The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides (Penguin Classics)
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • The plays are great: so is the introduction
  • Required reading
  • An excellent trilogy
  • even better the second time around
  • How do you say a classic is way overated?
The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides (Penguin Classics)
Aeschylus
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140443339

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars The plays are great: so is the introduction.......2007-06-23

I could not disagree more with the reviewer who urged readers of this book to "ignore the experts", skip the introduction, and go right to the plays. Many introductions are unnecessary - even boring. However, this introductory essay by translator Robert Fagles & his collaborator, W.B. Stanford, titled "The Serpent and The Eagle", enhances this translation of The Oresteia trilogy. It can be considered a stand-alone piece, in fact, at 97 pages.

By all means, do not allow the introduction to keep you from reading the plays - although, if you have the same response that I did, after reading this masterful and informative essay, you will be more than eager to continue with the plays. Robert Fagles is considered among the very best translators of classical literature to English. Anything he has to say about the work is worth reading.

If you must, read the introductory essay after reading the plays. These translations are generally considered to be a modern triumph in presenting the profound depths of Greek drama - you would be cheating yourself to not read what the translators themselves have to say about the work.

5 out of 5 stars Required reading.......2007-05-24

i first came across these stories when I was 14, i read them again in collage and have read them ever since. the Oresteia is essential literature, if nothing else because of the references it has generated over all of western Literature some examples being Dune by frank Herbert and Orestes by Perfect Circle. also because it is a really intresting study of family dynamics. i also recomend reading it BEFORE it is assigned to you. develop your own ideas to present to a class, get your own idea of it in your mind. I bought this paritcular translation because it was the one i was familar with an a decent one.

5 out of 5 stars An excellent trilogy.......2007-04-23

Aeschylus (525-456 BC) is the father of Greek tragedies (one legend reports that Dionysus himself commanded Aeschylus to write them). Of the seventy tragedies that he wrote, only seven have survived to the present day. These three plays form the most complete tetralogy that we have (a tetralogy contained three tragedies and one satyr play - a semi-religious, semi-mocking performance that acted as a postlude to the tragic trilogy) - only the satyr play is missing.

In Agamemnon, the Greek king returns from the Trojan War, with his prize of the Trojan prophetess Cassandra. Cassandra knows that Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, will kill them, but she is fated to be not be believed. And so, the deed is done.

In The Libation Bearers, Clytemnestra has a nightmare that she gave birth to a snake, and so she sends her daughter Electra to Agamemnon's grave to pour out a libation. However, Electra meets her brother, Orestes, and the two plot revenge upon their mother, and her loved. And so, murder begets murder.

In The Eumenides, Orestes is fleeing the Furies, who are pursuing him for murdering his mother. Orestes flees to Apollo, who sends him on to Athens, to be judged by Athena herself.

This is an excellent trilogy. Even though it is over 2,000 years old, it still makes an interesting read. In particular, I enjoyed The Eumenides, with its battle of supernatural beings, and its showcasing of the development of Western jurisprudence. Overall, I found this to be an interesting and informative book, one that I do not hesitate to recommend to everyone.

5 out of 5 stars even better the second time around.......2006-06-23

These are great plays, and this is a beautiful translation.

I think, though, that to really appreciate what Aeschylus accomplished (aided and abetted by Fagles), most modern readers should really read the entire trilogy twice.

When these plays were first performed, the entire audience would have known the story of Agamemnon's fate and Orestes' revenge from the Odyssey, and probably from other sources besides. The interest came from seeing how Aeschylus would reweave the tale - with what turns of phrase, what dramatic revelations, what poetic license, what new ways of glorifying Athens or bemoaning some new turn in Athenian politics.

The best way to replicate that experience is to read the entire trilogy once to see how it unfolds and how it ends, then to read it again for the nuances of language. Aeschylus is subtle, and Fagles brings out this subtlety in this translation: for example, almost every line uttered in the first part of Agamemnon has a double meaning (at least!), even rendered in English.

Not only this, but the dimensions of the tragedy become clearer the second time around. On the first reading, having forgotten much of the story, I found it gripping. On the second reading, I found it heartrending.

Like another reviewer on this site, I recommend skipping the introductory essay and diving right into the plays. Make up your own mind about what all of this means and why it might be important. Then read the essay if you want to see if you agree with it.

3 out of 5 stars How do you say a classic is way overated? .......2006-06-15

Sure the poetry is great,
but these three plays make a small episode in modern terms...
A very slow one at that.
The three plays:
1) Agamemnon: The killing of the returned King and Cassandra the oracle by the wife and the cousin
2) The Libation Bearers: The meeting of Orestes and Electra at the gave and the killing of
the mother and cousin
3) The Eumenides: the trial by Athena of Orestes with Apollo defending
As plays go they are more excess of dialog than action...
many too long and very heavy speeches.
There are too many questions about the natures of these sins and the justice of revenge when men are the top civil authority in the bronze age, so later plays like these that bring in gods as judges were formulated. These plays survived their age to bring us the Greek ideals of justice,
but they fail to keep a modern audience awake!
I'm not impressed by Aeschylus' plays compared to other Greek plays that I've read by Sophocles.
The Oresteia (Greek Tragedy in New Translations)
Average customer rating: Not rated
    The Oresteia (Greek Tragedy in New Translations)
    Aeschylus
    Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 019513592X

    Book Description

    Aeschylus' Oresteia, the only ancient tragic trilogy to survive, is one of the great foundational texts of Western culture. It begins with Agamemnon, which describes Agamemnon's return from the Trojan War and his murder at the hands of his wife Clytemnestra, continues with her murder by their son Orestes in Libation Bearers, and concludes with Orestes' acquittal at a court founded by Athena in Eumenides. The trilogy thus traces the evolution of justice in human society from blood vengeance to the rule of law, Aeschylus' contribution to a Greek legend steeped in murder, adultery, human sacrifice, cannibalism, and endless intrigue. This new translation is faithful to the strangeness of the original Greek and to its enduring human truth, expressed in language remarkable for poetic intensity, rich metaphorical texture, and a verbal density that modulates at times into powerful simplicity. The translation's precise but complicated rhythms honor the music of the Greek, bringing into unforgettable English the Aeschylean vision of a world fraught with spiritual and political tensions.
    The Oresteian Trilogy: Agamemnon; The Choephori; The Eumenides (Penguin Classics)
    Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    • An excellent trilogy
    • awesome
    • Orestes fails to rouse the Furies
    • The only surviving Greek trilogy.
    The Oresteian Trilogy: Agamemnon; The Choephori; The Eumenides (Penguin Classics)
    Aeschylus
    Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
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    Binding: Paperback

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    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars An excellent trilogy.......2007-08-24

    Aeschylus (525-456 BC) is the father of Greek tragedies (one legend reports that Dionysus himself commanded Aeschylus to write them). Of the seventy tragedies that he wrote, only seven have survived to the present day. These three plays form the most complete tetralogy that we have (a tetralogy contained three tragedies and one satyr play - a semi-religious, semi-mocking performance that acted as a postlude to the tragic trilogy) - only the satyr play is missing.

    In Agamemnon, the Greek king returns from the Trojan War, with his prize of the Trojan prophetess Cassandra. Cassandra knows that Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, will kill them, but she is fated to be not be believed. And so, the deed is done.

    In The Libation Bearers, Clytemnestra has a nightmare that she gave birth to a snake, and so she sends her daughter Electra to Agamemnon's grave to pour out a libation. However, Electra meets her brother, Orestes, and the two plot revenge upon their mother, and her loved. And so, murder begets murder.

    In The Eumenides, Orestes is fleeing the Furies, who are pursuing him for murdering his mother. Orestes flees to Apollo, who sends him on to Athens, to be judged by Athena herself.

    This is an excellent trilogy. Even though it is over 2,000 years old, it still makes an interesting read. In particular, I enjoyed The Eumenides, with its battle of supernatural beings, and its showcasing of the development of Western jurisprudence. Overall, I found this to be an interesting and informative book, one that I do not hesitate to recommend to everyone.

    5 out of 5 stars awesome.......2005-12-14

    This is the quintessential tale of ritual sacrifice (homicide), blood debt, self-conflicted justice, patricide, guilt, and (ultimately) the divinely bestowed rule of law (reason). Written 2500 years ago, perhaps it's where respect for law originated. If before clan/society/religion (honor) demanded unthinking sacrifice and revenge, Aeschylus advocates divinely endorsed law as a mediator of the irrational (and emotional): reason alone can tame the madness.

    Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Iphigenia, Electra, Orestes, and Aegisthus have since appeared in millions of derivative venues as dramatic models under different names. None approach the power of this work. I read this translation 30 years ago: it remains vivid and memorable.

    2 out of 5 stars Orestes fails to rouse the Furies.......2000-03-18

    The Oresteian Trilogy is a classic set of tragedies, centring around the royal family of Argos, and sparked off by the infamous back-stabbing wife of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra. The translation reads well, but the over-extended dialogue may become tedious for readers who prefer something punchier. Aeschylus does not achieve great 'closure', especially with Orestes himself, a hero who fades from view at the end, overshadowed by the deal being struck by the immortal Athene and the Furies.

    Similarly, certain plot lines lack sophistication, whereby characters drop out of the story, or events are telegraphed well before occurring, and then occur entirely as expected. However, there are a couple of genuinely gripping passages buried between the acres of soul-searching. In a less secular age immortal intervention might be seen as a natural plot device, but here it takes the fate of Orestes out of his own hands, when we might prefer to see how he deals with his deeds himself. Then again, maybe that's the point.

    5 out of 5 stars The only surviving Greek trilogy........1999-06-13

    "Agamemnon" is the first of the Oresteia trilogy (the only extant Greek trilogy) and should be required reading of all university students. The trilogy won First Prize at the Greater Dionesia in 458 B. C. Agamemnon returns to Argos from the Trojan War. He is killed by his wife Clytemnestra and his first cousin Aegisthus. Clytemnestra's reasons for the murder of both Agamemnon and Cassandra were questioned even in ancient Greece: was it for revenge for the death of her daughter Iphigenia or was it for her adultery with Aegisthus? In one of Pindar's odes (c. 474 B. C.), "Pythia 11", he asks: "Was it Iphigeneia, who at the Euripos crossing was slaughtered far from home, that vexed her to drive in anger the hand of violence? Or was it couching in a wrong bed by night that broke her will and set her awry?" The Oresteia trilogy is a study in justice. Agamemnon's death must be avenged; but, this means matricide. Orestes, in the next play, should not have been the hand of vengence. "The Libation Bearers" (or, "The Choephoroi"), the second play in the trilogy, is the earliest known play containing an intrigue as the main plot. Electra, sister of Orestes, has been sent to the grave of Agamemnon to offer a libation. Clytemnestra is attempting to placate the spirit of her dead husband. When she and Aegisthus are killed by Orestes, Orestes finds that now the Furies will pursue him rather than his mother. In the last play, the Eumenides (or the Erinyes), daughters of Night who avenge crimes committed by offspring against parents and who punished people who fail to keep their oaths, seek Orestes. Apollo purifies Orestes by washing him in pigs' blood. But the Erinyes reject Apollo's order to leave Orestes alone. The conflict is resolved via a trial overseen by Athena. Athena succeeds in restraining the Erinyes who are persuaded to make their home in Athens and will now be able to punish violence done within the polis. This play is the earliest known drama containing a complete change of scene.
    Aeschylus: Agamemnon (Cambridge Translations from Greek Drama)
    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    • Quick and New
    • Deniston Page could not be better
    • Does Revenge Ever End?
    • Superb, if a bit dogmatic.
    • The standard of Clasccial Literary Criticsim
    Aeschylus: Agamemnon (Cambridge Translations from Greek Drama)
    Aeschylus , and Philip de May
    Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 0521010756

    Book Description

    Cambridge Translations from Greek Drama is a series of new translations which are faithful to the original Greek plays in content and tone, but which have the immediacy of modern English. The series aims to enable both Classics students and Drama students, and indeed anyone with an interest in the theatre, to approach Classical plays with confidence and understanding. Agamemnon is the seventh title in the series, and is aimed primarily at A-level and undergraduate students in the UK, and college students in North America. A full commentary is provided which runs alongside the translation. It includes useful notes and questions to encourage discussion on the themes and dramatic qualities of the text, and also more practical issues of staging and performance. Features of the book include notes on pronunciation of names and a plot synopsis. Background information to the story is also provided.

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Quick and New.......2007-01-31

    I recieved Aeschylus: Agamemnon right on time and it was crisp and new!

    5 out of 5 stars Deniston Page could not be better.......2006-12-11

    It would be good to have two years of college Greek behind you before starting on Denniston and Page's AGAMEMNON, a Greek text with modern commentary. As a single-volume edition for students, this one could not be bettered: everything is explained and difficult passages are translated in the notes -- about three lines a page are difficult enough to require this treatment. And I mean difficult for everyone, the world's greatest Greek scholars included. The difficulties are very thoroughly discussed. Another reviewer here has said Denniston and Page are dogmatic; not at all: they point out where passages are unclear, disagreed about by scholars, or outright lost. Most of the choruses contain passages so distorted scholars have to guess at what was written, and (assuming their guess is right) exactly what the passages mean. Aeschylus writes a little like Shakespeare in MACBETH: very poetically and not always clearly. In spite of all this, passages, sometimes quite long, of powerful poetry leap out of the page. The play has been compared to KING LEAR and called, along with LEAR, one of the two best tragedies of all time. What's more, it makes you feel, even with Denniston and Page's constant help, that you can really understand Greek if you can understand lines from this play.

    4 out of 5 stars Does Revenge Ever End?.......2006-08-02

    I always liked Homer and Sophocles, but I still have a preference for Aeschylus. What makes "Agamemnon" such a great story is that not only is it a story in itself, but it is only part 1 of the trilogy. (Part 2 is "Libation Bearers" and Part 3 is "The Eumenides.") Now "Agamemnon" was of course written centuries before Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida." Nevertheless, the events of "Agamemnon" take place after Shakespeare's play. If you read that play by Shakespeare, you know that it deals with the last stages of the Trojan War. In Shakespeare's play, Agamemnon is pictured as a reasonable and competent king who is frustrated at the length of the war, is repulsed by the vanity of Achilles, and shows reasonable strength in diplomacy. Onto the material at hand. The chorus is basically a group of older men who can comment on the situations, but they can't really interfere. (Kind of like the narrator in a play.) The chorus tells us that Troy has fallen and Greece is triumphant. We then meet Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra. She blames Agamemnon for the death of her child Iphigenia. So, she naturally wants to kill Agamemnon. The chorus seems to admit it was strange that the war was fought over the abduction of Helen who was a willing prisoner. Nevertheless, the chorus sides with Agamemnon when he arrives. But an Isaac Asimov proverb seems to explain this nicely: "Such a keen sense of honor is often praised by those who are safe at home." But of course, it is a different story to those who are directly involved. But of course, almost any time romance is involved, the voice and sense of reason take a vacation. Moving on, Agamemnon seems to be a good king in showing his piety in the light of victory. But there is one flaw. He has kidnapped Hector's sister Cassandra. (She was a virgin priestess to Apollo, and that would be the equivalent of kidnapping a nun for the purposes of pleasure.) Cassandra has the gift of prophecy, but because she tried to run with Apollo's gift 'without paying for it' Apollo cursed her in that no one would believe her prophecies. Showing reason, she curses Paris for starting the war with the utterly stupid kidnapping, and she tries to tell that Clytemnestra is plotting against Agamemnon, but of course no one will listen. She also tells of how Orestes will avenge his father and kill Clytemnestra (in Part 2). But back to the main plot. Clytemnestra plays the devil and uses Agamemnon's vanity against him which leads to his destruction. (How disturbing that vanity was the downfall of many men centuries ago and often still is.) In comes Clytemnestra's Aegisthus. He talks of the crimes of Agamemnon's father against his father. What happened was Aegithus's father slept with Agamemnon's father's wife. In revenge, Agamemnon's father tricked Aegithus's father into eating the flesh of his own son. The theme of revenge is further emphasized. It is of course a never ending circle. Though I do find it interesting that Aegithus finds it fit that Agamemnon suffers for the crimes of his father. (YET IT WAS AEGITHUS'S FATHER WHO STARTED IT!) So Aegithus and Clytemnestra can be together now. But of course, we know in Part 2, they will get their comeuppance. Overall, it's a great story that emphasizes the evils and the seeming eternity of revenge.

    5 out of 5 stars Superb, if a bit dogmatic........2003-04-04

    [Note: This edition is a text in ANCIENT GREEK with notes in English. It has no text in English if you are looking for one. There are many to recommend. The best translation of the Oresteia, of which this work is the first part, is in Tony Harrison's Collected Works; the worst, in my opinion at least, was written by Ted Hughes. All the rest are good.]
    This is a superb edition with one caveat. At the moment, educated consensus generally holds that a line of poetry seldom has one meaning. Denniston and Page's text plus commentary of Agamemnon apparently was written before this consensus formed. Denniston and Page are feisty, dogmatic, and insistent that they are right, and are largely reacting to Fraenkel's massive text plus commentary to the same play. They take issue with Fraenkel on a number of points while acknowledging his immense erudition. I have no reservations, however, recommending this edition. It was very useful and well-thought out. I give it a high rating.

    5 out of 5 stars The standard of Clasccial Literary Criticsim.......2001-05-24

    Literary criticism, especially Classical, may someday get better than this, but it has not happened yet. This work and the accompanying volumes provide us with a model of literary criticism without equal.

    Oh, let's not forget the play iteslf. This is Aeschylus' finest surviving work, and is excelled only by Sophocles Theban trilogy. The translation, should you need it, is first rate. I especially love the opening scene describing the network of lights across the Aegean announcing the fall of Tray, and setting into motion the mechanisms of destruction for the house of Atreides.
    Oresteia
    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    • The play within the Translation
    Oresteia
    Aeschylus
    Manufacturer: Hackett Publishing Company
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars The play within the Translation.......2000-01-20

    I worked on the production of this translation at The University of South Carolina in 1998. I designed the costumes and masks. Before I began the design process, I read other translations of the script. Peter's translation was done with attention to what the characters were saying, not just the literal dictionary definition of the Ancient Greek. The pacing and flow of the play is great and I recommend it to anyone who thinks that Ancient Greek plays are dull and better left alone.
    Aeschylus II: Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides, Fragments (Loeb Classical Library #146)
    Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    • A solid Greek text with English, but not a very readable translation.
    • Classic Drama at its Best
    Aeschylus II: Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides, Fragments (Loeb Classical Library #146)
    Aeschylus , and Herbert Weir Smyth
    Manufacturer: Loeb Classical Library
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

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    Book Description

    Aeschylus (ca. 525-456 BCE), author of the first tragedies existing in European literature, was an Athenian born at Eleusis. He served at Marathon against Darius in 490, and again during Xerxes' invasion, 480-479. Between 478 and 467 he visited Sicily, there composing by request Women of Aetna. At Athens he competed in production of plays more than twenty times, and was rewarded on at least thirteen occasions, becoming dominant between 500 and 458 through the splendour of his language and his dramatic conceptions and technique.

    Of his total of 80-90 plays seven survive complete. The Persians (472), the only surviving Greek historical drama, presents the failure of Xerxes to conquer Greece. Seven against Thebes (467) was the second play of its trilogy of related plays on the evil fate of the Theban House. Polyneices tries to regain Thebes from his brother Eteocles; both are killed. In Suppliant Maidens, the first in a trilogy, the daughters of Danaus arrive with him at Argos, whose King and people save them from the wooing of the sons of their uncle Aegyptus. In Prometheus Bound, first or second play of its trilogy about Prometheus, he is nailed to a crag, by order of Zeus, for stealing fire from heaven for men. Defiant after visitors' sympathy and despite advice, he descends in lightning and thunder to Hell. The Oresteia (458), on the House of Atreus, is the only Greek trilogy surviving complete. In Agamemnon, the King returns from Troy, and is murdered by his wife Clytaemnestra. In Libation-Bearers, Orestes with his sister avenges their father Agamemnon's death by counter-murder. In Eumenides, Orestes, harassed by avenging Furies, is arraigned by them at Athens for matricide. Tried by a court set up by Athena, he is absolved, but the Furies are pacified.

    We publish in Volume I four plays; and in Volume II the Oresteia and some fragments of lost plays.

    Customer Reviews:

    3 out of 5 stars A solid Greek text with English, but not a very readable translation........2006-06-02

    This book's primary virtue is that it makes a good Greek text available in compact form with a useable English translation side-by-side. That's very handy for students of the Greek. People who are more interested in experiencing the play in English should seek out a more recent translation, such as that of Lattimore. The Smyth translation is very scholarly and very 19th century; most modern readers find it accurate, but stilted.

    5 out of 5 stars Classic Drama at its Best.......2006-05-14

    As the inventor of tragedy, Aeschylus gives us a masterful example of classic Greek tragedy in the Oresteia. His famous trilogy is offered in the original Greek, side by side with Herbert Weir Smyth's inspiring English translation. With earthy metaphors and a storm of emotion, this volume cannot fail to excite.
    Aeschylus: The Oresteia (Landmarks of World Literature (New))
    Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
    • A fine book
    • Best short analysis of Aeschylus' masterpiece
    • Really poor scholarship.
    Aeschylus: The Oresteia (Landmarks of World Literature (New))
    Simon Goldhill
    Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 0521539811

    Book Description

    Simon Goldhill focuses on the play's themes--justice, sexual politics, violence, and the role of man in ancient Greek culture--in this general introduction to Aeschylus' Oresteia, one of the most important and influential of all Greek dramas. After exploring how Aeschylus constructs a myth for the city in which he lived, a final chapter considers the influence of the Oresteia on more contemporary theater. The volume's organized structure and guide to further reading will make it an invaluable reference for students and teachers. First Edition Hb (1992): 0-521-40293-X First Edition Pb (1992): 0-521-40853-9

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars A fine book.......2004-04-26

    This book may be concise but it is nevertheless absorbing. Probably the best text available on the topic, and excellently written also. Recommended.

    5 out of 5 stars Best short analysis of Aeschylus' masterpiece.......2001-12-31

    This book is a winner. In a few short pages, Goldhill offers the best up-to-date introduction to the Oresteia, with attention to language, plot, cultural background, and dramatic structure. You can't do better.

    1 out of 5 stars Really poor scholarship........2001-01-06

    Badly written, replete with glaring and basic errors that one would expect even a first year undergraduate to spot - how on earth did this man find employment in Cambridge University? Worth reading for that mystery, but for no other reason.
    The Oresteia: Agamemnon, Choephoroe, Eumenides (Everyman's Library)
    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    • a less published but formidable translation
    The Oresteia: Agamemnon, Choephoroe, Eumenides (Everyman's Library)
    Aeschylus
    Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

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    ASIN: 1400041929
    Release Date: 2004-01-20

    Book Description

    (Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

    One of the founding documents of Western culture and the only surviving ancient Greek trilogy, the Oresteia of Aeschylus is one of the great tragedies of all time.

    The three plays of the Oresteia portray the bloody events that follow the victorious return of King Agamemnon from the Trojan War, at the start of which he had sacrificed his daughter Iphigeneia to secure divine favor. After Iphi-geneia’s mother, Clytemnestra, kills her husband in revenge, she in turn is murdered by their son Orestes with his sister Electra’s encouragement. Orestes is pursued by the Furies and put on trial, his fate decided by the goddess Athena. Far more than the story of murder and ven-geance in the royal house of Atreus, the Oresteia serves as a dramatic parable of the evolution of justice and civilization that is still powerful after 2,500 years.

    The trilogy is presented here in George Thomson’s classic translation, renowned for its fidelity to the rhythms and richness of the
    original Greek.

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars a less published but formidable translation.......2005-08-28

    as always, the package is wonderful. everyman covers are splendid and the pages are fine paper. the translation is less widely available than the grene lattimore or the fagles translations but it is no less masterful. justice is done to this classic.
    Oresteia (Oxford World's Classics)
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Oresteia (Oxford World's Classics)
      Aeschylus
      Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      ASIN: 0192832816

      Book Description

      Agamemnon *Libation Bearers *Eumenides Aeschylus' Oresteia is the only trilogy to survive from Greek tragedy, and the religious and moral ideas it enacts afterwards influenced a great dramatic genre, as well as giving its three plays their lasting significance. In this family history, Fate and the gods decree that each generation will repeat the crimes and endure the suffering of their forebears. When Agamemnon is murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, their son Orestes must avenge his father's death. Only Orestes' appeal to the goddess Athena saves him from his mother's Furies, breaking the bloody chain; together gods and humans inaugurate a way of just conduct that will ensure stable families and a strong community. The Oresteia is majestic as theatre and as literature, and this new translation seeks to preserve both these qualities. The introduction and notes emphasize the interconnection of scenes, ideas, and language that distinguishes this unique work.
      Agamemnon in Performance: 458 BC to AD 2004
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        Agamemnon in Performance: 458 BC to AD 2004

        Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover

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        ASIN: 0199263515

        Book Description

        Aeschylus' Agamemnon, the first play in the Oresteia trilogy, is one of the most influential theatrical texts in the global canon. In performance, translation, adaptation, along with sung and danced interpretations, it has been familiar in the Greek world and the Roman empire, and from the Renaissance to the contemporary stage. It has been central to the aesthetic and intellectual avant-garde as well as to radical politics of all complexions and to feminist thinking. Contributors to this interdisciplinary collection of eighteen essays on its performance history include classical scholars, theatre historians, and experts in English and comparative literature. All Greek and Latin has been translated; the book is generously illustrated, and supplemented with the useful research aid of a chronological appendix of performances.

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