Greek Authors

AESCHYLUS

Biography

He was born in Elefsina in 525 BC. His father was Ephorion and he was descended from the glorious line of Kodrites. His family was noble and wealthy. He participated in the battle of Marathon (490 BC) and in the sea battle of Salamina (480 BC) against the Persians, where he showed great braveness and got seriously injured. He was awarded with 13 first prizes. As an acknowledgement to his work and his contribution to the theatre, the Athenians voted a law for the obligatory production of his works.

Aeschylus died in Gela of Sicely in 455 BC. The tradition reports as a cause of his death the fall of a turtle on his head. Only 7 of his 74 works are preserved today

The Persans

This tragedy has been written in 472 BC and it was about the battleship in Salamina between the Greeks and the Persans leaded by king Xerxes. Aeschylus had fought and had been seriously injured.

The story takes place in Persia’s capital Sousa, where a messenger announces to king’s mother (Atossa) the defeat of their fleet in Salamin. The messenger describes the way in which they lost the battle. Atossa and chorus are blaming Xerxes for the defeat. Atossa prays and recalls the soul of her dead husband king Dareus, to give them some advice. The phantom of Dareus appears and advices them, never to attack the Greeks again.

King Xerxes arrives, admits that the whole operation against Greece was his mistake and mourns along with the people of Persia.

Seven against Thebes

Right after the exile of King Oedipus to mountain Kolonos, his son Eteocles became the new king for a predefined period of one year. His brother Polynices was supposed to take the throne, when the year passed but Eteocles refused to pass the authority to his brother. Polynices left Thebes and found refuge to the city of Argos in the palace of king Adrastos. He married Adrastos daughter and prepared a military campaign against Thebes, in order to gain the throne he deserved. The troops of Argos have been leaded by seven generals (Polynices included) (the tragedy was named after them : seven against Thebes).

Eteocles had sent a spy to Argos to get information about the enemy plans. The spy returned and reported to his king about the campaign. Eteocles prepares the defense of Thebes, addressing one warlord for each one of the seven gates of the city (he had kept one for himself). In the battle he fought against his brother. The army of Thebes won the battle but both Eteocles and Polynices died.

Kreon, their uncle took over the throne of Thebes and the prophecy about the horrible fate of the family of Laios has come true.

Agamemnon

The story opens as, at long last, a signal fire burns within sight of Argos, meaning that the war at Troy has ended and the Greeks are coming home. Agamemnon's wife, Clytaemnestra keeps her murder plot a secret and acts very excited when she hears this news, telling the Chorus of Elders that she has missed her husband so very much during all these years. A Herald soon arrives to announce that Agamemnon's ship has landed and that he will be coming into the city. When the King of Argos himself appears soon after in his chariot, his wife acts very pleased to see him, and lies by saying that she has had no other lovers while he was away. The deceitful woman urges him to walk across a red carpet of honor, because he has lead the Greeks to victory. The man does not want to offend the gods by this arrogance, but Clytaemnestra finally convinces him to do as she wishes, after which the two enter the palace of Argos together.

Meanwhile, a captive Trojan princess named Cassandra remains in the chariot, lamenting about how Clytaemnestra is going to murder Agamemnon and herself. No one believes these words, however. The young woman curses Apollo for not saving her from death and boldly walks out of the chariot into the royal palace, knowing that she is going to die. The Chorus of Elder becomes alarmed when they hear screams of pain coming from within the palace. The doors open, and Agamemnon's bloody body lies on the ground beside that of Cassandra, while Clytaemnestra stands above them, showing her true personality now. She rants about how he has been punished for the death of her eldest daughter Iphigenia, and also for being unfaithful to her by making Cassandra his love slave. Aegisthus emerges from within the palace also, declaring that he has revenge for the death of his siblings, killed by Agamemnon's father Atreus.

Yet the Chorus of Elders does nothing to stop Clyatemnestra and merely cowers in fear at what has happened. They call Aegisthus a coward, since it was a woman and not a man who committed these two murders, and he in turn argues back. Tired, Clytaemnestra urges Aegisthus to go back into the royal palace at Argos with her, declaring that they will now rule Argos together. She adds that they will bury Agamemnon themselves so that his bloody body does not stay there in the palace. The woman remains peaceful because, after ten years, vengeance has been exacted against her husband. Agamemnon chose to be a soldier first and a father second, sacrificing his own daughter so that the Greek fleet could sail to Troy, wreaking more havoc and destruction. The mother's anger festered until it was released upon his return home. With these words said, the two reenter the palace and close the doors behind them.

PROMETHEUS BOUND

Prometheus was a god who loved humans most of all gods. He taught them many arts and sciences. One day he stole the fire from Zeus and gave it to humans, to help them improve their civilization. Zeus raged, commands god Hephaistos to chain Prometheus on a mountain all alone, away from gods and humans. Hephaistos executes Zeus's command.

Prometheus, who was a prophet, asks from Zeus to release him and in return he would tell him who, when and how would take his throne from him. Zeus replies that if he would not tell him who could threaten his throne he would send a vulture to eat Prometheus's liver every day. The liver would heal at night and the vulture would continue the day after and the suffering would go on and on. Prometheus refused and Zeus sent the vulture.

Finally Zeus, impressed by Prometheus's courrage, he put asside his rage,released Prometheus, who returned to Olympus and lived with the immortals.

Euripides

BIOGRAPHY

He was born in 480 BC in Halandri, Athens on the day of the battleship of Salamina. His parents were very poor but he had a fine education, being a student of Anaxagoras and a close friend to Socrates.

He wrote 72 works, 19 of which are saved ( 18 tradgedies and 1 satiric drama: "The Cyclops")

He died violently in 406 in Pella, killed by wild dogs

Medea

Medea after killing her brother she left her father in order to follow Jason to Corinth. After they got get married and have two sons, Jason rejected her in order to marry the daughter of Creon, King of Corinth. Jason insists that his new marriage would be for the benefit of Medea and her children.

Medea and her sons are to be banished. Blinded by jealousy and to get even on Jason she sets up his princess bride who dies in a fire. Her father died also trying to save her. Medea in her madness decides to kill her two sons in order to avenge herself upon her husband. The boys are slautered with a sword. Jason grieves over his dead sons and Medea wishes she had never followed him

The suppliants

Kreon, who had climbed to the throne of Thebes after the death of Eteocles in the battle against the seven generals from Argos (Seven against Thebes), denied the delivery of the bodies of the dead generals to their relatives and he forbade the burial of the dead. The mothers of the generals arrive to Athens in the palace of king Theseus to beg him to contact Kreon and persuade him to deliver the bodies of the dead according to the ancient inviolable Greek law. Theseus decides to help and he prepares his army, in case that Kreon does not respond to his demands. As predicted Kreon denies to deliver the bodies and the inevitable war starts. Theseus is victorious and the bodies are honorably buried.

At the end of the play the wife of one dead general is voluntarily burned along with her husband. Goddess Athena appears and advises Theseus to ask from the king of Argos to give him an oath of eternal friendship to Athens and asks from the sons of the dead generals to take revenge from Thebes for the death of their parents.

The Bacchae

Dionysus, as a relatively new god to the Pantheon of greek deities, was not easily welcome into the greek culture. For that reason he arrives in Thebes in human disguise to impose his worship. The daughters of Kadmos question his divine nature and for punishment they go insane and they stray in mountain Kitheron, as maenads. Only king Kadmos and Teiresias accept the new worship.

Pentheus, Kadmos’ grand – son (and Agavi’s son who was one of the two Kadmos’ daughters punished by Dionysus), arrests Dionysus and imprisons him. Dionysus escapes and destroys the palace with an earthquake. Dionysus persuades Pentheus to go to Kitheron and find out that he had misunderstood his worship. Pentheus mounts to Kitheron dressed like a maenad and gets killed and torn to pieces by his own mother (Agavi), who did not recognized him. Agavi returns to Thebes with Pentheus’ head in hands, believing she’s holding a lion’ head. Kadmos makes her realize what she’d done.

Finally Dionysus appears as a god now (from the Theologion) and punishes the guilty ones with exile. In that way he imposed his worship in Thebes.

Sophocles

BIOGRAPHY

Sophocles was born in 497 BC in Colonos, Athens. Although according to some sources he was the son of an aristocratic family, according to others, he was the son of a knife-maker. He was very handsom and a great athlet. He kept studying the plays of Aeschylus and many times he defeated him in the contests. During his militairy service he attained the rank of General.

He was teaching three separate tragedies instead of one trilogy. He increased the number of hypocrits(actors) from two to three. He also increased the members of the chorus from 12 to 15. His language was so harmonic and beautiful that Aristoteles said that "honey was dropping of his mouth" At the end of his life he was dragged before the jury by his son Iofon, charged for dementia. In the court he recited a part of his latest work, "Oedipus at Colonus". The judges admired his spirit and found him innocent.

He died in Athens in 405 BC, after having written 123 dramas, of which only 7 are saved.

Women from Trachis

Deeanera, Hercules’ wife is living with friends in Trahina, waiting for her husband. Worried about what might have happened to him, she decides to send to Evoia (an island near Athens and Thebes) her son Yllos to search for his father.

After the departure of Yllos, Lichas arrives accompanying some women hastages. One of them was Iole, Hercules’ mistress. When Deeanera finds out who she was and that she was having an affair with her Hercules, she decides to get her husband back. She engages Lichas to find Hercules and give him a portion that kentaurus Nessos had given to her, before he died after his battle against Hercules. She thought that with that magic portion she would get Hercules back. She soaked a shirt in it and sent it to him. Unfortunately it was a deadly poison. Hercules dies and Deeanera when she discovers that she’s been conned by Nessos and that she killed her husband she kills herself.

Hercules is being carried to the scene, a few moments before his death. When he finds out that the portion was a “gift” from Nessos, he remembers the omen, saying that he would die by a dead man. He accepts his fate with relief, feeling that he ‘d accomplished his mission on earth.

Antigone

From his unholy marriage to his mother Iokaste, Oedipus had four children: two boys, Eteocles and Polynekes and two girls, Antigone and Ismene.

After the departure of Oedipus un self-exile in mountain Kithairon, his two sons agreed to rule in Thebes in periods of one year each. Eteocles broke the agreement and refused to hand over the power to his brother Polynekes, who raged, leaves Theabes and goes to Argos, where he gets married to the daughter of Adrastos, King of Argos. After a while Polynekes with the army of Argos arrives in Thebes in order to start a war.The two brothers fight and kill each other and the war ends.

New King becomes Kreon, who commands that the body of Polynekes should not be burried but left to be eaten by dogs and vultures, for he prooved to be an enemy of the city, when the body of Eteocles was burried properly as a city hero.

Antigone does not obey and burries the body of her brother, even though her sister Ismene refuses to help her, fearing Kreon. As soon as Kreon finds out, what Antigone had done, he had her arrested and burried her alive, in order to punish her in that cruel way.

Aimon, Kreon's son and also Antigone's husband to be, begs his father to let her live. Kreon refuses to do him the favour and Aimon kills himself with a sword. When Euridice, Kreon's wife heard the news, she killed herself too.

Kreon at the end mourns the death of the two members of his family.

Oedipus the Tyrant

Oedipus, after having solved the puzzle of Sphinx and set free the city from her bounds, became the King of Thebes, for he married Iokaste, the widow of King Laios, who had just been killed.

Now the city is suffering from a deadly plague. Oedipus together with the Council of the city decided to ask for help from the Oracle of Delphi. The Oracle answered that they had to expel from the city the infamous one. Oedipus commands the citizens to tell him the name of that man, who caused the rage of gods and sent a servant to fetch Teiressias, the famous prophet, in order to consult him.

Teiressias revealed to Oedipus the horrible truth, that he, Oedipus was the shame of the city, for having married his mother and had children with her. He also revealed that a shepherd of Laios could verify all that, for he knew the truth. Oedipus raged cursed the prophet,called him an ungrateful and sent him away. Then he commanded the shepherd to be brought in front of him

The shepherd arrives and trembling from fear reveals the whole truth: King Laios had received from the Oracle of Delphi the prophecy that his son would kill him. So as soon as his son grew up a little he tights up the child's feet and gives it to the shepherd with the order to throw it on the mountain Kithairon and let it die there. The shepherd pitied the poor child and instead of killing him, he gave him for adoption to Periandros, the Tyrant of Korinthos, who had no children.Periandros adopts the boy and names him Oedipus (which means someone with swollen feet:and they were really swollen because of the ropes).

Oedipus, when he grew up and found out that he was adopted, he leaved Korinthos for the Oracle of Delphi, to find out, who his real parents are. Before reaching Delphi, outside the city of Thebes, he met a carriage with four man, one old with aristocratic appearance and three younger. The old man insulted him and Oedipus killed them all. After that he solved the puzzle of Sphinx and the citicens of Thebes declared him King by giving him as a wife the widow of Laios, who had just been killed by an "unknown stranger".

As soon as the horrible truth was revealed, Iokaste cimmited suicide by hanging herself and Oedipus after having taken out his very eyes, leaves in exile in mounten Kitheron, (where he was supposed to die in the first place). In Thebes, Kreon, his brother-in-law, becomes the new King.

Oedipus at Colonus

After having met his tragic destiny, Oedipus and his daughter Antigone reached the hamlet of Colonus, near the city of Athens. Oedipus hears of the rivalry between his sons, Eteokles and Polynikes and finds out that each want the remains of his dead body to secure their aims for the throne.

He curses them to be killed by each other and arranges with King Theseus of Athens to be allowed to reach the sacred ground. There, far away from the mortal eyes, his life is taken by the gods and his body vanishes forever without a trace

Aristophanes

BIOGRAPHY

He was born in Athens in 452 BC. He had been writing since he was an adolescent but he was not allowed to participate in the contests because of his age. Therefore he participated with the alias "Detalis" and he won the first prize with "The Acharnians". His comedies were characterised by a great sense of humour.

He died in Aegina in 385 BC.

Peace - The plot

The Athenian viticulturist Trygaios, frustrated by the disasters of war, decides to go to the sky and he asks from Zeus that he gives back Peace to the world. Because he intends to fly up to Olympus with a coprophagous beetle, he assigns to his slaves to feed it until it grows. Reaching, therefore, in the sky with the beetle, he learns from Hermes that Jupiter and the other gods changed residence, because they gor bored seeing humans be kiling each other, and that War jailed Peace in a cave, in order to keep it chained forever. Trygaios also confronted War, who with his slave, Tarachos, was prepared to bat in a wooden mortar the all Greek cities that are found in belligerent situation, in order to make them disappear from the face of the earth.

The pestle, however, has been lost, and thus War leaves at the present moment in order to finds another. Trygaios then, calls in help all Greeks in order to release Peace. Hermes tries to prevent them, because Jupiter had commanded that anyone trying to release Preace be punished with the death penalty. Trygaios however, bribing Hermes and with the help of all Greeks, released Peace, and all together returned to earth. Afterwards the chorus ask from the spectators to honour the writer with the hoop of victory.

The work finishes with the marriage of Trygaios with the godess Opora and a song of the chorus, that praises the benefits of peaceful life

The birds

Aristophanes composed the Birds in 414 BC, little after the Peloponnesian War and the defeat of Athens.

The two heroes are leaving Athens deeply disappointed of the corruption of their society. On their way they meet the Birds and they convinced them to build a new city and a healthy society between the sky and the earth, into the clouds. Still they are worried about the potential success of their attempt, because their compatriots were so corrupted, vicious and calumniators, that they would “pollute” even this imaginary cloud – city

Plutus

In order to criticize the Athenians for their passion for money, which they pursued by any means, Aristophanes introduces a poor farmer, Chremylus, who despite his poverty was a very honest man.

Chremylus had asked the Delphi Oracle for advice, weather his son should continue to live an honest (and poor) life or he should become corrupted like his compatriots, in order to become rich. Apollo advises him to follow the first man he meets outside the Oracle. He meets a blind old man, who ends up to be Wealth himself. Zeus had blinded him so that he could not distinguish between good and evil men, because he hated the mankind.

Chremylus guided Wealth to the Temple of Asclepius, who cured him and they both returned to Chremylus home whose family lived in prosperity (and honesty) for the rest of their lives