CLA 2323 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Euripides, Anchises, Epigoni
30 Jun 2018
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The Theban Cycle:
King Oedipus turns into a blind beggar from a king in a matter of 2 hours.
Oedipus at Colonus (play) by Sophocles - 401 BC
King Theseus of Athens
Polyneikes - the name means " much strife"
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Eteokles - the name means "true glory"
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Antigone
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Ismene
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Oedipus has 4 children - 2 boys and 2 girls.
Kles - related to the Greek word kluein - which means hear - like we have heard of you
Eteo - means "old" - old fashioned in a good sense - "old glory"
The princes come to dispute about who should be the king - they decided they will
alternate.
Eteokles is the king for first year. Then asks Polyneikes to get lost.
They will send an army to Thebes
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This will be the famous "The Seven against Thebes"
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Major source: a play called The Seven against Thebes by Aeschylus - 467 BC
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Poluneikes goes to Argos - They people of Argos agree to help him
He is on the expedition of The Seven against Thebes
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Polyneikes is attacking his own city
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King of Argos - Adrastus
Amphiaraos - a great warrior
So he bribes Amphiaraos's wife with Harmonia's necklace
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Polyneikes wants Amphiaraos to be on the team
Thebes has 7 gates
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7 attacking champions and 7 defending champions
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The brother go against each other
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6 of 7 attackers are killed except for Adrastus
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The champions kill each other
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Tydeus of Kalydon is living at Argos and joins the expedition
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Tydeus is favored by Athena
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Tydeus is wounded but he has killed his opponent
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Enraged with pain and victory takes out the opponent's helmet and starts
gnawing at his head to get to the brains
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Athena was approaching him to heal him and maybe also grant him immortality
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But seeing him being a disgusting animal, she turns her back and Tydeus dies like
a normal man
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Army of Argos led by the 7 champions attacks Thebes
Argos = Mycenae
Thebes
Mycenae and Thebes - mythological standins in 1201 BC
Lecture 11
Thursday, May 31, 2018
5:31 PM
CLA2323A Page 1
Mycenae and Thebes - mythological standins in 1201 BC
Sister of 2 dead brothers
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Antigone - princess of Thebes - a daughter of Oedipus
Creon - is the next person in charge - despite not being family
Greeks believed in care of the dead bodies - burial and cremation
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The ghosts would go to the underworld
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That's why Greeks were afraid of shipwreck
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Creon orders the defenders to be buried respectfully but the says not to for the
attackers - let the vultures and flies take care of them
Antigone is locked up
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Antigone hangs herself
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Creon's son was supposed to marry Antigone
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The son spit at Creon's face and kills himself
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Creon's wife cannot handle the son's death, so she kills herself too
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The sins of the fathers will be punish down to 3 generations
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Antigone defies the king's orders and sneaks to spread dust over her brother,
Polyneikes body so that she at least can go to underworld
The Epigonoi -
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descendants of the Seven lead the expedition when they grow up
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The leader of this expedition - Aklmaion/Alcmaeon - son of Amphiaraos
p.168-169
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Descendant of Zeus
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1 of 2 famous Greek heroes
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Ordered from heaven to kill his mother because she engineered the
father's death
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But you're not supposed to kill your mother
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So he is cursed
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Bird like female creatures
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They keep you from sleeping
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Torment
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Manifestation of your guilt
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Now he is pursued by Erinyes - the "Furies" p.86-87
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Alkcamaeon to another adventure -
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He goes to north-west Greece
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He could be religiously purified in a land that doesn't exist
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The land didn't exist when it was prophesized
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Finds and Eluvial deposited land and he is purified by a river god and
marries someone
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Alcmaeon now has to purify himself to stop the Furies
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Back in Argos there is a second expedition against Thebes
Tales of Troy:
Troy - present day Turkey
The trojans - not Greek
Phoenicians
Lydians
The ones mentioned above are viewed positively in Greek myth
In Homer's Illiod:
750 BC- good Trojan
Trojans are shown to be noble enemy of the Greeks - they aren't treated as foreigners.
They worship Greek gods.
CLA2323A Page 2
Document Summary
King oedipus turns into a blind beggar from a king in a matter of 2 hours. Oedipus at colonus (play) by sophocles - 401 bc. Oedipus has 4 children - 2 boys and 2 girls. Polyneikes - the name means " much strife" Kles - related to the greek word kluein - which means hear - like we have heard of you. Eteo - means "old" - old fashioned in a good sense - "old glory" The princes come to dispute about who should be the king - they decided they will alternate. Poluneikes goes to argos - they people of argos agree to help him. This will be the famous "the seven against thebes" Major source: a play called the seven against thebes by aeschylus - 467 bc. He is on the expedition of the seven against thebes. Polyneikes wants amphiaraos to be on the team. So he bribes amphiaraos"s wife with harmonia"s necklace.
