Aeschylus is the first of the great Greek playwrights, and the four plays in this volume demonstrate the remarkable range of Greek tragedy. Persians is the only surviving tragedy to draw on contemporary history, the Greeks' extraordinary victory over Persia in 480 BC. The Persians' aggression is inhuman in scale, and offends the gods, but while celebrating the Greek triumph, Aeschylus also portrays the shock of the defeated with some compassion. In Seven Against Thebes a royal family is cursed with self-destruction, in a remorseless tragedy that anticipates the grandeur of the later Oresteia. Suppliants portrays the wretched plight of the daughters of Danaus, fleeing from enforced marriage; as refugees they seek protection, and must plead a moral and political case to gain it. And in Prometheus Bound, Prometheus is relentlessly persecuted by Zeus for benefitting mankind in defiance of the god. Christopher Collard's highly readable new translation is accompanied by an introduction that sets the plays in their original context, and together with the notes considers theatrical and poetic issues, as well as details of content and language.
| ISBN | 0192832824 | | Pages | 384 | | ISBN13 | 9780192832825
(What's this?) | | Volumes | 1 | | Publisher | Oxford University Press | | Weight (grammes) | 280 | | Imprint | Oxford University Press | | Published in | Oxford | | Format | Paperback | | Series title | Oxford World's Classics | | Publication date | 08 Jan 2009 | | Height (mm) | 196 | | Translator | Christopher Collard | | Width (mm) | 129 | | DEWEY | 882.01 | | Spine width (mm) | 22 | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | | Academic level | General |
|
|
|
Introduction; Note on the Text; Bibliography; Chronology; PERSIANS; SEVEN AGAINST THEBES; SUPPLIANTS; PROMETHEUS BOUND; Maps; Explanatory Notes; Index
Excellent...as scholarly and reliable as anyone could wish for...clear and judicious. Mark Griffiths, Times Literary Supplement
Be the first to write a
customer review
Enlarge
