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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07, 2017
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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07, 2017
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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07, 2017
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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07, 2017
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 [...]
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07, 2017
Who was Hesiod? Greek literature
Who was Hesiod? In Works and Days, Hephaistos creates Pandora Who was Hesiod? An early Greek writer People in ancient Greece learned about the new alphabet way of writing about 750 [...]
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07, 2017
Greek literature – ancient Greece
Greek literature: the poet Sappho There's a lot of it The Greeks wrote a great deal, and a surprising amount of what they wrote is still available to us today, [...]
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07, 2017
Euripides’ plays – ancient Greece
Euripides' plays: Phaedra and her slave (a fresco from Pompeii, ca. 79 AD) When did Euripides live? Euripides was the youngest of the three great tragic playwrights of classical Athens. [...]
