This is a basic and essential site for The Oresteia. The play was a difficult to understand because (to be honest) it got boring during those very long prologues. Before anyone reads a play which is hard to understand, they should first read the summary of it. This page provides a good analysis of all three chapters of The Oresteia.
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I think that literature looses its value when it is mis-interperted or wronglly translated. The author of this site makes the same case for the English translation of Agamemnon. He argues that the English authors did not know the hellenisic way of life, thus mis-interperted Aeyschylus's work. He gives a very radical translation of the second chapter of the book, which is completely different then our version.
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I have see it many time this semester that ancient literary works are often related to ancient religious text. We saw that with Gilgamesh and the Genisis. This site relates the Oresteia with the Bible. The page relates the sacrafice of Agamemnon to kill his daughter with the sacrafice made by Abraham to kill his son Isaac. The author argues that Agamemnon was reproached while Abraham was condoned.
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This page is definately written by a feminist radical. She raises some very good thoughts about the role of furies before and after the trial. The author also discusses role of women and marriage in ancient Greek culture. She argues that men married women only to take advantage. They were able to satisfy their sexual needs, pass on their name, property, and hierarchy by using women. That was the only purpose of women in the Greek society. I kind of agree with her. No matter how you look at it, women were always and even now are being degraded. Its a sickening law of nature which states the weak will always get oppressed (survival of the fittest).
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The site has a background to Greek drama which is essential in order to understand any greek trilogy. The site also summerizes the play efficiently.
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The site has a set of questions about all three chapters of the book. If you can answer these questions, you have mastered in the Oresteia. I think that the most important question is the last one, was justice served? This question summerzies the whole book because all the characters thought that their acts of murder were justified and legitimate. The answer is left for the reader to decide, thats why I like this trilogy.
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I think that people underestimate the value of ancient literature and the fact that it was written thousands of years ago. People in our age don't have the intellect to write like these ancient writers. Aesychylus was probably the first Greek writer who raised the issues of society to a philosophical standpoint; not only in the oresteia but his other plays also. Some people write only to write about anything, and some write to make sense. The ones who write only to write about anything are a waste of time because their work is meaningless and has no connection with society. Aeschylus captured the biggest dilemma of society: the cycle of revenge and violence. His work influenced people like Sophocles and Euripides who in turn influenced philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
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This is another play by Aeschylus which I found very interesting. Again, he captures the most basic dilemmas of society in a philosophical trilogy. This is a play about the world's first humanitarian who gave humans the gift of fire. He is then punished by the gods but he remains fearless. This play is the story of a true hero that I would reccomend to anyone who wants to research the character of a true heroe.
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