Playwrights.

• The three major Greek playwrights were Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
• Aeschylus (c. 525 - 456): The Father of Tragedy.

  • Aristotle believes that Aeschylus may have introduced a second actor onstage. However, introducing actors may have been done as a vote among the public rather than the introduction of one single playwright (an extra actor meant more money from the state).
  • Tragedy did develop significantly during Aeschylus's time; later in his career, he even used a third actor.
• Aeschylus's plays:

  • During the last fourteen years of his career, Aeschylus wrote eighty plays though six (or seven - sometimes attributed with Prometheus bound). survive.
  • Most famous plays are the Orestia, (458) - consisting of Agamemnon, Choephoroi and Eumenidies - follows the curse on the House of Atreus + introduction of justice to Athens.
• Aeschylus's plays:

  • The use of three/four connecting plays seems to have been Aeschylus's style - no evidence that it was common in his day. Using connecting plays allowed him to build up sophistication and themes, though 'frogs' mocks him for writing tedious dramas.
  • He also has a greater use of the chorus than Euripides or Sophocles - Suppliant women: chorus have 55% of lines.
• Aeschylus's life:

  • Lived through a time of great change. Witnessed Athens grow from being an unimportant city-state to having a powerful empire and attracting artists and thinkers.
  • He also lived through the Persian Wars (499-479) and based his play 'Persians' surrounding their defeat at Salamis in 480. He probably fought in this war himself and he'd fought in at Marathon, a decade earlier.
• Aeschylus's life:

  • Epitaph records tells us that he died in Sicily, where he had moved to put on his plays, which implies that Greek Tragedies were known in the Greek West in the middle of the fifth century.
• Sophocles (c. 496-406): Changes to tragedy:

  • Introduced a third actor.
  • Changed the chorus to fifteen members instead of twelve.
  • Changed the look of the skene to create more atmosphere.
  • Reduced the role of the chorus.
• Sophocles's Plays:

  • Won at least eighteen contests - never came third.
  • Believed to have written over 120 plays, but only seven have survived - 'Antigone', 'Oedipus the king'.
  • Wrote unconnected plays. If any were connected, they were performed years apart.
• Sophocles was an important political figure in Athens. He served as a general with Pericles in 441. Welcomed the religious cult of Asclepius into Athens.
• Sophocles Techniques:

  • Master of stagecraft - skilled with structure and plot.
  • Subtly conveys information rather than simply stating it.
  • This seems more natural and gives an insight to the personality of characters. This was at a contrast with Euripides, who would do the opposite.
• Euripides: Popularity:

  • Became more popular after death.
  • Won only five victories (one of which was after his death - Bacchae wasn't produced until after).
  • Ten of his plays were selected by scholars for their excellence - they all survived because of this.
  • Believed to have writteen 92 plays in total.
  • Was frequently selected to present a play at the City Dionysia.
• Euripides: Sources:

  • Eighteen of his plays survive - Medea, Bacchae, etc.
  • Sometimes credited with a nineteenth play.
  • Ten plays selected by scholars, nine/eight survived by chance.
  • Gives us a wide range of diverse tragedies, including 'escape tragedies'.
  • He is presented in 'Frogs' as an unconvential playwright who likes to shock his audiences.
• Euripides's Style:

  • Enjoyed innovating with myths and characters - previous versions of Medea before his did not end with her killing her children.
  • More self-conscious in style.
  • Gods appear more frequently than other playwrights.
  • References to contemporary and philosophical themes.
• Euripides's style:

  • Also wrote 'escape tragedies': Plays with upbeat endings that focus on romance, mistaken identity and reunions - like in 'Helen' and 'Ion'.
  • His 'escape tragedies' were all non-select plays - other non-select plays of this type include 'Children of Heracles' (Euripides) and 'Suppliant women' (Another play by Euripides, but not to be consued with Aeschylus's play of the same name) which have a pro-Athenian stance.
• Euripides lived between 480 and 406BC.
• Euripides only won five times at the City Dionysia.
• Euripides wrote 92 plays, but only 18 survive.
• Euripides had a distinctive style - innovative, radical and challenging.
• Euripides made frequent references to contemporary and philosophical themes and he often had innovative and controversial plots - he liked to change myths.
• Gods appear far more often in Euripides's play and they are often challenged by other characters.
• We've mentioned that Euripides would often make contemporary refrences: In the Bacchae, Pentheus mocks the story of Dionysus being sewn into Zeus's thigh. Whether or not the myths about the gods should be taken literally or understand as metaphors was a topic of debate among contemporary intellectuals.