9: Hellenic Athens and Greek Drama

Required Reading:

Read Oedipus the King (copy 2)

Overview:

The Golden Age was characterized by individual freedom and a passion for excellence, two traits still inherent in western culture. Drama was a very important part of their culture. Aiskhylos, Sophokles, Euripides and Aristophanes are four of the greatest playwrights in all of western history and all lived during this time. You should be familiar with the titles of their major works and know something about their contributions to Greek society and to western culture in general.

Questions:

a.What is arete and why was it significant during the Golden Age of Greece?

b.In his comedy Lysistrata how did Aristophenes propose to end the Polypenesian War?

c. What does Oedipus Rex tell you about the Greek idea of fate?

Sample Video:

Greek Drama (RealPlayer required) - This video lecture is a brief sample from the online version of this course. The full web course not only includes Prof. Nickerson's animated lectures but is supported by a full multimedia presentation for each days lesson. Go to the course home page for more information.

On the NET:

Visit the great website at Tufts University and follow the instructional links through the development of Greek tragedy.

Here is a brief history of Greek tragedy provided by Ascension Collegiate.

This site, Ancient Theater Today , from Didaskalia is pretty good. It has information on many kinds of ancient theater including Greek and Roman.

Get a good review of Oedipus the King. Also linked to this site is Oedipus the Game where you can test your knowledge of the play. (Java enabled browser required)