Oresteia

I'm a huge fan of classical studies, especially things concerning Ancient Greece, and I absolutely love these plays, and have read them multiple times since getting this book. A must-read for anyone interested in Greek mythology or Greek tragedies.

One of the best pieces of writing I've ever read. The tragedy of the House of Atreus is exemplary of the best of the Greek myths, and this works as a companion to the Illiad and the Odyssey. Each play works as its own tragedy and leaves you feeling with a sense of catharsis for the characters in each story. The translation is phenomenal as well, and it keeps the beauty of the ancient Greek relevant for English readers, especially in the Agamemnon. Aeschylus was the father of tragedy for all the right reasons.

This Oxford World’s Classics (published 2008) edition of Aeschylus’ Oresteia contains the three plays – Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and Eumenides – along with copious notes and information provided by the translator Christopher Collard. There are over 70 pages of introductory material, including analyses of: 1. Aeschylus and the Oresteia 2. A view of the Oresteia 2.1 The dramatic ideas and their sources 2.2 The dramatic design and the characters 2.3 Issues and meanings 2.4 The plays in Aeschylus’ theatre 3. Dramatic form and language in Aeschylus 3.1 Dramatic form in general 3.2 Speech and spoken dialogue 3.3 Choral song and lyric dialogue 3.4 Language and imagery 4. Aeschylus now: ‘reception’ and public response There are also sections on a summary of the stage-action in the trilogy of plays, notes on the text and translations, explanatory notes, bibliography and further reading, a chronology of Aeschylus’ life and times, family trees of the principal characters of the Oresteia and a map showing Greece and the Aegean Sea. Following the texts of the plays, there are copious explanatory notes on the texts (over 100 pages of notes). Apart from the very readable translations of the texts, the author has provided a wonderfully encompassing amount of information to make the reader’s experience of the Oresteia both worthwhile and entertaining, as well as eminently accessible. This edition is highly recommended.

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I've spent several days recently working through the editions of the Oresteia in English which I already had to hand (Fagles, Thomson, Vellacott), but got little pleasure from them. The language seemed unnecessarily obscure, and the notes were inadequate to explain the significance of the action. As it's an old ambition of mine to read all the surviving Greek tragedies, I thought I'd have one final crack at these plays before moving on to Sophocles, so I ordered this Collard edition last week, though without any great hopes. I'm pleased to say it far exceeded my expectations. To start with, the language of this translation has a lucidity sadly lacking in the others. This doesn't, however, make the text any the less 'poetic'. On the contrary, it opens access to the dense interplay of words and action, whose significance is made clear in the very full and detailed notes. The introduction is also excellent, summarizing the scholarship on Aeschylus with an assurance which confirms Collard's mastery of the subject. I'll be moving on immediately to buy his edition of the other plays of Aeschylus, and then it's Sophocles, here we come!