BC: The Persians to Antigone

10-second Literature Reviews

472 BC. The Persians. Aeschylus. Greek. Play. Only extant Greek tragedy dealing with recent history rather than myth. Shows compassion for Xerxes who was responsible for defeat at the hands of the Greeks.

467 BC. Seven Against Thebes. Aeschylus. Greek. Play. War between the sons of Oedipus for the throne of Thebes. Martial in spirit. Eteocles vs. Polynices. They meet in single combat and kill each other.

460 BC? Prometheus Bound. Aeschylus. Greek. Play. Prometheus knows who will overthrow Zeus. Won’t tell. Plunged into Tartarus. Men’s relations to the gods.

458 BC. Oresteia. Aeschylus. Greek. Trilogy. The Agamemnon recounts the murder of Agamemnon. The Libation Bearers, tells of the vengeance of Orestes, killing Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. The Eumenides recounts Orestes’ trial in which he is shown not to have shed the blood of kin since the blood of the family passes through the father, not the mother.

441 BC. Antigone. Sophocles. Greek. Play. In defiance of Creon, Antigone buries brother Polyneices. She’s condemned to be buried alive. Creon regrets too late. Her fiance (his son Haemon), Antingone and Eurydice, his wife, commit suicide.