Read more
Zusatztext "Conveys more vividly and powerfully than any of the ten competitors I have consulted the eternal power of this masterpiece ... a triumph." —Bernard Levin "How satisfying to read at last a modern translation which is rooted in Greek feeling and Greek thought ... both the stature and the profound instinctive genius of Aeschylus are recognised." —Mary Renault! author of The King Must Die Informationen zum Autor Aeschylus was born of noble family near Athens in 525 BC. He took part in the Persian Wars, and his epitaph represents him as fighting at Marathon. He wrote more than seventy plays, of which only seven have survived, all translated for Penguin Classics: The Supplicants , The Persians , Seven Against Thebes , Prometheus Bound , Agamemnon , The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides . Klappentext In the Oresteia Aeschylus addressed the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos. As they move from darkness to light, from rage to self-governance, from primitive ritual to civilized institution, their spirit of struggle and regeneration becomes an everlasting song of celebration. In Agamemnon, a king's decision to sacrifice his daughter and turn the tide of war inflicts lasting damage on his family, culminating in a terrible act of retribution; The Libation Bearers deals with the aftermath of Clytemnestra's regicide, as her son Orestes sets out to avenge his father's death; and in The Eumenides, Orestes is tormented by supernatural powers that can never be appeased. Forming an elegant and subtle discourse on the emergence of Athenian democracy out of a period of chaos and destruction, The Oresteia is a compelling tragedy of the tensions between our obligations to our families and the laws that bind us together as a society. The only trilogy in Greek drama that survives from antiquity, Aeschylus' The Oresteia is translated by Robert Fagles with an introduction, notes and glossary written in collaboration with W.B. Stanford in Penguin Classics. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. Table of Contents THE ORESTEIA AGAMEMNON, THE LIBATION BEARERS, THE EUMENIDES Title Page Copyright Page Foreword Acknowledgements AGAMEMNON THE LIBATION BEARERS THE EUMENIDES THE GENEALOGY OF ORESTES SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY NOTES GLOSSARY FOR THE BEST IN PAPERBACKS, LOOK FOR THE PENGUIN CLASSICS THE ORESTEIA AGAMEMNON, THE LIBATION BEARERS, THE EUMENIDES AESCHYLUS was born of a noble family at Eleusis near Athens in 525 B.C. He took part in the Persian Wars and his epitaph, said to have been written by himself, represents him as fighting at Marathon. At some time in his life he appears to have been prosecuted for divulging the Eleusinian mysteries, but he apparently proved himself innocent. Aeschylus wrote more than seventy plays, of which seven have survived: The Suppliants, The Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Prometheus Bound, Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides. (All are translated for Penguin Classics.) He visited Syracuse more than once at the invitation of Hieron I and he died at Gela in Sicily in 456 B.C. Aeschylus was recognized as a classic writer soon after his death, and special privileges were decreed for his plays. ROBERT FAGLES is Arthur W. Marks ’19 Professor of Compara...
