Tuesday, 18 June 2019

Ancient Greek Plays Must Reads

Aeschylus
 - Oresteia
 - Persians
 - Prometheus Bound

Sophocles
 - Antigome
 - Oedipus Rex
 - Ajax

Euripides
 - Medea
 - Electra
 - Alcestis
 - Bacchae
 - Trojan Women
 - Iphigenia At Aulis
 - Phoenician Women

Aristophanes
  - The Birds
  - The Clouds
  - The Frogs
  - Lysistrata

Links to Synopses or Synopses to be found here
Ian C. Storey; Arlene Allan (15 April 2008). A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama. Play Synopses: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 241–. ISBN 978-1-4051-3763-8.
A guide to ancient Greek drama : Storey, Ian Christopher,
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470776209.ch6

Fifteen Greek Plays : Lane Cooper - Internet Archive

Ten Greek Plays: Lane Cooper - Internet Archive

Index of Individual Works - Classical Literature

Aristophanes - Wikipedia Surviving plays
Aeschylus - Wikipedia Surviving Plays
Euripides - Wikipedia Extant Plays
Sophocles - Wikipedia Works and legacy


ChatGPT's List of Must Reads

Here are must-read Ancient Greek plays that are essential for anyone interested in classical literature, theatre, or philosophy. These works shaped Western drama and still resonate today for their insight into human nature, fate, power, and the divine.

TRAGEDY

Aeschylus (c. 525–455 BCE)

  1. Agamemnon – The first part of the Oresteia trilogy; explores justice, revenge, and divine will.

  2. The Libation Bearers – Continues the Oresteia, focusing on Orestes avenging his father's murder.

  3. The Eumenides – Concludes the Oresteia, showing the transformation from revenge to lawful justice.

  4. Prometheus Bound (disputed authorship) – The defiant Titan punished for giving fire to humanity.

Sophocles (c. 497–406 BCE)

  1. Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) – The quintessential Greek tragedy of fate and self-discovery.

  2. Antigone – A moral clash between civil law and divine justice, centered on a strong female lead.

  3. Electra – A tale of vengeance and psychological tension; similar in theme to Aeschylus's Libation Bearers.

  4. Oedipus at Colonus – A philosophical and somber sequel to Oedipus Rex.

Euripides (c. 480–406 BCE)

  1. Medea – A powerful, chilling story of love, betrayal, and revenge.

  2. The Bacchae – A wild, haunting tale of Dionysus and divine retribution.

  3. Hippolytus – A tragedy of lust, honor, and divine meddling.

  4. Electra – Euripides' take on the revenge of Orestes and Electra; more cynical than Sophocles'.

  5. Trojan Women – A grim look at war's aftermath from the victims' perspective.

COMEDY

Aristophanes (c. 446–386 BCE)

  1. Lysistrata – Women withhold sex to force an end to war; a bold, comic piece on gender and power.

  2. The Clouds – A satire of Socratic philosophy and Athenian intellectual trends.

  3. The Frogs – A journey to the underworld to bring back a great tragedian; literary satire and commentary.

Greek Plays on Audio and/or Video


Oresteia

https://youtu.be/O7sdZQ1BDs0 The Agamemnon Part 1
https://youtu.be/ZZyQNOkLfNE The Agamemnon Part 2
https://youtu.be/nFv5-OuaL-E  The Libation Bearers


Theban Plays by Sophocles [BBC Radio productions]
https://archive.org/details/SophoclesTheThebans

Antigone
Oedipus Rex
Ajax

00:00 Dramatis personae.
00:33 Part 1.
25:42 Part 2.
54:33 Part 3.


Iphigenia in Aulis


Aristophanes: Clouds, Lysistrata, Birds, Frogs

Oxford World's Classics


Aeschylus


Seven Against Thebes
Suppliants
Prometheus Bound


Agamemnon
Libation Bearers
Eumenides

Sophocles

Antigone
Oedipus the King
Electra

Aias
Philoctetes
Oedipus at Colonus

Euripides http://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/the-trojan-women-and-other-plays-9780199538812?cc=gb&lang=en&


Hecuba
The Trojan Women
Andromache


Medea
Hippolytus
Electra
Helen


Iphigenia among the Taurians
Bacchae
Iphigenia at Aulis
Rhesus


Alcestis
Heracles
Children of Heracles
Cyclops

Aristophanes



https://global.oup.com/academic/product/aristophanes-frogs-and-other-plays-9780192824097?q=aristophanes%20frogs&lang=en&cc=gb


Clouds
Women at the Thesmophoria
Frogs


https://global.oup.com/academic/product/birds-and-other-plays-9780199555673?cc=gb&lang=en&


Birds
Lysistrata
Assembly - Women
Wealth

Penguin Books Ltd UK Classics Series
 
Aeschylus
Aeschylus (1984). The Oresteia. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-044333-2.
The Persians, Prometheus Bound, Seven Against Thebes, The Suppliants

Sophocles


 
Sophocles; Penguin Group (1974). The Theban Plays. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-0-14-044003-4.
King Oedipus, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone.

Sophocles (24 April 2008). Electra and Other Plays. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-0-14-044978-5.
Ajax, Electra, Women of Trachis, Philoctetes

Euripides


Euripides (27 March 2003). Medea and Other Plays. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-0-14-044929-7.
Alcestis, Medea, The Children of Heracles, Hippolytus.

Euripides (1963). Heracles. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-0-14-044129-1.
Medea, Hecabe, Electra, Heracles

Euripides (2005). The Bacchae and Other Plays. Penguin Adult. ISBN 978-0-14-044726-2.
Phoenician Women, Orestes, Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulis, Rhesus.
Euripides (27 June 2002). Heracles and Other Plays. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-0-14-196093-7.
Heracles, Iphigenia Among The Taurians, Ion, Helen, Cyclops.

Euripides (23 February 2006). Orestes and Other Plays. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-0-14-196198-9.
The Children of Heracles, Andromache, The Suppliant Women, The Phoenician Women, Orestes. Old Series Euripides (26 July 1973). Medea and Other Plays. tr Phillip Vellacott. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-0-14-190632-4. Euripides (1 January 1954). The Bacchae and Other Plays. tr Phillip Vellacott. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-044044-7.
The Bacchae, and other plays : Euripides -: Internet Archive

Aristophanes  

The Archarnians, The Clouds, Lysistrata

The Birds and Other Plays

The Knights, Peace, The Birds, The Assembly Women, Wealth.

Frogs and Other Plays

Wasps, Women at the Thesmophoria, Frogs.

General
Aeschylus; Euripides; Sophocles (26 August 2004). Greek Tragedy. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-0-14-196171-2.

Reference

Ian C. Storey; Arlene Allan (28 January 2014). A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-45512-8.
A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama (2005} PDF  Contains synopses of all the extant plays.

Peter France (2001). The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation. Oxford University Press. pp. 356–. ISBN 978-0-19-924784-4.


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