The surviving tragedies
4
The surviving tragedies Of the many tragedies known to have been written, full-length texts by only three authors, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, survive. Aeschylus Aeschylus Seventy-nine titles of Aeschylus ' works are known (out of about ninety works), [32] both tragedies and satyr plays. Seven of these have survived, including the only complete trilogy which has come down from antiquity, the Oresteia , and some papyrus fragments: [33] The Persians (Πέρσαι / Persai), 472 BC; Seven Against Thebes (Ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Θήβας / Hepta epi Thebas), 467 BC; Suppliants (Ἱκέτιδες / Hiketides), probably 463 BC; The trilogy Oresteia (Ὀρέστεια / Oresteia), 458 BC, consisting of: o Agamemnon (Ἀγαμέμνων / Agamemnon); o Choephoroi (Χοηφόροι / Choefοroi); o Furies (Εὐμενίδες / Eumenides); Prometheus Bound (Προμηθεὺς δεσμώτης / Prometheus desmotes) of uncertain date and considered spurious by some scholars. [note 6] Sophocles
Transcript of The surviving tragedies
The surviving tragediesOf the many tragedies known to have been written, full-length texts by only three authors, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, survive.
Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Seventy-nine titles of Aeschylus' works are known (out of about ninety works),[32] both tragedies and satyr plays. Seven of these have survived, including the only complete trilogy which has come down from antiquity, the Oresteia, and some papyrus fragments:[33]
The Persians (Πέρσαι / Persai), 472 BC; Seven Against Thebes (Ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Θήβας / Hepta epi Thebas), 467 BC; Suppliants (Ἱκέτιδες / Hiketides), probably 463 BC; The trilogy Oresteia (Ὀρέστεια / Oresteia), 458 BC, consisting of:
o Agamemnon (Ἀγαμέμνων / Agamemnon);o Choephoroi (Χοηφόροι / Choefοroi);o Furies (Εὐμενίδες / Eumenides);
Prometheus Bound (Προμηθεὺς δεσμώτης / Prometheus desmotes) of uncertain date and considered spurious by some scholars.[note 6]
Sophocles
Sophocles
According to Aristophanes of Byzantium, Sophocles wrote 130 plays, 17 of which are spurious; the Suda lexicon counted 123.[34][note 7] Of all Sophocles's tragedies, only seven remain intact:
Ajax (Αἴας / Aias) around 445 BC; Antigone (Ἀντιγόνη / Antigone), 442 BC; Women of Trachis (Tραχίνιαι / Trachiniai), date unknown; Oedipus the King (Οἰδίπoυς τύραννoς / Oidipous Tyrannos) around 430 BC; Electra (Ἠλέκτρα / Elektra), date unknown; Philoctetes (Φιλοκτήτης / Philoktētēs), 409 BC; Oedipus at Colonus (Oἰδίπoυς ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ / Oidipous epi Kolōnōi), 406 BC.
Apart from the plays that have survived in their entirety, we also possess a large part of the satyr play Ἰχνευταί or Trackers, which was found at the beginning of the 20th century on a papyrus containing three-quarters of this work.[35]
Euripides
Euripides
According to the Suda, Euripides wrote either 75 or 92 plays, of which survive eighteen tragedies and the only complete surviving satyr play, the Cyclops.[36]
His extant works are:[37]
Alcestis (Ἄλκηστις / Alkestis), 438 BC; Medea (Μήδεια / Medeia), 431 BC; Heracleidae (Ἡρακλεῖδαι / Herakleìdai), c. 430 BC; Hippolytus (Ἱππόλυτος στεφανοφόρος / Ippolytos stephanoforos), 428 BC; The Trojan Women (Τρώαδες / Troades), 415 BC; Andromache (Ἀνδρομάχη / Andromache), date unknown; Hecuba (Ἑκάβη / Hekabe), 423 BC; Suppliants (Ἱκέτιδες / Hiketides), 414 BC; Ion (Ἴων / Ion); Iphigenia in Tauris (Ἰφιγένεια ἡ ἐν Ταύροις / Iphighèneia he en Taurois); Electra (Ἠλέκτρα / Elektra); Helen (Ἑλένη / Helene), 412 BC; Heracles (Ἡρακλῆς μαινόμενος / Herakles mainomenos); The Phoenician Women (Φοινίσσαι / Phoinissai) circa 408 BC; Orestes (Ὀρέστης / Orestes), 408 BC;
Iphigenia in Aulis (Ἰφιγένεια ἡ ἐν Αὐλίδι / Iphighèneia h en Aulìdi), 410 BC; The Bacchae (Βάκχαι / Bakchai), 406 BC; Cyclops (Κύκλωψ / Kuklops) (satyr); Rhesus (Ῥῆσος / Resos) (possibly spurious).
