GREEK ARTS AND OEDIPUS
THE KING
2013-Introduction to Western Literature
Greek Arts
Oedipus
The Golden
Fleece
希臘藝術的特質

希臘人富於民主思想和創造精神的天性，個性
活潑開放情，崇尚運動，追求自由自在的樂
趣。因此藝術表現上呈現出充滿健康、自然、
樂觀、優雅等的特質，而有別於近東藝術那種
超自然的、宗教的神祕感。在同一個時代，近
東藝術中，作者只是奉命行事去完成，作品中
沒有個人的創意也不留名，可是到了希臘時
代，個人地位提昇，藝術品的製作者才逐漸受
重視並留有名字。
希臘藝術的特質

希臘人因其唯美、唯善觀及優美之地埋、氣候
環境，故追求完美，此種完美之要求亦及於人
體及生活；再因其有優美之氣候與環境，對於
戶外活動亦極為熱衷，於是有各種競賽、體能
活動及奧林匹克運動會。
Ex. 雕刻



早期希臘雕刻受到埃及和近東各國的影響
直到「黑暗時代」過後，希臘人的雕刻開始建
立自己的風貌，展開蓬勃的發展，並對往後歐
洲藝術產生極大的影響。
希臘雕刻的風貌，主要靠文獻上的記載和羅馬
時代的仿製品而得知；由於年代久遠、歷經戰
亂和人為破壞，大部份原作己所剩無幾。
雕刻



希臘的雕刻和 建築，是互為一體的，例如神廟
建築上的破風雕刻﹝山形牆雕刻﹞或浮雕飾 帶、
墓碑上的浮雕……等。
除了和建築相結合之外，獨立性的雕像也很可
觀， 其創作泉源來自「人體美」，是歷史上
「裸體雕刻」的創始。
http://vr.theatre.ntu.edu.tw/hlee/course
/th9_1000/open-08-broadcast.htm
米隆﹝Myron﹞之擲鐵餅
者﹝Discus-Thrower﹞
年代：450 B.C.
希臘之繪畫四個時期
由器皿上的彩繪來看
﹝一﹞幾何形風格（約 11OO ─ 7OO
B.C.）
﹝二﹞東方風格（約 75O ─ 6OO B.C.）
﹝三﹞黑體人像繪畫（約 7OO ─ 5OO
B.C.）
﹝四﹞紅體人像繪畫（約5OO B.C.）

http://vr.theatre.ntu.edu.tw/hlee/course/th9_1000/open-08broadcast.htm
﹝一﹞幾何形風格（約 11OO ─ 7OO B.C.）

這是希臘本土構成性
裝飾的表現，在陶甕
上畫滿告種簡單而有
規則的幾何圖飾，這
類型的作品起初都沒
有人物的裝飾圖案，
直到西元前第八世紀
才有明確的人物形象
出現。
﹝二﹞東方風格（約 75O ─ 6OO B.C.）

早期的陶甕仍採用幾何圖案，由於當時希
臘和近東地區商務接觸而產生的風格，以
故事作為描繪的內容，人物、動物成為裝
飾的主題，輪廓明確，筆觸肯定，造型生
動，作品尺寸隨之增大。
﹝三﹞黑體人像繪畫（約 7OO ─ 5OO B.C.）

此種畫風存在於古樸時期至公元前六世紀末葉。以雕刻家
埃司克埃斯﹝Exekias﹞之作品，題為「埃加士與艾契列
士下棋」﹝Ajax & Achilles Playing Draughts﹞之陶罐
為例，其特色為表面光滑、人體皆為黑色、尖鼻大眼、布
局均衡、人物之腳部均在同一半畫面上、無景深，並有幾
何形圖案。在公元前六世紀末葉左右，希臘陶工與畫工在
社會中已漸有相當地位、故多在其作品上署名。
埃加士與艾契列士下棋

年代：540 B.C.

說明：黑體人像繪畫
﹝四﹞紅體人像繪畫（約5OO B.C.）

公元前五世紀左右，紅體人像繪畫逐漸取代黑
體人像繪畫。人物皆為紅色，所有人物之立足
點已非同在一水平線上，而係分布在並不規則
之層次，與重疊之人物共同產生遠近距離之感
覺，同時各人物皆有不同之動作，頗具動感。
對人體之處理方面，與黑人物畫風相較，較為
活潑、寫實，而非生硬、規律化。
14
Alice Y. Chang
Earliest coinage: Electrum


Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of
gold and silver, with trace amounts of
copper and other metals. It has also been
produced artificially.
The ancient Greeks called it 'gold' or
'white gold', as opposed to 'refined gold'.
Its color ranges from pale to bright
yellow, depending on the proportions of
gold and silver.
Oldest Lydian Lion electrum
http://rg.ancients.info/lion/
Sophocles’ Antigone

“Make your profits, import electrum from Sardis
if you wish, and gold from India” (Anti 10371039).
An Athenian Owl

Silver Tetradrachm, with the Owl standing on a
olive twig, a crescent on the upper left and "ΑΘΕ"
in front and Athena wearing an ornamented helmet,
454 - 449 BC.
c. 430 BC - 23 X 27 mm diameter, 16.5g
OEDIPUS
Story background
Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex
probably the most famous tragedy ever
written.
 It is known by a variety of titles (the most
common being Oedipus Rex), including Oedipus
the King and Oedipus Tyrannus.
 Sophocles first produced the play in Athens
around 430 B.C. at the Great Dionysia, a
religious and cultural festival held in honor of
the god Dionysus, where it won second prize.
In the play Oedipus, King of Thebes, upon

Translation (1)

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Thomas Francklin, 1759 – verse
Edward H. Plumptre, 1865 – verse: full text
Richard C. Jebb, 1904 – prose: full text
Gilbert Murray, 1911 – verse
Francis Storr, 1912 – verse: full text
William Butler Yeats, 1928 – mixed prose and verse
David Grene, 1942 (revised ed. 1991) – verse
E.F. Watling, 1947 – verse
Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald, 1949 – verse
Translation (2)

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Theodore Howard Banks, 1956 – verse
Albert Cook, 1957 – verse
Bernard Knox, 1959 – prose
H. D. F. Kitto, 1962 – verse
Stephen Berg and Diskin Clay – verse
Robert Bagg, 1982 (revised ed. 2004) – verse
Robert Fagles, 1984 – verse
Nick Bartel, 1999 – verse: abridged text
Kenneth McLeish, 2001 - Verse
George Theodoridis, 2005 – prose: full text
Luci Berkowitz and Theodore F. Brunner, 1970 – prose
Ian Johnston, 2004 – verse: full text
Ancient Greek Tragedy
video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmSbqfy5Df0&fe
ature=related

Ancient Greek Theatre.flv
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNAM3PzGcow
&feature=related

Three Theban plays: Not a trilogy




Oedipus the King  Oedipus at Colonus  Antigone.
Antigone was first performed in 442 BCE.
Oedipus the King was first performed c. 429 BCE.
Oedipus at Colonus was written shortly before
Sophocles' death in 406 BC and produced by his
grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of
Dionysus in 401 BCE.
People and places to know:
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Oedipus
Jocasta
Laius
Polybus
Merope
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Sphinx
Teiresias (Tiresias )
Apollo
Delphi
Cithaeron
Thebes (the House of
Cadamus)
a winged female
monster in Greek
mythology having
a woman's head
and a lion's body
and noted for
killing anyone
unable to answer
its riddle
an ancient Egyptian image in the
form of a recumbent lion having a
man's head, a ram's head, or a
hawk's head
1
• Prologue and Parodos
2
• First Episode and First Stasimon
3
• Second Episode and Second Stasimon
4
• Third Episode and Third Stasimon
5
• Fourth Episode and fourth Stasimon
6
• Fifth Episode and Exodos
Introduction
•
The setting of the Oedipus  http://able
media.com/
the King as in the case of
ctcweb/nets
most Greek tragedies, does
not require a change of scene. hots/oedipu
s.htm
Throughout the play the
skene with at least one door
represents the facade of the
royal palace of Thebes.
PROLOGUE (1-150) OEDIPUS, PRIEST AND
CREON
Read (1)
Prologue (Priest, Oedipus, Creon)



The priests of Thebes appear before
Oedipus as suppliants, entreating him to
find some end to the plague.
Oedipus has already sent Creon to Delphi,
who arrives to report that the killer of
Laius must be sought out and banished.
Oedipus vows to find the killer and
summons the people of the city.
Prologue: Oedipus, Priest and Creon
What is the dramatic purpose of
the prologue?
 How does Oedipus characterize
himself (8)?
 What is his attitude toward the
suppliants (13-14)?

Pollution/ miasma

blood pollution that
infects the family, and
for a royal family the
city itself

The Plague of Thebes, oil on
canvas,
Charles François Jalabeat
(French, 1819-1901)
Oedipus


"Oidi-pous“ in Greek means "swollen footed”
But we can also analyze Oedipus in at least two
other ways:
 oidi-
to a Greek sounds like oida, oide = "I know, he
knows" (a central theme in the play)
 -dipous to a Greek means the "two-footed one," with
obvious associations to the riddle of the Sphinx (another
central theme)
Oedipus
Man of action, caring but
haughty: 7ff, 71ff etc.
 Revealer of the truth: 150
 Solver of riddles: 443ff
(e.g.)

Parodos

The Chorus of Theban citizens
offer prayers to Zeus, Apollo,
Athena for release from the
plague.
Parados (151-215)
What is the reaction of the Chorus to the
advice of Apollo ('the Delian Healer') to
Thebes (154-157)?
 What conditions in Thebes does the Chorus
describe)?

Delphi
 The Pythia was
the priestess at
the Temple of
Apollo at Delphi,
located on the
slopes of Mount
Parnassus.
Priestess of Delphi
(1891) by John
Collier
chorus is an "act-dividing song":
– allows
for entrances and exits
– allows for the scene to change
– marks the passage of time
– chorus comments directly or
indirectly on what is going on
FIRST EPISODE
Part two
First Episode



Oedipus appeals for information and pronounces
his curse on the murderer.
Teiresias is summoned: at first he refuses to tell what
he knows, but aroused by Oedipus' taunts he
declares Oedipus the murderer.
Oedipus declares a conspiracy by Creon. Teiresias
declares that the murderer is present, and will be
found son and husband to his mother.
First Episode (216-462) - Oedipus,
Chorus and Teiresias


Irony
Why does Oedipus summon Teiresias
(278-287)? What is Teiresias's reaction to
Oedipus's request for help (316-344)?
I must know. Know thyself!


But knowing is itself problematized in the
Oedipus the King: central to the text is
not only what is known and by whom, but
what it means to "know"-- what is "true"
knowing.
Insight and blindness
Apollo versus Oedipus:
•
•
divine versus human knowledge
Apollo
sun, day, clear, blazing, burning
– fever, blazing, burning: sender of plague and the
Healer
– intelligence, clear, seeing
– brilliance, poetry
– truth (knowledge), clear, seeing
– divine prophecy, clear, seeing
–
Prophet/ Tiresias

Teiresias, the seer of
Oedipus the King:
Sophocles’ and Seneca’s
versions
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/lics/
2003/200305.pdf

South Italian Red-figure
bowl. Detail: Tiresias
seated holding sacrificial
knife as Odysseus (left)
stands by him
First Stasimon

What is the Chorus’s view of Teiresias's
accusations against Oedipus?
Suffering= pathos

What has Oedipus done to deserve such
awful suffering? Why must he suffer?
Tragedy=an aesthetic question mark




The dramatic expression of an enquiry into
suffering, an aesthetic question mark performed in
enacted pain.
While representing an instance of suffering in
dramatic form, always asks why it has occurred.
Pathology= the study of diseases
Etiology= the causes of diseases or a study of
causes
hubris

"ungodly pride" (hubris) or "tragic flaw"
(hamartia)
p. 9

Know thyself, Oedipus. You denounce
me, but you do not yet know yourself.
SECOND EPISODE (CREON,
OEDIPUS, CHORUS; JOCASTA)
Part three
Second Episode , 513-862. (Creon,
Oedipus, Chorus; Jocasta)



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Creon is indignant at Oedipus' accusations.
They argue over the charge. Jocasta tries to intervene.
Kommos.
The Chorus advise restraint and Oedipus lets Creon
go, though he declares him an enemy. Oedipus tells
Jocasta the source of the dispute.
Jocasta tells the story of Laius' death, and Oedipus
recognizes many details: but he was a lone killer,
whereas a band of killers was reported.
Oedipus worries about the oracle; Jocasta denounces
its veracity, adducing the prophesy about her son.
Second Stasimon (Chorus)



Ode to the sanctity of divine law.
The tyrant who ignores justice and reverence for the
gods will fall.
The oracles must be true.
Third Episode , 911-1085. (Jocasta,
Messenger, Chorus; Oedipus)



A messenger arrives from Corinth announcing the
death of Polybus and Oedipus' ascension.
He allays Oedipus' fear of the oracle (that he will
marry his mother) by telling him of his true birth.
Over Jocasta's objections Oedipus vows to continue
his search for the truth. Jocasta runs into the palace.
THIRD EPISODE AND
THIRD STASIMON
Part four
Third Stasimon , 1086-1109. (Chorus)

Ode to Mt. Cithaeron: we will soon know the
parentage of Oedipus.
Part Fifth: Fourth Episode (Oedipus,
Shepherd, Chorus)

The shepherd arrives who exposed the infant of
Laius and escaped when Laius was killed. Oedipus'
parentage becomes clear. Oedipus rushes into the
palace.
Fourth Stasimon (p.27) (Chorus)
No man is blest: happiness is but an illusion, for
even the great power and blessings of Oedipus
have come to a fall.
 Your example, Oedipus,
Your example, your fate, your disaster,
Show that none of us mortals
Ever knew, ever felt what happiness truly is.

FIFTH EPISODE AND
EXODOS
The sixth part: p.28-32
Exodos , 1223-1530. (Messenger, Chorus;
Oedipus, Creon)


A messenger announces the suicide of Jocasta and
the self-inflicted blinding of Oedipus. Oedipus
appears to lament his fate. Creon appears.
Oedipus begs him to take care of his children;
Antigone and Ismene (mute) arrive to comfort their
father. Creon persuades Oedipus to return to the
palace, and assumes the kingship.
Chorus p.33
There goes Oedipus—
He was the man who was able
To answer the riddle proposed by the Sphinx.
Mighty Oedipus—
He was an object of envy
To all for his fortune and fame.
There gores Oedipus—
Now he is drowning in waves of dread and despair.
conclusion
Look at Oedipus—
Proof that none of us mortals
Can truly be though of as happy
Until he is granted deliverance from life,
Until he is dead
And must suffer no more.
Recommended
Greek Tragedy
http://classics.uc.edu/~johnson/tragedy/
 http://memo.cgu.edu.tw/yu-yen/oedipus.htm
 http://classics.uc.edu/~johnson/tragedy/summaries
/oedipusrex.html

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS:
PHILOCTETES
Themes and discussion
71
Philoctetes
Alice Y. Chang
72
Philoctetes is leaving the island of
Lemnos




A cave had been Philoctetes’ home since the
Greeks abandoned him on Lemnos.
Philoctetes sits clutching his magic bow in his left
hand.
Above right is Odyssues.
To the left are Athene and Neoplotemos.
Alice Y. Chang
Lemons


Lemnos or Limnos is an island in the northern part
of the Aegean Sea.
It is part of the Greek prefecture of Lesbos and has
a considerable area, about 477 km².
A sacred island



For ancient Greeks, the island was sacred to
Hephaestus, god of metallurgy, who— as he tells
himself in Iliad I.590ff— fell on Lemnos when his
father Zeus hurled him headlong out of Olympus.
There, he was cared for by the Sinties, according to
Iliad or by Thetis (Apollodorus, Bibliotheke I:3.5),
and there with a Thracian nymph Cabiro (a daughter
of Proteus) he fathered a tribe called the Cabiroides.
Sacred rites dedicated to them were performed in the
island.
Lesbos


The frequency with which their identity might
change is a symptom of its strategic importance to
the Hellenic would throughout its history.
The island is now administered under the nomos
of Lesbos.
Two sectors

Lemnos has an area of 476 sq km and, like a
number of the Aegean islands, its shape indicates its
volcanic origins, two bays to north and south almost
dividing the island in two;
 the
smaller, eastern, sector was where the capital of the
island in antiquity, Hephaestus, was situated,
 while on the coast of the western sector, larger and
much more mountainous with the highest peak of
Mount Skopia reaching 430 m, the medieval and
modern capital of Myrina is located.
Lemnian earth
The low-lying and flatter areas of the
island are quite fertile, and produce a
variety of crops.
 A tradition, already current in antiquity
and still existing in the 20th century,
credited Lemnian earth, excavated on
one day each year, with the power of
healing many kinds of wounds; it was
exported all over the Hellenic world.

figured both in Homeric legend and in
Hellenic history
In antiquity Lemnos figured both in
Homeric legend and in Hellenic history.
 Herodotus (4.145) related how the
Argonauts, who according to legend had
arrived on the island and left progeny
there, were driven out of Lemnos three
generations later by the Pelasgi.

Philoctetes on the island of
Lemnos. Marble. Victoria
and Albert Museum, London.
ARGONAUTS


When the ARGONAUTS, in their way to Colchis,
came to Lemnos, they found out that all males had
been murdered.
For the Lemnian women, having learned that their
husbands had taken Thracian wives, resolved to kill
all men in Lemnos.
Philoctetes and Odysseus



http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Philoctetes.
html
Only Philoctetes excelled me with the bow in the
land of the Trojans, when we Achaeans shot."
(Odysseus to the Phaeacians. Homer, Odyssey 8.220).
"Destruction shall have end when you are dead, the
author of our bane." (Philoctetes to Paris. Quintus
Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy 10.229).