Phaedra’s suicide – Euripides’ Phaedra
After Phaedra's suicide, Hippolytus drives his chariot away (On a red-figure vase from Southern Italy, ca. 350 BC) Phaedra - the second half of the play So the clueless chorus [...]
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Phaedra and Hippolytus – Euripides
Phaedra falls in love with the hunter Hippolytus (Pompeii, ca. 79 AD) Phaedra is a play written by the Greek playwright Euripides. It is concerned with dike, justice, but also [...]
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Oedipus at Colonus – Sophocles
A later painting of Antigone and Oedipus, by Camille Felix Bellanger, in the 1800s. Oedipus at Colonus is a play written by Sophocles. It tells the story of what happened [...]
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Oedipus Rex – Sophocles – Summary and Themes
Oedipus Rex: The shepherd tells his story to Oedipus, while Jocasta listens in horror (now in the Getty Museum) Sophocles wrote this very famous play in the 400s BC. It [...]
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Odyssey – Homer – Summary
Odysseus and his men put out the eye of the Cyclops, Polyphemos (ca. 660 BC) Homer wrote the Odyssey The Greek poet Homer wrote down the Odyssey around 700 BC, [...]
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Who was Menander? An ancient Greek playwright from Athens
Who was Menander? Here he is on a fresco painting from Pompeii, in Italy, painted after he died. Who was Menander? Menander is the only playwright - a person who [...]
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Melos and Athens – Thucydides
The Pnyx, where the Athenian Assembly met When did Athens attack Melos? In 416 BC, Athens and Sparta were right in the middle of the Peloponnesian War. As part of that war, [...]
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Medea – Euripides – Summary
Creusa gets her new magic dress from a slave Who wrote the Greek play Medea? The Greek playwright Euripides wrote it in Athens, in the late 400s BC. It's about the [...]
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07, 2017
Libation Bearers – Aeschylus – Summary
Libation Bearers: Orestes Who wrote the Libation Bearers? This is the second of a cycle of three plays written by the Greek playwright Aeschylus. In Greek, the play is the [...]
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Who was Homer? Greek epic literature
Cup by Sophilos, showing a race from the Iliad by Homer (as the inscription says - Athens, ca. 570 BC) Why is Homer important? To the classical Greeks, Homer's epics [...]
