The story of a futile quest for knowledge, this ancient anti-war drama is one of the neglected plays within the corpus of Greek tragedy. Euripides' shortest tragic work, Rhesos is unique in lacking a prologue, provoking some scholars to the conclusion that the beginning of the play has been lost. In this exciting translation, Rhesos is no longer treated as a derivative Euripidean work, but rather as the tightly-knit tragedy of knowledge it really is. A drama in which profound problems of fate and free will come alive, Rhesos is also an exploration of the perversion of values that come as the r.
The messenger who reports important action that has occurred offstage is a familiar inhabitant of Greek tragedy. A messenger informs us about the death of Jocasta and the blinding of Oedipus, the madness of Heracles, the slaughter of Aigisthos, and the death of Hippolytus, among other important events. Despite its prevalence, this conventional figure remains only little understood. Combining several critical approaches—narrative theory, genre study, and rhetorical analysis—this lucid study develops a synthetic view of the messenger of Greek tragedy, showing how this role illuminates some of the genre's most persistent concerns, especially those relating to language, knowledge, and the workings of tragic theater itself. James Barrett gives close readings of several plays including Aeschylus's Persians, Sophocles' Electra and Oedipus Tyrannus, and Euripides' Bacchae and Rhesos. He traces the literary ancestry of the tragic messenger, showing that the messenger's narrative constitutes an unexplored site of engagement with Homeric epic, and that the role illuminates fifth-century b.c. experimentation with modes of speech. Breaking new ground in the study of Athenian tragedy, Barrett deepens our understanding of many central texts and of a form of theater that highlights the fragility and limits of human knowledge, a theme explored by its use of the messenger.
Based on the conviction that only translators who write poetry themselves can best re-create the celebrated and timeless tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the Greek Tragedy in New Translations series offers new translations that go beyond the literal meaning of the Greek in order to evoke the poetry of the originals. The tragedies collected here were originally available as single volumes. This new collection retains the informative introductions and explanatory notes of the original editions, with Greek line numbers and a single combined glossary added for easy reference. This volume collects Euripides' Andromache, a play that challenges the concept of tragic character and transforms expectations of tragic structure; Hecuba, a powerful story of the unjustifiable sacrifice of Hecuba's daughter and the consequent destruction of Hecuba's character; Trojan Women, a particularly intense account of human suffering and uncertainty; and Rhesos, the story of a futile quest for knowledge.
This Blackwell Guide introduces ancient Greek drama, which flourished principally in Athens from the sixth century BC to the third century BC. A broad-ranging and systematically organised introduction to ancient Greek drama. Discusses all three genres of Greek drama - tragedy, comedy, and satyr play. Provides overviews of the five surviving playwrights - Aeschylus, Sophokles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander, and brief entries on lost playwrights. Covers contextual issues such as: the origins of dramatic art forms; the conventions of the festivals and the theatre; the relationship between drama and the worship of Dionysos; the political dimension; and how to read and watch Greek drama. Includes 46 one-page synopses of each of the surviving plays.
Greek Nymphs: Myths, Cult, Lore is the first comprehensive study of the nymph in the ancient Greek world. This well-illustrated book examines nymphs as both religious and mythopoetic figures, tracing their development and significance in Greek culture from Homer through the Hellenistic period. Drawing upon a broad range of literary and archaeological evidence, Jennifer Larson discusses sexually powerful nymphs in ancient and modern Greek folklore, the use of dolls representing nymphs in the socialization of girls, the phenomenon of nympholepsy, the nymphs' relations with other deities in the Greek pantheon, and the nymphs' role in mythic narratives of city-founding and colonization. The book includes a survey of the evidence for myths and cults of the nymphs arranged by geographical region, and a special section of the worship of nymphs in caves throughout the Greek world.
Carolyn Higbie uses an inscription of the first century BC from Lindos to study the ancient Greeks and their past. The inscription contains two inventories. The first catalogues some forty objects given to Athena Lindia by figures from the mythological past (including Heracles, Helen, andMenelaus) and the historical past (including Alexander the Great and Hellenistic figures). The second catalogues three epiphanies of Athena Lindia to the townspeople when they were in need of her assistance. By drawing on anthropological approaches as well as archaeological and literary evidence,this book explores what was important to the Greeks about their past, how they reconstructed it, and how they made use of it in their present.
This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘Aphrodite in Aulis by George Moore - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of George Moore’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Moore includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘Aphrodite in Aulis by George Moore - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Moore’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles
