Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-89wxm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-05T21:14:16.979Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Aeschylus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Get access

Summary

Aeschylus, the first of the three great Athenian tragic poets, lived 525–456. Seven of his nearly one hundred tragedies are preserved complete, and we have fragments of several dozen others. His most complex work, the Oresteia trilogy (458), raises many of the social, political, and ethical issues of contemporary Athens, such as the nature of justice, the origins of law and order, and the relations between the sexes. Some modern scholars doubt the authenticity of Prometheus Bound and would date the play after 450, because it shows the apparent influence of sophistic ideas, especially in the passages translated here.

Prometheus Bound

In the excerpts from the Prometheus Bound (1–3), Prometheus addresses the chorus, who are generally sympathetic to him. Cf. Hesiod's treatment of the same myth (Hesiod, 1–2), and Protagoras, 8. “Prometheus” means “Forethought”

Prometheus (228–241)

As soon as he [Zeus] assumed his father's throne,

he distributed different prerogatives

to the various gods and set up

his rule. On wretched mortals

he put no value at all, but wished to obliterate

the entire race and plant another one anew.

No one opposed this plan save I;

I dared to rescue mortals

from destruction and an end in Hades.

Therefore I am bowed down by these woes,

painful to endure and pitiable to behold. […]

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Aeschylus
  • Edited by Michael Gagarin, Paul Woodruff
  • Book: Early Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805479.016
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Aeschylus
  • Edited by Michael Gagarin, Paul Woodruff
  • Book: Early Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805479.016
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Aeschylus
  • Edited by Michael Gagarin, Paul Woodruff
  • Book: Early Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805479.016
Available formats
×