Introduction to the Ancient World: Greece

Early Athens cont'd; theater and tragedy

I. Early Athens (cont'd from Lect. 10) 

C. Rendezvous with tyranny: Peisistratus (561-527 B.C.);
Thespis (534 B.C.), Panathenaic Festival;
Hipparchus vs. Harmodius and Aristogeiton (514 B.C.);
Hippias into Exile (510 B.C.)

D. The Reforms of Kleisthenes (508/507 B.C.); redistricting, Athenian style: 3x10 districts;
10 tribes; a Council (boulē);
an executive committee of the Council (prytany) and its presiding officer of the day; ostracism

II.  Tragic drama - key elements

tyche; moira; the question of Job; katharsis; pity and fear; hubris;  catastrophe;
not "tragic" ending but resolution

Dionysiac connection: ecstasy

III. The setting and production 

A. Development from chorus and protagonist to 3 actors
B. audience; liturgy
C. the theater building: orchestra, skene; deus ex machina; Theater at Epidaurus;
Theater of Dionysus in Athens (see images)  

IV. Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.) 

V. The Agamemnon (and the next 2 plays) - trilogy

A. Plot

B. domestic themes; characters, hubris

C. universal themes: the curse on the House of Atreus (see below)

generations 1 and 2:  Tantalus/Pelops
generation 3:  Atreus and Thyestes
next:  Agamemnon/Clytemnestra/ Aegisthus
next: Orestes, Electra, Iphigenia

D. historical and political themes; Areopagus

"ALL IN THE FAMILY": The House of Atreus

Syllabus
Images for Lecture 11