,000 Athenians The actors were all men, but wearing masks they depicted a variety of characters from young girls to old men and even divinities. We will see how the dramatists took familiar myths and applied the intellectual insights of their own times. There are no easy moral lessons – most characters are a mix of good and evil as they pursue vengeance. The plays often end with the triumph of law over moral chaos.
We will start with Aeschylus’ trilogy Oresteia containing Agamemnon, Libation Bearers and Eumenides. We will move on to Sophocles’ Oedipus, Antigone, and Electra, and conclude with Euripides Medea, Trojan Women, and The Bacchae.
Coordinator: Ron Mellor
Format: Gayley
Week 1 Introduction to Greek Drama
Week 2 Aeschylus Agamemnon
Week 3 Aeschylus Libation Bearers
Week 4 Aeschylus Eumenides
Week 5 Sophocles Oedipus
Week 6 Sophocles Antigone
Week 7 Sophocles Electra
Week 8 Euripides Medea
Week 9 Euripides Trojan Women
Week 10 Euripides The Bacchae
All the nine plays in modern translation are included in a single book.
The Greek Plays: Sixteen Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides Edited by Mary Lefkowitz and James Romm (Modern Library, 2017)