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Monday, August 28, 2017

053 - Euripides at War



In this episode, we discuss the historicity and some of the major themes of Euripides' surviving plays that he produced against the backdrop of the Peloponnesian War, which include The Children of Herakles, Andromache, Hecuba, The Suppliants, Electra, The Madness of Herakles, The Trojan Women, Iphigenia in Tauris, Ion, Helen, The Phoenician Women, Orestes, and Iphigenia at Aulis (excluding The Bacchae)

480 BC - Euripides is born
455 BC - Euripides competes in his first Dionysia (unknown work)
ca. 442-441 BC - Euripides wins his first victory at the Dionysia (unknown work); Sophocles stages trilogy with Antigone and Ajax (his oldest surviving plays)
438 BC - Euripides stages a tetralogy with Alcestis (mixed satyr/drama) as the fourth play 
431 BC - Aeschylus' son, Euphorion, wins first prize at the Dionysia (unknown work); Sophocles places second (unknown work); Euripides places third (trilogy with Medea)
430 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with The Children of Herakles
428 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with Hippolytus and takes first place; Sophocles' son, Iophon, places second (unknown work); Ion places third (unknown work)
ca. 428-425 BCEuripides stages trilogy with Andromache
424 BCEuripides stages trilogy with Hecuba
423 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with The Suppliants
ca. mid-410s BCEuripides stages trilogy with Electra
416 BCEuripides stages trilogy with The Madness of Herakles
415 BCEuripides stages trilogy with The Trojan Women and takes second place; defeated by Xenokles (unknown work); third place is unknown
ca. 414-412 BC - Euripides stages trilogies with Iphigenia in Tauris and Ion
412 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with Helen
412-408 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with The Phoenician Women
408 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with Orestes
ca. 408-406 BC - Euripides migrates to the court of Archelaos, King of Macedon, where he composed a play in his honor, titled Archelaos (lost work)
406 BC - Euripides dies while in Macedon
405 BCEuripides' son or nephew posthumously wins first prize at the Dionysia by staging trilogy with his last two completed surviving plays, Iphigenia in Aulis and The Bacchae; the third play, Alcmeon in Corinth, survives only in fragments 


Primary Sources:
Text/Euripides' The Children of Herakles
Text/Euripides' Andromache
Text/Euripides' Hecuba
Text/Euripides' The Suppliants
Text/Euripides' Electra
Text/Euripides' The Madness of Herakles
Text/Euripides' The Trojan Women
Text/Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris
Text/Euripides' Ion
Text/Euripides' Helen
Text/Euripides' The Phoenician Women
Text/Euripides' Orestes
Text/Euripides' Iphigenia at Aulis






Tuesday, August 15, 2017

052 - Early Euripides



In this episode, we discuss the life, theatrical innovations, and tragic works of the third great Athenian playwright, Euripides; and the historicity and some of the major themes of his earliest surviving plays, which include CyclopsRhesusAlcestisMedea, and Hippolytus

480 BC - Euripides is born
455 BC - Euripides competes in his first Dionysia (unknown work)
ca. 442-441 BC - Euripides wins his first victory at the Dionysia (unknown work); Sophocles stages trilogy with Antigone and Ajax (his oldest surviving plays)
438 BC - Euripides stages a tetralogy with Alcestis (mixed satyr/drama) as the fourth play 
431 BC - Aeschylus' son, Euphorion, wins first prize at the Dionysia (unknown work); Sophocles places second (unknown work); Euripides places third (trilogy with Medea)
430 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with The Children of Herakles
428 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with Hippolytus and takes first place; Sophocles' son, Iophon, places second (unknown work); Ion places third (unknown work)
ca. 428-425 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with Andromache
424 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with Hecuba
423 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with The Suppliants
ca. mid-410s BC - Euripides stages trilogy with Electra
416 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with The Madness of Herakles
415 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with The Trojan Women and takes second place; defeated by Xenokles (unknown work); third place is unknown
ca. 414-412 BC - Euripides stages trilogies with Iphigenia in Tauris and Ion
412 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with Helen
412-408 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with The Phoenician Women
408 BC - Euripides stages trilogy with Orestes
ca. 408-406 BC - Euripides migrates to the court of Archelaos, King of Macedon, where he composed a play in his honor, titled Archelaos (lost work)
406 BC - Euripides dies while in Macedon
405 BC - Euripides' son or nephew posthumously wins first prize at the Dionysia by staging trilogy with his last two completed surviving plays, Iphigenia in Aulis and The Bacchae; the third play, Alcmeon in Corinth, survives only in fragments 

Sunday, August 6, 2017

051 - Sophocles


In this episode, we discuss the life, theatrical innovations, and tragic works of the second great Athenian playwright, Sophocles; and the historicity and some of the major themes of his seven surviving plays, which include Antigone, Ajax, Oedipus Rex, The Women of Trachis, Philoctetes, Electra, and Oedipus at Colonus

497 BC - Sophocles is born
479 BC - 18-year-old Sophocles is chosen to lead the paean (a choral chant to a god), celebrating the Greek victory over the Persians at the Battle of Salamis
ca. 475-470 BC - Sophocles competes in his first Dionysia (unknown work)
468 BC - Sophocles wins his first victory at the Dionysia (unknown work) over Aeschylus; unusual in that Kimon and the other strategoi served as judges; Aeschylus and Sophocles dominate the dramatic competitions as rivals for the next decade
456 BC - Death of Aeschylus; Sophocles becomes preeminent playwright in Athens
443-442 BCSophocles served as one of the Hellenotamiai, or treasurers of Athena, who managed the finances of the city and the empire during the political ascendancy of Pericles
ca. 442-441 BC - Euripides wins his first victory at the Dionysia (unknown work); Sophocles stages trilogy with Antigone and Ajax (his oldest surviving plays)
441-440 BC - Sophocles, as one of the ten strategoi, served in Athens' campaign at Samos
431 BC - Aeschylus' son, Euphorion, wins first prize at the Dionysia (unknown work); Sophocles places second (unknown work); Euripides places third (trilogy with Medea)
429 BC - Sophocles stages trilogy with Oedipus Rex and takes second place; defeated by Aeschylus' nephew, Philokles (unknown work); third place is unknown
ca. 425-420 BC - Sophocles stages trilogy with Women of Trachis 
420 BC - After Asklepios is introduced from Epidauros into the city of Athens, Sophocles welcomes and set up at his house an altar for the image of the god, in his guise as a serpent; for this, after his death, he was worshipped at a hero shrine on the western slope of the Acropolis, where he was given the posthumous epithet, Dexion, meaning "the Receiver"
413 BC - Sophocles is elected as one of the probouloi, or "commissioners," who responded to the catastrophic destruction of the Athenian fleet in Sicily
409 BCSophocles stages trilogy with Philoctetes
ca. 409-406 BC - Sophocles stages trilogy with Electra
Winter 406/5 BC - Sophocles dies in Athens
401 BC - Sophocles' grandson (also named Sophocles) posthumously stages trilogy with his last completed and final surviving play, Oedipus at Colonus