ENGL 221 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Greco-Persian Wars, Aeschylus, Sophocles
6 Feb 2018
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Intro to greek tragedy: modern de nition of tragedy according to webster"s dictionary = focus on the. Plot: a serious drama typically describing a con ict. Tragedy in antiquity: most ancient tragedies feature sad events. However, tragedy is mostly related to performance, not to subject matter. Origins: place: athens, time: already existed in 6th century b. c. e, the earliest extant tragedy, aeschylus"s persians, was composed in 472 b. c. e. Results: athens" predominant position in greece; self-image: the peloponnesian war, 431-404: athens is defeated by sparta. Extant plays: 32 tragedies (almost) complete, from 472 to 406 b. c. e. (= about 3% of more than. 1,000 that were produced: 7 by aeschylus, + 7 by sophocles, + 17 by euripedes. An important consequence: tragedy died with the death of the city that had generated it. Gender issues: rigid distinction of gender roles, physical space was separated (men = city; women = secluded inside house, => the strong women of greek tragedy were negative models.
