The Lost Plays of Greek Tragedy: Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides: 2

The surviving works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides have been familiar to readers and theatregoers for centuries; but these works are far outnumbered by their lost plays. Between them these authors wrote around two hundred tragedies, the fragmentary remains of which are utterly fascinating. In this, the second volume of a major new survey of the tragic genre, Matthew Wright offers an authoritative critical guide to the lost plays of the three best-known tragedians. (The other Greek tragedians and their work are discussed in __Volume 1: Neglected Authors__.) What can we learn about the lost plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides from fragments and other types of evidence? How can we develop strategies or methodologies for 'reading' lost plays? Why were certain plays preserved and transmitted while others disappeared from view? Would we have a different impression of the work of these classic authors – or of Greek tragedy as a whole – if a different selection of plays had survived? This book answers such questions through a detailed study of the fragments in their historical and literary context. Making use of recent scholarly developments and new editions of the fragments, __The Lost Plays of Greek Tragedy__ makes these works fully accessible for the first time. Cover Contents Acknowledgements Introduction 1 Aeschylus Athamas (TrGF 3 F1-4a) Egyptians (TrGF 3 F5) Women of Aetna (TrGF 3 F6-11) Alcmene (TrGF 3 F12) Women (or Men) of Argos (TrGF 3 F16-18) The Argo (TrGF 3 F20-1) Atalante (TrGF 3, pp. 136–7) Bacchae (TrGF 3 F22) Bassarai or Bassarides (TrGF 3 F23-5) Glaucus the Sea-God (TrGF 3 F25c-34) Glaucus of Potniae (TrGF 3 F36-42a) Daughters of Danaus (TrGF 3 F43-6) Eleusinians (TrGF 3 F53a-54) Epigoni (TrGF 3 F55-6) Edonians (TrGF 3 F57-67) Daughters of Helios (TrGF 3 68-73a) Children of Heracles (TrGF 3 F73b-77) Chamber-Builders (TrGF 3 F78) Thracian Women (TrGF 3 F83-5) Priestesses (TrGF 3 F86-8) Ixion (TrGF 3 F90-3) Iphigenia (TrGF 3 F94) Kabeiroi (TrGF 3 F95-97a) Callisto (TrGF 3 F98) Carians or Europa (TrGF 3 F99-101) Cretan Women (TrGF 3 F116-20) Laius (TrGF 3 F121-122a) Women (or Men) of Lemnos (TrGF 3 F123a-b) Memnon (TrGF 3 F127-9) Myrmidons (TrGF 3 F131-42) Mysians (TrGF 3 F143-5) Youths (Neaniskoi, TrGF 3 F146-9) Nemea (TrGF 3 F149a) Daughters of Nereus (TrGF 3 F151-4) Niobe (TrGF 3 F154a-167b) Wool-Carders (TrGF 3 F168-172b) Oedipus (TrGF 3, pp. 287–8) The Judgement about the Arms (TrGF 3 F174-8) Bone-Gatherers (TrGF 3 F179-80) Palamedes (TrGF 3 F181-182a) Pentheus (TrGF 3 F183) Women of Perrhaebia (TrGF 3 F184-6a) Penelope (TrGF 3 F187) Polydectes (TrGF 3, p. 302) Prometheus Unbound (TrGF 3 F190-204) Propompoi (TrGF F209) Women (or Men) of Salamis (TrGF 3 F216-20) Semele, or Water-Carriers (TrGF 3 F221-4) Telephus (TrGF 3 F238-40) Female Archers (TrGF 3 F241-6) Nurses (TrGF 3 F246a-d) Hypsipyle (TrGF 3 F247-8) Philoctetes (TrGF 3 F249-57) Phineus (TrGF 3 F258-60) Daughters of Phorcys (TrGF 3 F261-2) Phrygians (TrGF 3 F263-72) Psychagôgoi (TrGF 3 F273-8) Psychostasia (TrGF 3 F279-80a) Oreithuia (TrGF 3 F281) 2 Sophocles Athamas I and II (TrGF 4 F1-10) Locrian Ajax (TrGF 4 F10a-18) Aegeus (TrGF 4 F19-25a) Ethiopians (TrGF 4 F28-33) Memnon (TrGF 4, p. 347) Female Prisoners (TrGF 4 F33a-59) Acrisius (TrGF 4 F60-76) Danae (TrGF 4 F165-70) Men of Larissa (TrGF 4 F378-83) Children of Aleus (TrGF F77-91) Alexandros (TrGF 4 F91a-100a) Alcmeon (TrGF 4 F108-10) Epigoni (TrGF 4 F185-90) Eriphyle (TrGF 4 F201a-h) Amphitryon (TrGF 4 F122-4) Andromache (TrGF 4 F125) Andromeda (TrGF 4 F126-36) Sons of Antenor (TrGF 4 F137-9) Atreus (TrGF 4 F140-1) Women of Mycenae (TrGF 4 F140-1) Thyestes I, II and III (TrGF 4 F247-69) The Gathering of the Achaeans (TrGF 4 F143-8) Fellow-Diners (TrGF 4 F562-71) Daedalus (TrGF 4 F158-164a) Men of Camicus (TrGF 4 F323-7) Minos (TrGF 4 F407) Dolopians (TrGF F174-5) The Demand for Helen’s Return (TrGF 4 F176-180a) Hermione (TrGF 4 F202-3) Eumelus (TrGF 4 F204-5) Euryalus (TrGF 4, pp. 194–5) Eurypylus (TrGF 4 F206-222b) Eurysaces (TrGF 4 F223) Erigone (TrGF 4 F235-6) Thamyras (TrGF 4 F236a-245) (?) Muses (TrGF 4 F407a-408) Theseus (TrGF 4 F246) Ixion (TrGF 4 F296) Iobates (TrGF 4 F297-9) Hipponous (TrGF 4 F300-304) Iphigenia (TrGF 4 F305-12) Ion (TrGF 4 F319-22) Creusa (TrGF 4 F350-9) Clytemnestra (TrGF 4 F334) Women of Colchis (TrGF 4 F337-46) Spartan Women (TrGF 4 F367-369a) Laocoon (TrGF 4 F370-77) Women of Lemnos (TrGF 4 F384-9) Prophets, or Polyidus (TrGF 4 F389a-400) Meleager (TrGF 4 F401-6) Mysians (TrGF 4 F409-18) Nauplius I and II (TrGF 4 F425-38) Nausicaa, or Washerwomen (TrGF 4 F439-41) Niobe (TrGF 4 F441a-451) The Footwashing (TrGF 4 F451a) Odysseus Wounded by the Spine (TrGF 4 F453-461a) Mad Odysseus (TrGF 4 F462-7) Oenomaus (TrGF 4 F471-7) Palamedes (TrGF 4 F478-81) Peleus (TrGF 4 F487-96) Shepherds (TrGF 4 F497-21) Polyxena (TrGF 4 F522-8) Priam (TrGF 4 F528a-532) Procris (TrGF 4 F533) Root-Cutters (TrGF 4 F543-6) Sinon (TrGF 4 F542-4) Scythians (TrGF 4 F546-552) Scyrians (TrGF 4 F553-61) Tantalus (TrGF 4 F572-3) Teucer (TrGF 4 F576-579b) Telephus (TrGF 4 F580) Tereus (TrGF 4 F581-595b) Triptolemus (TrGF 4 F596-617a) Troilus (TrGF 4 F618-35) Percussion-Players (TrGF 4 F636-45) Tyndareus (TrGF 4 F646-7) Tyro (TrGF 4 F648-669a) Water-Carriers (TrGF 4 F672-4) Phaeacians (TrGF 4 F675-6) Phaedra (TrGF 4 F677-93) Phthian Women (TrGF 4 F694-6) Philoctetes at Troy (TrGF 4 F697-703) Phineus I and II (TrGF 4 F704-717a) Phoenix (TrGF 4 F718-20) Phrixus (TrGF 4 F721-723a) Phrygians (TrGF 4 F724-5) Chryses (TrGF 4 F726-30) 3 Euripides Aegeus (TrGF 5 F1-13) Aeolus (TrGF 5 F13a-41) Alexandros (TrGF 5 F41a-63) Alcmeon I and II (TrGF 5 F65-87a) Alcmene (TrGF 5 F87b-104) Alope (TrGF 5 F105-113) Andromeda (TrGF 5 F114-56) Antigone (TrGF 5 F157-78) Antiope (TrGF 5 F179-227) Archelaus (TrGF 5 F228-64) Auge (TrGF 5 F 264a-281) Bellerophon (TrGF 5 F285-312) Danae (TrGF 5 F316-330a) Dictys (TrGF 5 F330b-348) Erechtheus (TrGF 5 F349-70) Theseus (TrGF 5 F381-90) Thyestes (TrGF 5 F391-397b) Ino (TrGF 5 F398-423) Ixion (TrGF 5 F424-7) Hippolytus I (TrGF 5 F428-47) Cresphontes (TrGF 5 F448a-59) Cretan Women (TrGF 5 F460-70a) Cretans (TrGF 5 F471-472g) Licymnius (TrGF 5 F473-9) Melanippe I and II (TrGF 5 F480-514) Meleager (TrGF 5 F515-39) Oedipus (TrGF 5 F539a-557) Oeneus (TrGF 5 F558-70) Oenomaus (TrGF 5 F571-7) Palamedes (TrGF 5 F578-90) Daughters of Pelias (TrGF 5 F601-16) Peleus (TrGF 5 F617-24) Pleisthenes (TrGF 5 F625-33) Polyidus (TrGF 5 F634-46) Protesilaus (TrGF 5 F646a-657) Stheneboea (TrGF 5 F661-71) Scyrians (TrGF 5 F681a-686) Telephus (TrGF 5 F696-727c) Temenus and Children of Temenus (TrGF 5 F727e-751a) Hypsipyle (TrGF 5 F752-69) Phaethon (TrGF 5 F771-86) Philoctetes (TrGF 5 F787-803) Phoenix (TrGF 5 F803a-18) Phrixus I and II (TrGF 5 F818c-838) Chrysippus (TrGF 5 F838a-844) 4 Unfamiliar Faces Oedipus Antigone Medea 5 Lost Tragedies in Performance Changes of scene in Aeschylus’ Women of Aetna The entry of the chorus in Aeschylus’ Daughters of Nereus The metamorphosis in Sophocles’ Tereus The weighing-scales in Aeschylus’ Psychostasia Music and mask in Sophocles’ Thamyras Mass-murder in Sophocles’ Niobe Niobe’s stony silence in Aeschylus’ Niobe Visual intertextuality in Euripides’ Andromeda Monologue and mask in Euripides’ Melanippe the Wise Baby and lullaby in Euripides’ Hypsipyle Costumes and props in Euripides’ Telephus Earthquake and demolition in Euripides’ Erechtheus Bibliography and Abbreviations Index "Numerous books have been written about Greek tragedy, but almost all of them are concerned with the 32 plays that still survive. This book, by contrast, concentrates on the plays that no longer exist. Hundreds of tragedies were performed in Athens and further afield during the classical period, and even though nearly all are lost, a certain amount is known about them through fragments and other types of evidence. Matthew Wright offers an authoritative two-volume critical introduction and guide to the lost tragedies. This first volume examines the remains of works by playwrights such as Phrynichus, Agathon, Neophron, Critias, Astydamas, Chaeremon, and many others who have been forgotten or neglected. (Volume 2 explores the lost works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.) What types of evidence exist for lost tragedies, and how might we approach this evidence? How did these plays become lost or incompletely preserved? How can we explain why all tragedians except Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides became neglected or relegated to the status of 'minor' poets? What changes and continuities can be detected in tragedy after the fifth century BC? Can the study of lost works and neglected authors change our views of Greek tragedy as a genre? This book answers such questions through a detailed study of the fragments in their historical and literary context. Including English versions of previously untranslated fragments as well as in-depth discussion of their significance, The Lost Plays of Greek Tragedy makes these works accessible for the first time."--Bloomsbury Publishing Numerous books have been written about Greek tragedy, but almost all of them are concerned with the 32 plays that still survive. This book, by contrast, concentrates on the plays that no longer exist. Hundreds of tragedies were performed in Athens and further afield during the classical period, and even though nearly all are lost, a certain amount is known about them through fragments and other types of evidence. Matthew Wright offers an authoritative two-volume critical introduction and guide to the lost tragedies. This first volume examines the remains of works by playwrights such as Phrynichus, Agathon, Neophron, Critias, Astydamas, Chaeremon, and many others who have been forgotten or neglected. (Volume 2 explores the lost works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.) What types of evidence exist for lost tragedies, and how might we approach this evidence? How did these plays become lost or incompletely preserved? How can we explain why all tragedians except Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides became neglected or relegated to the status of 'minor' poets? What changes and continuities can be detected in tragedy after the fifth century BC? Can the study of lost works and neglected authors change our views of Greek tragedy as a genre? This book answers such questions through a detailed study of the fragments in their historical and literary context. Including English versions of previously untranslated fragments as well as in-depth discussion of their significance, The Lost Plays of Greek Tragedy makes these works accessible for the first time Volume 1. Neglected Authors: The Earliest Tragedies -- Some Fifth-century Tragedians -- Agathon -- Tragic Family Trees -- Some Fourth-century Tragedians -- The Very Lost -- Volume 2. Aeschylus, Sophocles And Euripides.