The Rhesus is a highly disputed tragedy that is commonly attributed to Euripides. It is a short play, though not altogether a tragedy in the classic sense of the word. Unlike many other Greek tragedies, Rhesus takes place during the Homeric canon, during the events of Book X of the Iliad. The plot encompasses the events of a … Continue reading Brief Notes on the Rhesus
classics
Euripides and the Gods: Ion
Ion is an odd play for a Euripidian tragedy. Unlike many of his other works, Ion prominently features the gods, including a closing scene in which Athena resolves the impending conflict of the play. Apollo, though silent throughout the play, is portrayed in an unflattering light, while Athena is cast as all-knowing, not unlike the Athena … Continue reading Euripides and the Gods: Ion
Brief Thoughts on The Trojan Women
Known in Latin as the Troades, Euripides's The Trojan Women was said by Aelian's Varia Historica (published in the third century A.D.) to have been performed for the first time in 415 BC at the 91st Olympiad. Ultimately, he won second place, losing to Xenocles, a now lost Athenian tragedian. The Trojan Women was part three of a group of three tragedies … Continue reading Brief Thoughts on The Trojan Women
Thoughts on Andromache
It has been suggested that Euripides is obsessed with character, but that he is indifferent to plot. Each one of his tragedies might be said to be a character study into the pure hopelessness faced by human beings. The Andromache is an unusual play for a number of reasons. The unnamed Scholiast, a latter Byzantine, reports that … Continue reading Thoughts on Andromache
What Is Tragic About Greek Tragedy? Euripides’s Hecuba Considered
Euripides's Hecuba is perhaps the most bleak of the Greek tragedies. It takes place shortly after the sack of Troy by the Achaeans. The few remaining Trojans have been either killed or enslaved by the Greeks. Hecuba, Queen of Troy and wife of Priam, has been captured and enslaved by Odysseus. Like Job, the her life has had … Continue reading What Is Tragic About Greek Tragedy? Euripides’s Hecuba Considered
Examining Euripides’s Helen
Thirty years prior to Euripides's first performance of Helen at the Dionysia in 412 BC, Herodotus of Halicarnassus echoed a controversial theory of the story of the Trojan War. In Book II of his famous Histories, or "Inquiries", Herodotus suggests that Helen of Sparta, wife of Menelaus, was not actually taken to Troy, but was instead transported by the gods … Continue reading Examining Euripides’s Helen
The Gorgias, A Dialogue of War and Battle
The Gorgias, a dialogue of "war and battle" has been called the natural introduction to the Republic. Why is this the case? The Gorgias shows us a unique drama - a pupil of a foreign rhetorician versus a pupil of the Athenian philosopher. It is a dialogue in battle, perhaps the dialogue in battle, as Callicles's opening words … Continue reading The Gorgias, A Dialogue of War and Battle
Go West
9/11/2016 Go West (1925) Director: Buster Keaton Go West is a delightful film filled with Keaton's classic gags. It is clearly a precursor to The General with his notable fascination with trains and the old west. Much of the film was shot in Arizona in extremely hot weather and it was not one Buster Keaton's favorite films, though … Continue reading Go West
Nature in the Nicomachean Ethics
Regarding the question of nature, or rather the “not-natural”, as has been commonly asked, we recall Shakespeare’s use of the word ‘natural’ in King Lear. In the play, political nature has been upset. If we accept Aristotle’s famous pronouncement that “man is a political animal”, then indeed human nature has also been upset. King Lear … Continue reading Nature in the Nicomachean Ethics
On Herodotus
Herodotus's Histories, or "Inquiries", traces the conflicts that emerged between the Greeks and the Persians (the Achaemenid Empire), culminating in the great battles of Thermopylae, Salamis, Platea, and Mycale. Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus in Asia Minor, or modern day Bodrum in western Turkey. Much of his life was spent in Exile, living in Samos, Athens, and apparently … Continue reading On Herodotus
