Greek Drama and Culture
A survey of ancient Greek drama and the society that produced it. The course
will examine a representative sample of the major plays of the tragedians
Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, as well as the comic playwright
Aristophanes. Among the topics considered will be: the tragic and comic
festivals, tragedy's relationship with Athenian democracy, the nature of Greek
theatres and ancient theatrical production techniques, religion and drama,
women and tragedy, tragic and comic heroism, myth and tragedy, and the legacy
of Greek tragedy in the modern world. Plays to be read include the Oresteia,
Bacchae, Medea, Frogs and Ajax.
This course satisfies the Core Arts requirement. There are no prerequisites.
General background resources

Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Homer
to Alexander
 Character Glossary for Greek Mythology, including geneological charts
Quick answers to your perplexity about who s/he is.
Study guides
 Glossary of terms, people and places
The instructor's mythology site; this has background on the gods and
major myths.
 Bibliographies on Greek drama. From Diotima (see below), so use the
"back" button after finishing.
 Guide to Euripides' Bacchae
 Guide to Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannos with a separate worksheet on
structure.
 Guide to Sophocles' Ajax. New chart and worksheet
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Guide to Euripides' Medea and worksheet chart
 Guide to Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound
 Structural worksheet on Birds. Ancient Greek painting of a scene from
Aristophanes' Birds, which you can compare with a photo from Aquila's
production.
 Guide to the Fagles translation of Aeschylus' Oresteia, and now to
Meineck's translation. New chart and worksheet for Agamemnon, and for
Libation Bearers and now for The Furies
 Guide to Sophocles' Electra
 Guide to Euripides' Hecuba
 Guide to Euripides' Iphigenia at Tauris and chart and worksheet
 Study page for Aristophanes' Clouds
 Guide to Sophocles' Philoctetes, with a new chart and guide
 Guide to Sophocles' Trachiniae, along with a new structural worksheet
 Guide to Euripides' Hippolytus and now a new chart and worksheet
 Chart and worksheet for Euripides' Heracles
 Guide to Aristophanes' Lysistrata
 Guide to Aristophanes' Frogs
Secondary Readings from Perseus
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The Development of Athenian Tragedy
Background information on Aeschylus
Background information on Sophocles
Background information on Euripides
Background information on Aristophanes and an essay on the historical
and cultural nature of Greek comedy.
Other materials
 The Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama
An essay by Marilyn A. Katz, Did the Women of Ancient Athens Attend
the Theater in the Eighteenth Century? (Yes, that's not a misprint)
 An essay by Helene Foley, "Modern Performance and Adaptation of
Greek Tragedy"
 Didaskalia is a web site devoted entirely to Greek drama, featuring a wide
range of materials from ancient sources to modern productions of Greek
plays
 Perseus Project provides the home page for the web version of Perseus, a
multimedia exploration of ancient Greek civilization, which can help you
understand the broader context of the plays.
 Diotima leads you to a web site devoted to the study of women and gender
in the ancient world, which can help you better understand the gender
dynamics so important to Greek drama.
 Janice's Siegel's useful pages on Greek drama theater; really good
pictures!
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