Aeschylus: Libation Bearers

Libation Bearers is the ''middle'' play in the only extant tragic trilogy to survive from antiquity, Aeschylus'' Oresteia , first produced in 458 BCE. This introduction to the play will be useful for anyone reading it in Greek or in translation. Drawing on his wide experience teaching about performance in the ancient world, C. W. Marshall helps readers understand how the play was experienced by its ancient audience. His discussion explores the impact of the chorus, the characters, theology, and the play''s apparent affinities with comedy. The architecture of choral songs is described in detail. The book also investigates the role of revenge in Athenian society and the problematic nature of Orestes'' matricide. Libation Bearers immediately entered the Athenian visual imagination, influencing artistic depictions on red-figured vases, and inspiring plays by Euripides and Sophocles. This study looks to the later plays to show how 5th-century audiences understood Libation Bearers . Modern reception of the play is integrated into the analysis. The volume includes a full range of ancillary material, providing a list of relevant red-figure vase illustrations, a glossary of technical terms, and a chronology of ancient and modern theatrical versions.>

About the author

C. W. Marshall is Professor of Greek, Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies and Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, University of British Columbia, Canada. His publications include The Stagecraft and Performance of Roman Comedy (2006), Classics and Comics (2011) and No Laughing Matter (Bloomsbury, 2012).

Product details

• Authors: C W Marshall, C. W. Marshall, C. W. (Associate Professor Marshall, Marshall C. W.
• Assisted by: Thomas Harrison (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.09.2017
• EAN: 9781474255073
• ISBN: 978-1-4742-5507-3
• No. of pages: 200
• Series: Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy; Companions to Greek and Roman; Criminal Practice Series; Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; Altgriechisch, Literaturwissenschaft: Dramen und Dramatiker, LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, DRAMA / Ancient & Classical, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Ancient & Classical, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, Literary studies: plays & playwrights, Ancient (Classical) Greek, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, Literary studies: plays and playwrights