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Title: The House of Atreus

Author: AEschylus

Posting Date: October 6, 2014 [EBook #8604]
Release Date: August, 2005
First Posted: July, 28, 2003

Language: English


*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE OF ATREUS ***




Produced by Ted Garvin, Lorna Hanrahan, Charles Franks,
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NINE GREEK DRAMAS

BY AESCHYLUS, SOPHOCLES, EURIPIDES
AND ARISTOPHANES



TRANSLATIONS BY E. D. A. MORSHEAD
E. H. PLUMPTRE, GILBERT MURRAY
AND B. B.
ROGERS



WITH INTRODUCTIONS AND NOTES



THE HOUSE OF ATREUS. (Aeschylus)

AGAMEMNON

THE LIBATION-BEARERS

THE FURIES

TRANSLATED BY E. D. A. MORSHEAD

_INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Of the life of Aeschylus, the first of the three great masters of
Greek tragedy, only a very meager outline has come down to us. He was
born at Eleusis, near Athens, B. C. 525, the son of Euphorion. Before
he was twenty-five he began to compete for the tragic prize, but did
not win a victory for twelve years. He spent two periods of years in
Sicily, where he died in 456, killed, it is said, by a tortoise which
an eagle dropped on his head. Though a professional writer, he did his
share of fighting for his country, and is reported to have taken part
in the battles of Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea.

Of the seventy or eighty plays which he is said to have written, only
seven survive: "The Persians," dealing with the defeat of Xerxes at
Salamis; "The Seven against Thebes," part of a tetralogy on the legend
of Thebes; "The Suppliants," on the daughters of Danaus; "Prometheus
Bound," part of a trilogy, of which the first part was probably
"Prometheus, the Fire-bringer," and the last, "Prometheus Unbound";
and the "Oresteia," the only example of a complete Greek tragic
trilogy which has come down to us, consisting of "Agamemnon,"
"Choephorae" (The Libation-Bearers), and the "Eumenides" (Furies).

The importance of Aeschylus in the development of the drama is
immense. Before him tragedy had consisted of the chorus and one actor;
and by introducing a second actor, expanding the dramatic dialogue
thus made possible, and reducing the lyrical parts, he practically
created Greek tragedy as we understand it. Like other writers of his
time, he acted in his own plays, and trained the chorus in their
dances and songs; and he did much to give impressiveness to the
performances by his development of the accessories of scene and
costume on the stage. Of the four plays here reproduced, "Prometheus
Bound" holds an exceptional place in the literature of the world.