Greek Tragedy: Themes and ContextsThe latest volume in the Classical World series, this book offers a much-needed up-to-date introduction to Greek tragedy, and covers the most important thematic topics studied at school or university level. After a brief analysis of the genre and main figures, it focuses on the broader questions of what defines tragedy, what its particular preoccupations are, and what makes these texts so widely studied and performed more than 2,000 years after they were written. As such, the book will be of interest to students taking broad courses on Greek tragedy, while also being suitable for the general reader who wants an overview of the subject. All passages of tragedy discussed are translated by the author and supplementary information includes a chronology of all the surviving tragedies, a glossary, and guidance on further reading. |
Contents
| 1 | |
2 Aeschylus Sophocles and Euripides | 13 |
3 Myth | 25 |
4 Heroes | 39 |
5 The Gods | 53 |
6 Contemporary Thought | 67 |
7 Gender and the Family | 83 |
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Common terms and phrases
action actors Aegisthus Aeschylus Agamemnon agôn Ajax Ajax’s ancient anger Antigone Aphrodite Apollo appear Aristophanes Aristotle Aristotle’s Artemis Athenian Athens audience’s Bacchae behave behaviour Chapter characters choral odes claim Clytemnestra Creon cult death debate depicts Dionysia Dionysus divine downfall drama Electra Estimated date Euripides example explore father festival fifth-century gender genre gods Greek tragedy Greek world hamartia Helen Heracles hero’s Hippolytus Homer honour human husband idea identity Iliad important Iphigenia Jason killing Libation Bearers live male marriage matricide Medea Menelaus modern moral mother murder myth Nevertheless nomoi Odysseus Oedipus the King offers one’s Oresteia Orestes Pentheus performed Persians Philoctetes physis Plato’s plot poetry poets punishment reflect relationship rhetoric role scene sexual Similarly someone song Sophocles Sophocles and Euripides speech story suffering Suppliant Women surviving plays tells theatre theme Theseus tragedians tragedy’s tragic hero trilogy Trojan Troy vengeance wife Women of Trachis Zeus