Aeschylus: Libation Bearers

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Libation Bearers is the 'middle' play in the only extant tragic trilogy to survive from antiquity, Aeschylus Oresteia, first produced in 458 BCE. This introduction to the play will be useful for anyone reading it in Greek or in translation. Drawing on his wide experience teaching about performance in the ancient world, C. W. Marshall helps readers understand how the play was experienced by its ancient audience. His discussion explores the impact of the chorus, the characters, theology, and the plays apparent affinities with comedy. The architecture of choral songs is described in detail. The book also investigates the role of revenge in Athenian society and the problematic nature of Orestes matricide. Libation Bearers immediately entered the Athenian visual imagination, influencing artistic depictions on red-figured vases, and inspiring plays by Euripides and Sophocles. This study looks to the later plays to show how 5th-century audiences understood Libation Bearers. Modern reception of the play is integrated into the analysis. The volume includes a full range of ancillary material, providing a list of relevant red-figure vase illustrations, a glossary of technical terms, and a chronology of ancient and modern theatrical versions.

Reviews

Beyond performance criticism, the book is adept in a multitude of other approaches, which it interweaves effectively with its main framework, and knowledgeable in the vast scholarship on the Oresteia. Despite being a general companion, it goes the extra scholarly mile and demonstrates solid original research and great sensitivity to the Aeschylean text [It] succeeds in offering several fresh perspectives, which is a significant achievement given that the Oresteia is one of the most trodden texts of the Greek literary corpus. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
The underappreciated status of Aeschylus Libation Bearers provides a particular challenge for the commentator. Yet Marshall has taken up this challenge with masterful skill ... [Marshall] gives a thorough overview of the play, illustrated with brilliant structural diagrams and tables useful for study ... A must-read for anyone interested in Aeschylean tragedy. * The Classical Review *
This is an impressive publication on Greek tragedy, and Marshall is well qualified to write on this topic for this audience. A good addition to the Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy series, for which I have the highest admiration. * A. F. Garvie, Emeritus Professor of Greek, University of Glasgow, UK *
A detailed examination of the central play of the Oresteia, with a special focus on staging and the relationship between staging problems and the moral issues raised by the play. The book is needed and should be read. * Robin Mitchell-Boyask, Professor of Classics, Temple University, USA *

Author Bio

C. W. Marshall is Professor of Greek at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada.