Aeschylus I: Oresteia (Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides)

Rating:
Summary: The Greatest of Greek Tragedy
Review: Aeschylus I (the Oresteia) probably best epitomized Greek tragedy. This compelling trilogy told the stories of endless cycles of violence in the House of Atreus that stretched across generations and only ended when peace and harmony took its place.

In "Agamemnon", the king had just returned from Troy when he is murdered in his bath by his wife and lover. Aegisthus, the son of Thyestes, sought revenge for his father, whom his brother, Atreus, killed two of his sons and fed him to Thyestes. Aegisthus, the surviving son returned to Argos to marry the queen after Agamenon left for Troy. This would make Aegisthus the ruler of Argos. Clytemnestra agreed to this because she hated her husband for sacrificing their oldest daughter, Iphegenia, to appease Artemis.

After Agamenon's death Orestes, only a child at the time, received a decree from the oracle to kill his mother to take revenge on behalf of his father. This is the theme of the "Libation Bearers." But when Orestes kills his mother it unleashes the Furies, primordial goddesses, who avenge Clytemnestra.

In the third play, "The Eumenides" Orestes is put on trial by Athene and is acquitted of the murder of his mother but the Furies are not satisfied. Only a peace-making offer from the goddess to the Furies ended the endless avenging approaches to justice.

The Oresteia centered on the concept of justice. How should a wrong be punished? What Aeschylus pointed out in his plays was that there were always two sides to every story. But it seemed man's fate to only see one side. Neither Orestes nor his sister, Electra, could see the anguish their mother experienced. They could not understand how she could slay their father because they saw no justification for such a brutal act. It was the same argument the Furies made to Athene when they concluded that the slaying of a mother by her son could not be justified. Yet, each time justice was meted out a new need for justice was its outgrowth.

We are faced today with issues much the same as the characters in Aeschylus' plays faced. Is an "eye for an eye" really a valid form of justice. In our own look at terrorism today could Greek tragedy point the way out of the endless cycles of violence?

Rating:
Summary: Civilisation, Athena and the roots of tragedy
Review: Aeschylus is recognised as the father of tragedy and achieves something new in the Oresteia trilogy which won him another first prize in the Dionysia 458 BC. Born some time near the end of the sixth century in Eleusis - home of the mysteries, he fought at Marathon and probably at Salamis too and died in Gela in Sicily.

Although written in the fifth century the play itself is set in the depths of Mycenean history at the time of the Trojan War (probably c. 1220 BC - the traditional date of 1184 being unacceptable in the context of LH IIIB archaeology. Unlike in Homer's Iliad (written some 300 years earlier) Agamemnon's Court is in the city of Argos. The play fits the traditional spark for the Trojan War in the affairs of Helen whereas in reality it may have had more to do with competitive markets in the weaving industry or disputed fishing rights. Lattimore uses some unconventional spellings and I have stuck with these.

The play recounts the curse of the House of Atreus which fell when Atreus slaughtered two of Thyestes' sons and fed them to him. The wife of Agamemnon's brother, Menelaus - Helen of Troy - is with Paris and Agamemnon plans to take an army to Ilium to recapture her. Before departing he sacrifices his daughter, Iphigenia (Iphigeneia) and then sets sail. Aeschylus now dissolves the next 7-10 years to the point of Agamemnon's return with Cassandra, the captive princess and prophetess of Troy - a reminder logic is almost constantly the subject rather than the master of divination. But Clytaemestra (Clytemnestra) now has Thyestes' only surviving son, Aegisthus as her lover and King and she bludgeons the victorious Agamemnon to death in the bath beneath a cloak which envelops him in the same way as the sustained conceits of entrapment and the coiled viper constrain the metaphysical dimension of the first two thirds of the trilogy. Electra, Agamemnon's surviving daughter has to hide her loyalty to her father "in a dark corner, as you would kennel a vicious dog" until Orestes (her brother) returns (in Clyteamestra's words) to "this swamp of death" disguised as a native of Phocis to announce his own death.

In `The Libation Bearers' (Choephoroe) Orestes slays both Clytaemestra and Aegisthus and the genetic interlinkages metamorphose a revenge drama into a tragedy as in `Hamlet'. The final play, the Furies (Eumenides) is the reconciliation of revenge and justice seen in the rise of Athens, civilisation, balanced thought, dissolution of irrational hatred and the Aeropagus Court. In this we also have to see the kairos of the triumph of the Olympians over the Titans but within a context of divine compromise as the Olympian gods are unable to completely bury the barbarism of their own genesis. In effect, the underlying motif here is the same as in `Prometheus Bound' with the violent dynamic being reflected in the gradual change in Greece towards a more settled social organisation.

But the beauty of the trilogy is not merely in its recital of this piece of legend. Rather it is in its unique lyric quality and the power of its extended conceits. The play is riddled with images of animal entrapment and coiled vipers. Even Clyteamestra sees the vision in a dream in which she gives birth to a viper - an image in which Orestes clearly sees himself ("No void dream this, it is the vision of a man").

The first two plays are driven by `philos-aphilos' and by a quest for justice or right against right. Helen acts as a substrate for all the evils committed in the trilogy - the sacrifice of Iphigenia to Artemis (no war but for Helen) - although Vellacott raises the issue of divine will here - Clyteamestra's `godless' slaughter of her husband and rightful King, and Orestes' vengeance for his father's murder in the Eumenides. I feel the legendary context in which Clytemnestra's former husband is killed by Agamemnon in battle and Cassandra's hints at the King's brutality should be brought into play here. But the devoured ghosts of Thyestes's offspring also hang over the drama raising issues (alongside Iphigenia) regarding the sacrifice of youth. Offspring sacrifice was unheard of in the Mediterranean basin of the fifth century with the exception of Punic-Phoenician settlements. But this had not always been the case and again we see the birth of `classical' Greece from its less than ideal parenthood, always slightly ashamed of its past - there is now plenty of evidence that the early worship of Artemis involved human sacrifice in some places. Delphi was also originally sacred to Artemis before being taken over by Apollo in the eighth century. And the sacrifice image also acts as something rather radical for Aeschylus - an almost revolutionary denunciation of the destruction of Achaean (by implication, also Attican) youth through unnecessary warfare. Goldhill has pointed out, there are also gender specific elements within the pattern of slaughter first noted in the text by Cassandra.

The Eumenides provides something completely new - an end to the ethos of attempting to ensure public welfare through private blood feud. As Lattimore puts it, by the Eumenides we are not merely to see, we are to understand. The role of Athens is emphasised by Athena's negotiated compromise between Apollo / Orestes on the one hand and the Furies - she becomes the symbol of Hellenism against the barbarity of the nation's roots. Even the Furies are converted from something hideous to something beautiful by this new, sanitised version of Athena. And we have to put the whole `Athens section' in the context that the `polis' was more than merely `city'; it was the complete framework for everyday life.

In his day Aeschylus was known for adventurous stage set designs from which we have drawn the phrase `deus ex machina' but it was Aristophanes who was wise enough to see that the playwright has also created "towering structures out of majestic words".

Rating:
Summary: Civilisation, Athena and the roots of tragedy
Review: Aeschylus is recognised as the father of tragedy and achieves something new in the Oresteia trilogy which won him another first prize in the Dionysia 458 BC. Born some time near the end of the sixth century in Eleusis - home of the mysteries, he fought at Marathon and probably at Salamis too and died in Gela in Sicily.

Although written in the fifth century the play itself is set in the depths of Mycenean history at the time of the Trojan War (probably c. 1220 BC - the traditional date of 1184 being unacceptable in the context of LH IIIB archaeology. Unlike in Homer's Iliad (written some 300 years earlier) Agamemnon's Court is in the city of Argos. The play fits the traditional spark for the Trojan War in the affairs of Helen whereas in reality it may have had more to do with competitive markets in the weaving industry or disputed fishing rights. Lattimore uses some unconventional spellings and I have stuck with these.

The play recounts the curse of the House of Atreus which fell when Atreus slaughtered two of Thyestes' sons and fed them to him. The wife of Agamemnon's brother, Menelaus - Helen of Troy - is with Paris and Agamemnon plans to take an army to Ilium to recapture her. Before departing he sacrifices his daughter, Iphigenia (Iphigeneia) and then sets sail. Aeschylus now dissolves the next 7-10 years to the point of Agamemnon's return with Cassandra, the captive princess and prophetess of Troy - a reminder logic is almost constantly the subject rather than the master of divination. But Clytaemestra (Clytemnestra) now has Thyestes' only surviving son, Aegisthus as her lover and King and she bludgeons the victorious Agamemnon to death in the bath beneath a cloak which envelops him in the same way as the sustained conceits of entrapment and the coiled viper constrain the metaphysical dimension of the first two thirds of the trilogy. Electra, Agamemnon's surviving daughter has to hide her loyalty to her father "in a dark corner, as you would kennel a vicious dog" until Orestes (her brother) returns (in Clyteamestra's words) to "this swamp of death" disguised as a native of Phocis to announce his own death.

In 'The Libation Bearers' (Choephoroe) Orestes slays both Clytaemestra and Aegisthus and the genetic interlinkages metamorphose a revenge drama into a tragedy as in 'Hamlet'. The final play, the Furies (Eumenides) is the reconciliation of revenge and justice seen in the rise of Athens, civilisation, balanced thought, dissolution of irrational hatred and the Aeropagus Court. In this we also have to see the kairos of the triumph of the Olympians over the Titans but within a context of divine compromise as the Olympian gods are unable to completely bury the barbarism of their own genesis. In effect, the underlying motif here is the same as in 'Prometheus Bound' with the violent dynamic being reflected in the gradual change in Greece towards a more settled social organisation.

But the beauty of the trilogy is not merely in its recital of this piece of legend. Rather it is in its unique lyric quality and the power of its extended conceits. The play is riddled with images of animal entrapment and coiled vipers. Even Clyteamestra sees the vision in a dream in which she gives birth to a viper - an image in which Orestes clearly sees himself ("No void dream this, it is the vision of a man").

The first two plays are driven by 'philos-aphilos' and by a quest for justice or right against right. Helen acts as a substrate for all the evils committed in the trilogy - the sacrifice of Iphigenia to Artemis (no war but for Helen) - although Vellacott raises the issue of divine will here - Clyteamestra's 'godless' slaughter of her husband and rightful King, and Orestes' vengeance for his father's murder in the Eumenides. I feel the legendary context in which Clytemnestra's former husband is killed by Agamemnon in battle and Cassandra's hints at the King's brutality should be brought into play here. But the devoured ghosts of Thyestes's offspring also hang over the drama raising issues (alongside Iphigenia) regarding the sacrifice of youth. Offspring sacrifice was unheard of in the Mediterranean basin of the fifth century with the exception of Punic-Phoenician settlements. But this had not always been the case and again we see the birth of 'classical' Greece from its less than ideal parenthood, always slightly ashamed of its past - there is now plenty of evidence that the early worship of Artemis involved human sacrifice in some places. Delphi was also originally sacred to Artemis before being taken over by Apollo in the eighth century. And the sacrifice image also acts as something rather radical for Aeschylus - an almost revolutionary denunciation of the destruction of Achaean (by implication, also Attican) youth through unnecessary warfare. Goldhill has pointed out, there are also gender specific elements within the pattern of slaughter first noted in the text by Cassandra.

The Eumenides provides something completely new - an end to the ethos of attempting to ensure public welfare through private blood feud. As Lattimore puts it, by the Eumenides we are not merely to see, we are to understand. The role of Athens is emphasised by Athena's negotiated compromise between Apollo / Orestes on the one hand and the Furies - she becomes the symbol of Hellenism against the barbarity of the nation's roots. Even the Furies are converted from something hideous to something beautiful by this new, sanitised version of Athena. And we have to put the whole 'Athens section' in the context that the 'polis' was more than merely 'city'; it was the complete framework for everyday life.

In his day Aeschylus was known for adventurous stage set designs from which we have drawn the phrase 'deus ex machina' but it was Aristophanes who was wise enough to see that the playwright has also created "towering structures out of majestic words".

Rating:
Summary: Tragedy's Daddy
Review: Aeschylus' trilogy is very enjoyable reading. It would be fun to see these plays performed. It's too bad that so many of Aeschylus' plays did not survive. The only reason this is not a 5 star rating is that the translation was awkward in just a few places. 4.5 stars is probably the correct rating.

Rating:
Summary: The Oresteia Trilogy
Review: Aeschylus's Oresteia Trilogy is a wonderful story and great to read. It explains the greek life and life styles that were brought about thousands of years ago during the time of the greek god's and the days of almighty Zeus. Aeschylus brigns about a storyline that will keep you wanting to read until the very end. This is a great story and for all ages to be enchanted by!

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the best English 'Oresteia'
Review: All of the Grene/Lattimore translations I've read have been excellent, but this edition of the Oresteia stands out. Lattimore renders the chori of 'Agamemnon' so hauntingly that they hardly seem translated. The first chorus in particular, with its long sections punctuated by the refrain, "Sing sorrow, sorrow: but good win out in the end" is the best I've ever seen. It makes me shiver.

Greek similies are often tortured in translation, but not in this edition: "the sin / smoulders not, but burns to evil beauty. / As cheap bronze tortured / at the touchstone relapses / to blackness and grime, so this man / tested shows vain..." The poetry is an achievement in itself.

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the best English 'Oresteia'
Review: All of the Grene/Lattimore translations I've read have been excellent, but this edition of the Oresteia stands out. Lattimore renders the chori of 'Agamemnon' so hauntingly that they hardly seem translated. The first chorus in particular, with its long sections punctuated by the refrain, "Sing sorrow, sorrow: but good win out in the end" is the best I've ever seen. It makes me shiver.

Greek similies are often tortured in translation, but not in this edition: "the sin / smoulders not, but burns to evil beauty. / As cheap bronze tortured / at the touchstone relapses / to blackness and grime, so this man / tested shows vain..." The poetry is an achievement in itself.

Rating:
Summary: Two great wordsmiths come togehter centuries apart
Review: This edition is the materworks of two great men Aeschylus and Richmond Lattimore. I have read a dozen of translations of Aeschylus and this has no rival. As well the whole series edited by Green and Lattimore are the best compelation of all the Greek tragedy to date. Lattimore understand the darkness and the fatilism of greek tragedy. The verse translation is flowing and rythmic as the greek is. The translation is loose and not exacting like Lattimores Iliad but he captures the theme better than a too literal translation would allow.

This is the story of house of Atreus.

Agammenon: Agammenon has just returned from war. His wife Clyesmenstra, plots to kill him to avenge his daughters infanticide by Agammemon. As well it is also revenge by the gods for Agammenons willingness to make this scarifice and leading so many greeks and Trojans to their death in a meaningless war although the gods did not instruct C. to do this. As well A. brings back Cassandara his slave concubine who is cursed to see the future but never to be believed by Apollo. She forsees here own death and those of Agammenon and his troops.

Libatiion Bearers:

In this plays the Apollo sends Orestes to avenge his fathers death which the gods did not sanction. He does so and is attacked by the furies for matericide.

The Furies:

Athena passes judgement on Orestes because even though matercide is a crime it was sanctioned by a god to avenge a king. AS well the furies must be satisfied in there blood lust even if Oresties is found innocent.

The setting for the play is in the most primative of times which allows Aeschylus to create characters who do not follow the mores of his day more believeable. This play may have been the model for Hamlet.

Even after reading 100s of plays since the orestia this is still the most gripping drama that I have read. These plays and Hamelet are my favorites

Rating:
Summary: A Quality Work
Review: While the language of Lattimore's translation hardly compares with the soaring language he uses in his later version of "Prometheus Bound," this is still an extremely quality edition of Aeschylus' only remaining trilogy. The poetry is crisp and far less obtuse than the unreadable Paul Roche translation, and of course Aeschylus' depiction of human nature,especially in the strained relationship between Agamemnon and his wife Clytemnestra, is always of timeless interest. On balance, a fair treatment of a Greek classic.