# Aeschylus



## a mere housewife (Dec 17, 2004)

I read him for the first time last night. He is so, drivingly good. The real thing: T. S. Eliot seems only a reflection. I was wondering, if anyone would suggest what other Greek authors are that worthwhile: I don't want to miss out on them.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Dec 17, 2004)

I don't have any particular recommendations. My own personal interests would include Homer, Aristotle, Socrates and Plato. But here is a guide to other major ancient Greek writers and their important works: http://www.musesrealm.net/greece/writers.html


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## RamistThomist (Dec 17, 2004)

Herodotus is entertaining.


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## fredtgreco (Dec 17, 2004)

Heidi,

If you like Aeschylus, you should also read Sophocles. He is more accessible than Aeschylus, and is very good. The Oedipus Trilogy is well known, but Seven Against Thebes is excellent also.

Also good (but third of the three dramatists in my book) is Euripides. He is a bit more modern/sophistic than the other two.

You would probably also enjoy the Historians - Thucydides and Herodotus.


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## Puritan Sailor (Dec 18, 2004)

Aerostophanes has some interesting stuff too in his plays, one that I read featuring Socrates in satire.


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## RamistThomist (Dec 18, 2004)

Onto Latin writers:
Fred,
What do you think of Livy? I had to read an excerpt of him for ancient history and thoroughly enjoyed it.


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## fredtgreco (Dec 18, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Draught Horse_
> Onto Latin writers:
> Fred,
> What do you think of Livy? I had to read an excerpt of him for ancient history and thoroughly enjoyed it.



Livy is most enjoyable. Tacitus is the other great Latin historian. Both are worthwhile reading. Livy's Latin is not _that_ difficult either.


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## turmeric (Dec 18, 2004)

Aristophanes has a play in which the god of drama goes to the underworld to bring back Euripides but brings Aeschylus back instead. It's called The Frogs. I love T.S.Eliot, will try Aeschylus on your recommendation. BTW; Eliot would probably agree with your comparison.


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## fredtgreco (Dec 18, 2004)

> _Originally posted by turmeric_
> Aristophanes has a play in which the god of drama goes to the underworld to bring back Euripides but brings Aeschylus back instead. It's called The Frogs. I love T.S.Eliot, will try Aeschylus on your recommendation. BTW; Eliot would probably agree with your comparison.



Start with the Agamemnon triology (Agamemnon, Choepheroi, Eumenides), and then more to his other works.

By the way, you can find pdfs of these works and many, many others at:

http://www.textkit.com

It is the best Classics site I have seen on the net.


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## a mere housewife (Dec 20, 2004)

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and the webpages: I've finished the first two plays in the Agamemnon trilogy over the weekend: I loved the first one especially. I'll try to find Sophocles next then-- I think he wrote "That time of times shall come, shall surely come, when from earth's teeming ether down shall fall..." which I read once, and it has run through my head ever since. 

Does anyone know anything about Menander? They don't say anything about him on the webpage Andrew posted.

I really like Eliot too, Meg: especially Alfred J. Prufrock and Gerontian; even though I don't understand it all (he writes so many fragments) there are the unforgettable places and the sudden utter truths, and the current of images and rhythm. But I wasn't too impressed with his plays. Did you know, by the way, that C. S. Lewis and his friends spoofed Eliot's style in silly acrostics and sent it in to his magazine or whatever it was he published-- where it was printed in perfect seriousness?


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## turmeric (Dec 20, 2004)

That's what happens when we take ourselves WAY too seriously! I read Agamenon over the weekend. Poor Casandra, I felt the sorriest for her.


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## doulosChristou (Dec 21, 2004)

> _Originally posted by fredtgreco_Start with the Agamemnon triology (Agamemnon, Choepheroi, Eumenides), and then more to his other works.





This trilogy, taken as a whole, is arguably the greatest bit of pagan drama ever written. It is greater than any single Shakespeare play. In fact, it is worth learning classical Greek just so you can read this in all of its terrible beauty.


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## a mere housewife (Jan 6, 2005)

Terrible beauty is right. I would love to learn classical Greek, but I'm not sure that I can.

Meg I figured it out-- Eliot is so sort of indoors, and reading Aeschylus is like going outside.

I started Sophocles, with Ajax. The nether darkness that was his sole light- I think I may ending up liking Sophocles even better.


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## fredtgreco (Jan 6, 2005)

> _Originally posted by a mere housewife_
> Terrible beauty is right. I would love to learn classical Greek, but I'm not sure that I can.
> 
> Meg I figured it out-- Eliot is so sort of indoors, and reading Aeschylus is like going outside.
> ...



Aeschylus is great, and his Greek is VERY hard. It is not just Classical/Attic Greek (think Plato). It is a very early form of Greek, and is more like Pindar than Plato. My suggestion if you don't have a year or so - find a good translation!


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