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[
"The Suppliants (Euripides)",
"form of creative work",
"play"
] |
The Suppliants (Ancient Greek: Ἱκέτιδες, Hiketides; Latin Supplices), also called The Suppliant Women, first performed in 423 BC, is an ancient Greek play by Euripides.Background
After Oedipus leaves Thebes, his sons fight for control of it. Polynices lays siege to Thebes against his brother Eteocles. Polynices has married the daughter of Adrastus, King of Argos. And so Polynices has on his side the Argive army, leaders of which are the Seven against Thebes. The invaders lose the battle, and Polynices and Eteocles both die. Creon takes power in Thebes and decrees the invaders are not to be buried. The mothers of the dead seek someone to help reverse this, so their sons can be buried.
The population of Plataea came to Athens as suppliants after the destruction of their city in 427 BC, a few years before the performance of this play. They were allowed to stay in Athens and, exceptionally, they were granted Athenian citizenship. This event may have influenced the play and its reception.
| 0
|
[
"The Suppliants (Euripides)",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
The Suppliants (Ancient Greek: Ἱκέτιδες, Hiketides; Latin Supplices), also called The Suppliant Women, first performed in 423 BC, is an ancient Greek play by Euripides.
| 1
|
[
"The Suppliants (Euripides)",
"genre",
"Greek tragedy"
] |
The Suppliants (Ancient Greek: Ἱκέτιδες, Hiketides; Latin Supplices), also called The Suppliant Women, first performed in 423 BC, is an ancient Greek play by Euripides.Background
After Oedipus leaves Thebes, his sons fight for control of it. Polynices lays siege to Thebes against his brother Eteocles. Polynices has married the daughter of Adrastus, King of Argos. And so Polynices has on his side the Argive army, leaders of which are the Seven against Thebes. The invaders lose the battle, and Polynices and Eteocles both die. Creon takes power in Thebes and decrees the invaders are not to be buried. The mothers of the dead seek someone to help reverse this, so their sons can be buried.
The population of Plataea came to Athens as suppliants after the destruction of their city in 427 BC, a few years before the performance of this play. They were allowed to stay in Athens and, exceptionally, they were granted Athenian citizenship. This event may have influenced the play and its reception.
| 2
|
[
"The Suppliants (Euripides)",
"author",
"Euripides"
] |
The Suppliants (Ancient Greek: Ἱκέτιδες, Hiketides; Latin Supplices), also called The Suppliant Women, first performed in 423 BC, is an ancient Greek play by Euripides.Background
After Oedipus leaves Thebes, his sons fight for control of it. Polynices lays siege to Thebes against his brother Eteocles. Polynices has married the daughter of Adrastus, King of Argos. And so Polynices has on his side the Argive army, leaders of which are the Seven against Thebes. The invaders lose the battle, and Polynices and Eteocles both die. Creon takes power in Thebes and decrees the invaders are not to be buried. The mothers of the dead seek someone to help reverse this, so their sons can be buried.
The population of Plataea came to Athens as suppliants after the destruction of their city in 427 BC, a few years before the performance of this play. They were allowed to stay in Athens and, exceptionally, they were granted Athenian citizenship. This event may have influenced the play and its reception.
| 3
|
[
"The Suppliants (Euripides)",
"language of work or name",
"Ancient Greek"
] |
The Suppliants (Ancient Greek: Ἱκέτιδες, Hiketides; Latin Supplices), also called The Suppliant Women, first performed in 423 BC, is an ancient Greek play by Euripides.Background
After Oedipus leaves Thebes, his sons fight for control of it. Polynices lays siege to Thebes against his brother Eteocles. Polynices has married the daughter of Adrastus, King of Argos. And so Polynices has on his side the Argive army, leaders of which are the Seven against Thebes. The invaders lose the battle, and Polynices and Eteocles both die. Creon takes power in Thebes and decrees the invaders are not to be buried. The mothers of the dead seek someone to help reverse this, so their sons can be buried.
The population of Plataea came to Athens as suppliants after the destruction of their city in 427 BC, a few years before the performance of this play. They were allowed to stay in Athens and, exceptionally, they were granted Athenian citizenship. This event may have influenced the play and its reception.
| 4
|
[
"The Suppliants (Euripides)",
"characters",
"Aethra"
] |
Story
Aethra, the mother of the Athenian king Theseus, prays before the altar of Demeter and Persephone in Eleusis. She is surrounded by women from Argos whose sons died in battle outside the gates of Thebes. Because of Creon’s decree, their corpses remain unburied. Adrastus, the king of Argos who authorized the expedition, lies weeping on the floor surrounded by the sons of the slain warriors. Aethra has sent a messenger to Theseus asking him to come to Eleusis.
The old women beg Aethra for help, evoking images of their sons’ unburied bodies and appealing to her sympathy as a mother. Theseus arrives. When he asks his mother what is going on, she directs him to Adrastus who begs him to reclaim the bodies. Adrastus explains that he supported the attack on Thebes, against the advice of the seer Amphiaraus, in deference to his sons-in-law, Tydeus and Polynices. Theseus observes that he favored courage over discretion. Admitting his mistakes, Adrastus appeals to Theseus as the ruler of the only city with the integrity and the power to stand up to Thebes.
After a bit of reflection on the state of mankind, Theseus resolves not to repeat Adrastus’ mistake. He tells Adrastus to go away and leave him alone. Although Adrastus is ready to concede, the women will not take no for an answer. Appealing to principles of common human decency, they beg Aethra to intervene. She reminds her son that he has a duty to uphold the ancient laws of Hellas and warns him that his refusal might be interpreted as cowardice. Moved by her tears and arguments, Theseus agrees to intervene, but only if the Athenian citizens endorse his decision. Confident that the people will support him, he and his mother set out for home, followed by Adrastus and the sons of the slain warriors, while the suppliant women pray that Theseus will prevail.
Some time later Theseus returns with a retinue. He dispatches his herald to Thebes to request the release of the bodies. If they cooperate, he says, thank them and come back. If they refuse, tell them Theseus will be in arms at their gates with the full backing of the Athenian people. Before the herald can leave, however, a herald from Thebes arrives looking for the local despot. When Theseus tells him that Athens is not ruled by a despot, but by the people, the herald adopts a disparaging tone. His city, he tells Theseus, is ruled by one man, not by an ignorant mob that is easily swayed by specious words. Theseus responds by saying that in a democracy every man can make a contribution if what he says is wise. The herald warns Theseus not to succumb to the patriotic fervor of the populace. "If death were before their eyes when they were giving their votes," he says, “Hellas would never rush to her doom in mad desire for battle."Theseus reminds the herald that he does not take orders from Creon and asserts his right to uphold the ancient customs of Hellas regarding the recovery of the corpses. When the herald warns him against meddling in something that does not concern him, Theseus states his resolve to do what is right and holy. The herald taunts him to bring it on, while Theseus tells his army to prepare for the attack. He will lead the way with a sword in his hand and the gods at his side. The herald leaves for Thebes with Theseus and his men in close pursuit. They pointedly leave Adrastus behind so as not to confuse their current mission with the previous invasion.
As the men depart, the women express their fears of additional violence. They hope a compromise can be reached but offer prayers for victory just in case it cannot.
A messenger — a former servant of Capaneus who had been captured by the Thebans — arrives to announce the Athenian victory. After describing how Theseus forced the Theban army to retreat into the city, he reports that Theseus restrained his men at the gates, telling them that they had come to rescue the bodies, not to sack the city. This is the kind of leader men should choose, the messenger says, one who shows courage in danger, but does not overreach. His sentiments are echoed by Adrastus who questions why men choose war instead of settling their disputes with reason.
The messenger describes how Theseus himself washed the corpses and prepared them for burial. The women are pleased that the bodies have been recovered, but distressed at the thought of seeing them. It would have been better had they never married, they say.
When Theseus arrives with the corpses, Adrastus engages the women in a loud lament. At Theseus’ suggestion, Adrastus delivers a funeral oration in which he offers the fallen warriors as models for the Athenian youth to emulate. He describes Capaneus, for example, as a paragon of moderation and Eteoclus as a man of such high honor that he spurned offers of gold to avoid corrupting his character.
Theseus refuses to allow the women to see the mangled and decaying bodies of their sons, but says that they will receive their ashes. All will be burned in a common pyre except Capaneus who, because he was struck down by Zeus, will have a special tomb.
The women continue their lament (“like some wandering cloud I drift”; “I have nothing left but tears.”) Suddenly, they spot Capaneus’ wife Evadne in her bridal dress climbing the rocks above her husband’s sepulcher. Recalling her wedding day, she announces her plan to join her husband in the flames of the pyre. Her father Iphis tries to talk her down, but she leaps to her death eliciting gasps from the onlookers and a cry of woe from her father.
As Iphis leaves, the orphaned youths arrive to hand over the ashes of their fathers to their grandmothers. The boys’ lamentations are laced with promises of vengeance. As he prepares to leave, Theseus reminds the Argives of their debt to Athens — which they gratefully acknowledge. Their gratitude, however, is not enough for Athena. She suddenly appears above the temple to instruct Theseus to extract a pledge from Adrastus never to invade Athens. After enjoining Theseus to memorialize the pledge at the temple of Apollo, she tells the young men that they will grow up to avenge the death of their fathers by sacking Thebes. Adrastus and the women depart, grateful for the assistance they have received from Theseus.
The same story had been mentioned years earlier in book 9.27 of The History by Herodotus, in which the Athenians claimed the event as an example of their history of bravery.
| 11
|
[
"The Clouds",
"instance of",
"play"
] |
Characters
Socrates, the philosopher who runs The Thinkery
Strepsiades, student who joins The Thinkery
Pheidippides, his son
Chaerephon, disciple of Socrates
The Clouds, who form the chorus
Chorus Leader
Slave
Students
First Student
Wrong Argument
Right Argument
First Creditor
Second Creditor
Witness
XanthiasPlot
The play begins with Strepsiades suddenly sitting up in bed while his son, Pheidippides, remains blissfully asleep in the bed next to him. Strepsiades complains to the audience that he is too worried about household debts to get any sleep – his wife (the pampered product of an aristocratic clan) has encouraged their son's expensive interest in betting on horse races. Strepsiades, having thought up a plan to get out of debt, wakes the youth gently and pleads with him to do something for him. Pheidippides at first agrees to do as he is asked then changes his mind when he learns that his father wants to enroll him in The Thinkery, a school for wastrels and bums that which no self-respecting, athletic young man dares to be associated. Strepsiades explains that students of The Thinkery learn how to turn inferior arguments into winning arguments and this is the only way he can beat their aggrieved creditors in court. Pheidippides however will not be persuaded and Strepsiades decides to enroll himself in The Thinkery in spite of his advanced age.
There he meets a student who tells him about some of the recent discoveries made by Socrates, the head of The Thinkery, including a new unit of measurement for ascertaining the distance jumped by a flea (a flea's foot, created from a minuscule imprint in wax), the exact cause of the buzzing noise made by a gnat (its rear end resembles a trumpet) and a new use for a large pair of compasses (as a kind of fishing-hook for stealing cloaks from pegs over the gymnasium wall). Impressed, Strepsiades begs to be introduced to the man behind these discoveries. The wish is soon granted; Socrates appears overhead, wafted in a basket at the end of a rope, the better to observe the Sun and other meteorological phenomena. The philosopher descends and quickly begins the induction ceremony for the new elderly student, the highlight of which is a parade of the Clouds, the patron goddesses of thinkers and other layabouts. The Clouds arrive singing majestically of the regions whence they arose and of the land they have now come to visit, loveliest in all being Greece. Introduced to them as a new devotee, Strepsiades begs them to make him the best orator in Greece by a hundred miles. They reply with the promise of a brilliant future. Socrates leads him into the dingy Thinkery for his first lesson and The Clouds step forward to address the audience.
Putting aside their cloud-like costumes, The Chorus declares that this is the author's cleverest play and that it cost him the greatest effort. It reproaches the audience for the play's failure at the festival, where it was beaten by the works of inferior authors, and it praises the author for originality and for his courage in lampooning influential politicians such as Cleon. The Chorus then resumes its appearance as clouds, promising divine favours if the audience punishes Cleon for corruption and rebuking Athenians for messing about with the calendar, since this has put Athens out of step with the moon.
Socrates returns to the stage in a huff, protesting against the ineptitude of his new elderly student. He summons Strepsiades outside and attempts further lessons, including a form of meditative incubation in which the old man lies under a blanket while thoughts are supposed to arise in his mind naturally. The incubation results in Strepsiades using the blanket to masturbate; finally, Socrates refuses to have anything more to do with him. The Clouds advise Strepsiades to find someone younger to do the learning for him. His son, Pheidippides, subsequently yields to threats by Strepsiades and reluctantly returns with him to the Thinkery, where they encounter the personified arguments Superior (Right) and Inferior (Wrong), associates of Socrates. Superior Argument and Inferior Argument debate with each other over which of them can offer the best education. Superior Argument sides with Justice and the gods, offering to prepare Pheidippides for an earnest life of discipline, typical of men who respect the old ways; Inferior Argument, denying the existence of Justice, offers to prepare him for a life of ease and pleasure, typical of men who know how to talk their way out of trouble. At the end of the debate, a quick survey of the audience reveals that buggers – people schooled by Inferior Arguments – have got into the most powerful positions in Athens. Superior Argument accepts his inevitable defeat, Inferior Argument leads Pheidippides into the Thinkery for a life-changing education and Strepsiades goes home happy. The Clouds step forward to address the audience a second time, demanding to be awarded first place in the festival competition, in return for which they promise good rains – otherwise they will destroy crops, smash roofs, and spoil weddings.
The story resumes with Strepsiades returning to The Thinkery to fetch his son. A new Pheidippides emerges, startlingly transformed into the pale intellectual man that he had once feared to become. Rejoicing in the prospect of talking their way out of financial trouble, Strepsiades leads the youth home for celebrations, just moments before the first of their aggrieved creditors arrives with a witness to summon him to court. Strepsiades comes back on stage, confronts the creditor and dismisses him contemptuously. A second creditor arrives and receives the same treatment before Strepsiades returns indoors to continue the celebrations. The Clouds sing ominously of a looming debacle and Strepsiades again comes back on stage, now in distress, complaining of a beating that his new son has just given him in a dispute over the celebrations. Pheidippides emerges coolly and insolently debates with his father a father's right to beat his son and a son's right to beat his father. He ends by threatening to beat his mother also, whereupon Strepsiades flies into a rage against The Thinkery, blaming Socrates for his latest troubles. He leads his slaves, armed with torches and mattocks, in a frenzied attack on the disreputable school. The alarmed students are pursued offstage and the Chorus, with nothing to celebrate, quietly departs.
| 2
|
[
"The Wasps",
"genre",
"Old Comedy"
] |
The Wasps (Classical Greek: Σφῆκες, romanized: Sphēkes) is the fourth in chronological order of the eleven surviving plays by Aristophanes. It was produced at the Lenaia festival in 422 BC, during Athens' short-lived respite from the Peloponnesian War.
As in his other early plays, Aristophanes satirizes the Athenian general and demagogue Cleon. He also ridicules the law courts, one of the institutions that provided Cleon his power. The play has been thought to exemplify Old Comedy.
| 0
|
[
"The Wasps",
"instance of",
"play"
] |
The Wasps (Classical Greek: Σφῆκες, romanized: Sphēkes) is the fourth in chronological order of the eleven surviving plays by Aristophanes. It was produced at the Lenaia festival in 422 BC, during Athens' short-lived respite from the Peloponnesian War.
As in his other early plays, Aristophanes satirizes the Athenian general and demagogue Cleon. He also ridicules the law courts, one of the institutions that provided Cleon his power. The play has been thought to exemplify Old Comedy.
| 3
|
[
"Peace (play)",
"genre",
"Old Comedy"
] |
Peace (Greek: Εἰρήνη Eirḗnē) is an Athenian Old Comedy written and produced by the Greek playwright Aristophanes. It won second prize at the City Dionysia where it was staged just a few days before the validation of Peace of Nicias, which promised to end the ten-year-old Peloponnesian War, in 421 BC. The play is notable for its joyous anticipation of peace and for its celebration of a return to an idyllic life in the countryside. However, it also sounds a note of caution, there is bitterness in the acknowledgment of lost opportunities, and the ending is not happy for everyone. As in all of Aristophanes' plays, the jokes are numerous, the action is wildly absurd and the satire is savage. Cleon, the pro-war populist leader of Athens, is once again a target for the author's wit, even though he had died in the Battle of Amphipolis just a few months earlier.
| 0
|
[
"Peace (play)",
"instance of",
"play"
] |
Peace (Greek: Εἰρήνη Eirḗnē) is an Athenian Old Comedy written and produced by the Greek playwright Aristophanes. It won second prize at the City Dionysia where it was staged just a few days before the validation of Peace of Nicias, which promised to end the ten-year-old Peloponnesian War, in 421 BC. The play is notable for its joyous anticipation of peace and for its celebration of a return to an idyllic life in the countryside. However, it also sounds a note of caution, there is bitterness in the acknowledgment of lost opportunities, and the ending is not happy for everyone. As in all of Aristophanes' plays, the jokes are numerous, the action is wildly absurd and the satire is savage. Cleon, the pro-war populist leader of Athens, is once again a target for the author's wit, even though he had died in the Battle of Amphipolis just a few months earlier.
| 3
|
[
"The Birds (play)",
"genre",
"Old Comedy"
] |
The Birds and Old Comedy
The Birds resembles all the early plays of Aristophanes in key aspects of its dramatic structure. Such resemblances are evidence of a genre of ancient drama known as Old Comedy. Variations from these 'conventions' are significant since they demonstrate either a trend away from Old Comedy, a corruption in the text or a unique dramatic effect that the author intended. Variations in this play are found in the following conventions:
| 0
|
[
"The Birds (play)",
"characters",
"Pisthetaerus"
] |
The Birds (Greek: Ὄρνιθες, translit. Órnithes) is a comedy by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed in 414 BC at the City Dionysia in Athens where it won second place. It has been acclaimed by modern critics as a perfectly realized fantasy remarkable for its mimicry of birds and for the gaiety of its songs. Unlike the author's other early plays, it includes no direct mention of the Peloponnesian War and there are few references to Athenian politics, and yet it was staged not long after the commencement of the Sicilian Expedition, an ambitious military campaign that greatly increased Athenian commitment to the war effort. In spite of that, the play has many indirect references to Athenian political and social life. It is the longest of Aristophanes's surviving plays and yet it is a fairly conventional example of Old Comedy.
The plot of the play revolves around Pisthetaerus, an Athenian who convinces the birds to create a great city in the sky, and thus regain their status as the original gods. Pisthetaerus eventually transforms into a bird-like god himself, and replaces Zeus as the king of the gods.Plot
The play begins with two middle-aged men stumbling across a hillside wilderness, guided by a pet crow and a pet jackdaw. One of them advises the audience that they are fed up with life in Athens, where people do nothing all day but argue over laws, and they are looking for Tereus, a king who was once metamorphosed into the Hoopoe, for they believe he might help them find a better life somewhere else. Just then, a very large and fearsome bird emerges from a camouflaged bower, demanding to know what they are up to and accusing them of being bird-catchers. He turns out to be the Hoopoe's servant. They appease him and he returns indoors to fetch his master. Moments later the Hoopoe himself appears—a not very convincing bird who attributes his lack of feathers to a severe case of moulting. He is happy to discuss their plight with them, and meanwhile one of them has a brilliant idea: the birds, he says, should stop flying about like idiots and instead should build themselves a great city in the sky, since this would both allow them to lord it over men and enable them to blockade the Olympian gods in the same way that the Athenians had recently starved the island of Melos into submission. The Hoopoe likes the idea, and he agrees to help implement it, provided, of course, that the two Athenians can first convince all the other birds. He calls to his wife, the Nightingale, and bids her to begin her celestial music. The notes of an unseen flute swell through the theatre, and meanwhile the Hoopoe provides the lyrics, summoning the birds of the world from their different habitats—birds of the fields, mountain birds and birds of the trees, birds of the waterways, marshes and seas. These soon begin to appear, and each of them is identified by name on arrival. Four of them dance together while the rest form into a Chorus.
On discovering the presence of men, the newly arrived birds fly into a fit of alarm and outrage, for mankind has long been their enemy. A skirmish follows, during which the Athenians defend themselves with kitchen utensils that they find outside the Hoopoe's bower, until the Hoopoe at last manages to persuade the Chorus to give his human guests a fair hearing. The cleverer of the two Athenians, the author of the brilliant idea, then delivers a formal speech, advising the birds that they were the original gods and urging them to regain their lost powers and privileges from the johnny-come-lately Olympians. The birds are completely won over and urge the Athenians to lead them in their war against the usurping gods. The clever one then introduces himself as Pisthetaerus (Trustyfriend), and his companion is introduced as Euelpides (Goodhope). They retire to the Hoopoe's bower to chew on a magical root that will transform them into birds. Meanwhile, the Nightingale emerges from her hiding place and reveals herself as an enchantingly feminine figure. She presides over the Chorus of birds while they address the audience in a conventional parabasis:Hear us, you who are no more than leaves always falling, you mortals benighted by nature,
You enfeebled and powerless creatures of earth always haunting a world of mere shadows,
Entities without wings, insubstantial as dreams, you ephemeral things, you human beings:
Turn your minds to our words, our etherial words, for the words of the birds last forever!The Chorus delivers a brief account of the genealogy of the gods, claiming that the birds are children of Eros and grandchildren of Night and Erebus, thus establishing their claim to divinity ahead of the Olympians. It cites some of the benefits the audience derives from birds (such as early warnings of a change in seasons), and it invites the audience to join them since birds easily manage to do things that mere men are afraid to do (such as beating up their fathers and committing adultery).
Pisthetaerus and Euelpides emerge from the Hoopoe's bower laughing at each other's unconvincing resemblance to a bird. After discussion, they name the city-in-the-sky Nephelokokkygia, or literally "cloud-cuckoo-land" (Νεφελοκοκκυγία), and then Pisthetaerus begins to take charge of things, ordering his friend to oversee the building of the city walls while he organizes and leads a religious service in honour of birds as the new gods. During this service, he is pestered by a variety of unwelcome visitors, including a young versifier out to hire himself to the new city as its official poet, an oracle-monger with prophecies for sale, a famous geometer, Meton, offering a set of town-plans, an imperial inspector from Athens with an eye for a quick profit, and a statute-seller trying to peddle a set of laws originally written for a remote, barely-heard-of town called Olophyx. Pisthetaerus chases off all these intruders and then retires indoors to finish the religious service. The birds of the Chorus step forward for another parabasis. They promulgate laws forbidding crimes against their kind (such as catching, caging, stuffing, or eating them), and they end by advising the festival judges to award them first place or risk getting defecated on.
Pisthetaerus returns to the stage moments before a messenger arrives with a report on the construction of the new walls: they are already finished thanks to the collaborative efforts of numerous kinds of birds. A second messenger then arrives with news that one of the Olympian gods has snuck through the defenses. A hunt is organized. The goddess Iris is detected and cornered, and soon she wafts down under guard. After being interrogated and insulted by Pisthetaerus, she is allowed to fly off to her father Zeus to complain about her treatment. Hardly has she gone when a third messenger arrives, declaring that men in their multitudes are now flocking to join the new city-in-the-sky.
Another set of unwelcome visitors arrives as advertised, singing due to the inspiration of the new city. One is a rebellious youth who exults in the notion that here at last he has permission to beat up his father. The famous poet, Cinesias, is next, waxing incoherently lyrical as the poetic mood takes hold of him. Third is a sycophant in raptures at the thought of prosecuting victims on the wing. All of them are sent packing by Pisthetaerus. Prometheus arrives next, sheltering under a parasol because he is an enemy of Zeus and he is trying not to be seen from the heavens. He has come with advice for Pisthetaerus: the Olympians are starving because men's offerings no longer reach them; they are desperate for a peace treaty, but Pisthetaerus shouldn't negotiate with them until Zeus surrenders both his sceptre and his girlfriend, Sovereignty—she is the real power in Zeus's household. His mission accomplished, Prometheus departs just moments before a delegation from Zeus arrives. There are only three delegates: the brother of Zeus, Poseidon, the oafish Heracles, and some even more oafish god worshipped by barbarians called Triballus. Pisthetaerus easily outwits Heracles, who in turn bullies the barbarian god into submission, and Poseidon is thus outvoted – the delegation accepts Pisthetaerus's terms. He is proclaimed king by a heavenly herald, and he is presented with Zeus's sceptre by Sovereignty, a vision of loveliness. The festive gathering departs amid the strains of the wedding march: Hymen O Hymenai'O! Hymen O Hymenai'O!Agon: The agon is a debate or formal argument constructed as a 'symmetrical scene', with two declaimed sections and two songs. The protagonist generally defeats the antagonist in the debate and this decides the outcome of the play long before the play actually ends. The agon in The Birds (lines 451–626) is conventional in form but there is no antagonist – the two main speakers are Pisthetaerus and his friend Euelpides, with Pisthetaerus delivering a speech and Euelpides providing supportive comments. The birds provide a willing audience and they are easily won over to the protagonist's point of view. A similarly one-sided agon is found in the next surviving play, Lysistrata.
Parabasis: The parabasis is an address to the audience by the Chorus in the absence of any actors. Generally there is a long parabasis in the middle of the play, including a 'parabasis proper' in which the Chorus speaks as the author's representative on issues relating to his career, and usually there is a shorter parabasis near the end. In this play, the first parabasis (678–800) and the second (1058–1117) are conventional in structure but the Chorus always speaks in character as birds. Instead of speaking about the poet in the 'parabasis proper', the birds speak about themselves, outlining their genealogy, their value to the audience and their effect on the audience's vocabulary – in all these topics however there are amusing echoes of things a Chorus would ordinarily say on behalf of the poet. This 'parabasis proper' is in fact almost a satire on the convention of a parabasis proper.
Unwelcome Visitors: The protagonist's early victory in the agon generally tends to ease dramatic tension early in the play and this is usually offset to some extent by a stream of minor characters or 'unwelcome visitors' that have to be chased off by the triumphant hero. This play is exceptional in that there are three waves of unwelcome visitors – the first wave comes before the walls of Cloudcuckooland have been completed, the second wave comes immediately after and the third wave comes as a delegation from Zeus. This repetition is the reason why The Birds is much longer than the other surviving plays.
| 11
|
[
"Ion (play)",
"language of work or name",
"Ancient Greek"
] |
Ion (; Ancient Greek: Ἴων, Iōn) is an ancient Greek play by Euripides, thought to have been written between 414 and 412 BC. It follows the orphan Ion, a young and willing servant in Apollo's temple, as he inadvertently discovers his biological origins. As it unfolds the play is also the powerful story of his mother, Creusa, as she strives to guide her own life after having experienced terrible abuse at the hands of a god who is beyond her power (or that of any mortal). Euripides' retelling of this myth is a radical step forward among the Greek tragedies: while in other plays of classical Athens individuals often rail against the disasters that the Fates or the gods have caused to befall them, in this powerful play both Creusa and Ion actually challenge whether the gods have any right to govern the destinies of human beings. In the end, however, Euripides takes a step back from this precipitous development in human thought.
| 2
|
[
"Ion (play)",
"author",
"Euripides"
] |
Ion (; Ancient Greek: Ἴων, Iōn) is an ancient Greek play by Euripides, thought to have been written between 414 and 412 BC. It follows the orphan Ion, a young and willing servant in Apollo's temple, as he inadvertently discovers his biological origins. As it unfolds the play is also the powerful story of his mother, Creusa, as she strives to guide her own life after having experienced terrible abuse at the hands of a god who is beyond her power (or that of any mortal). Euripides' retelling of this myth is a radical step forward among the Greek tragedies: while in other plays of classical Athens individuals often rail against the disasters that the Fates or the gods have caused to befall them, in this powerful play both Creusa and Ion actually challenge whether the gods have any right to govern the destinies of human beings. In the end, however, Euripides takes a step back from this precipitous development in human thought.
| 9
|
[
"Lysistrata",
"instance of",
"play"
] |
Old Comedy
Lysistrata belongs to the middle period of Aristophanes' career when he was beginning to diverge significantly from the conventions of Old Comedy. Such variations from convention include:
| 0
|
[
"Thesmophoriazusae",
"instance of",
"play"
] |
Thesmophoriazusae (Greek: Θεσμοφοριάζουσαι; Thesmophoriazousai, meaning Women Celebrating the Festival of the Thesmophoria), or Women at the Thesmophoria (sometimes also called The Poet and the Women), is one of eleven surviving plays by Aristophanes. It was first produced in 411 BC, probably at the City Dionysia. The play's focuses include the subversive role of women in a male-dominated society; the vanity of contemporary poets, such as the tragic playwrights Euripides and Agathon; and the shameless, enterprising vulgarity of an ordinary Athenian, as represented in this play by the protagonist, Mnesilochus. The work is also notable for Aristophanes' free adaptation of key structural elements of Old Comedy and for the absence of the anti-populist and anti-war comments that pepper his earlier work. It was produced in the same year as Lysistrata, another play with sexual themes.
How Thesmophoriazusae fared in the City Dionysia drama competition is unknown, but the play has been considered one of Aristophanes' most brilliant parodies of Athenian society.
| 4
|
[
"Thesmophoriazusae",
"genre",
"Old Comedy"
] |
Thesmophoriazusae (Greek: Θεσμοφοριάζουσαι; Thesmophoriazousai, meaning Women Celebrating the Festival of the Thesmophoria), or Women at the Thesmophoria (sometimes also called The Poet and the Women), is one of eleven surviving plays by Aristophanes. It was first produced in 411 BC, probably at the City Dionysia. The play's focuses include the subversive role of women in a male-dominated society; the vanity of contemporary poets, such as the tragic playwrights Euripides and Agathon; and the shameless, enterprising vulgarity of an ordinary Athenian, as represented in this play by the protagonist, Mnesilochus. The work is also notable for Aristophanes' free adaptation of key structural elements of Old Comedy and for the absence of the anti-populist and anti-war comments that pepper his earlier work. It was produced in the same year as Lysistrata, another play with sexual themes.
How Thesmophoriazusae fared in the City Dionysia drama competition is unknown, but the play has been considered one of Aristophanes' most brilliant parodies of Athenian society.
| 5
|
[
"Philoctetes (Sophocles play)",
"author",
"Sophocles"
] |
Philoctetes (Ancient Greek: Φιλοκτήτης, Philoktētēs; English pronunciation: , stressed on the third syllable, -tet-) is a play by Sophocles (Aeschylus and Euripides also each wrote a Philoctetes but theirs have not survived). The play was written during the Peloponnesian War. It is one of the seven extant tragedies by Sophocles. It was first performed at the City Dionysia in 409 BC, where it won first prize. The story takes place during the Trojan War (after the majority of the events of the Iliad, but before the Trojan Horse). It describes the attempt by Neoptolemus and Odysseus to bring the disabled Philoctetes, the master archer, back to Troy from the island of Lemnos.
| 0
|
[
"Philoctetes (Sophocles play)",
"form of creative work",
"play"
] |
Philoctetes (Ancient Greek: Φιλοκτήτης, Philoktētēs; English pronunciation: , stressed on the third syllable, -tet-) is a play by Sophocles (Aeschylus and Euripides also each wrote a Philoctetes but theirs have not survived). The play was written during the Peloponnesian War. It is one of the seven extant tragedies by Sophocles. It was first performed at the City Dionysia in 409 BC, where it won first prize. The story takes place during the Trojan War (after the majority of the events of the Iliad, but before the Trojan Horse). It describes the attempt by Neoptolemus and Odysseus to bring the disabled Philoctetes, the master archer, back to Troy from the island of Lemnos.
| 1
|
[
"Philoctetes (Sophocles play)",
"genre",
"Greek tragedy"
] |
Philoctetes (Ancient Greek: Φιλοκτήτης, Philoktētēs; English pronunciation: , stressed on the third syllable, -tet-) is a play by Sophocles (Aeschylus and Euripides also each wrote a Philoctetes but theirs have not survived). The play was written during the Peloponnesian War. It is one of the seven extant tragedies by Sophocles. It was first performed at the City Dionysia in 409 BC, where it won first prize. The story takes place during the Trojan War (after the majority of the events of the Iliad, but before the Trojan Horse). It describes the attempt by Neoptolemus and Odysseus to bring the disabled Philoctetes, the master archer, back to Troy from the island of Lemnos.
| 2
|
[
"Philoctetes (Sophocles play)",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
Philoctetes (Ancient Greek: Φιλοκτήτης, Philoktētēs; English pronunciation: , stressed on the third syllable, -tet-) is a play by Sophocles (Aeschylus and Euripides also each wrote a Philoctetes but theirs have not survived). The play was written during the Peloponnesian War. It is one of the seven extant tragedies by Sophocles. It was first performed at the City Dionysia in 409 BC, where it won first prize. The story takes place during the Trojan War (after the majority of the events of the Iliad, but before the Trojan Horse). It describes the attempt by Neoptolemus and Odysseus to bring the disabled Philoctetes, the master archer, back to Troy from the island of Lemnos.
| 3
|
[
"Philoctetes (Sophocles play)",
"characters",
"Odysseus"
] |
Background
When Heracles was near his death, he wished to be burned on a funeral pyre while still alive. In the play Philoctetes, Sophocles references the myth in which no one but Philoctetes would light Heracles' funeral pyre, and in return for this favor Heracles gave Philoctetes his bow (seen in later texts, such as Ovid's Metamorphoses). Philoctetes left with the Greeks to participate in the Trojan War, but was bitten on the foot by a snake while walking on Chryse, a sacred ground. The bite caused him constant agony, and emitted a horrible smell. For this reason he was left by Odysseus and the Atreidai (sons of Atreus) on the desert island Lemnos.
Ten years pass, and the Greeks capture the Trojan seer Helenus, son of Priam. He foretells that they will need the master archer Philoctetes and the bow of Heracles to win the war. Odysseus sails back to Lemnos with Neoptolemus (son of Achilles) to get Philoctetes. The task is not easy, as Philoctetes bitterly hates Odysseus and the Greeks for leaving him there.
| 5
|
[
"Philoctetes (Sophocles play)",
"described by source",
"Sophocles"
] |
Background
When Heracles was near his death, he wished to be burned on a funeral pyre while still alive. In the play Philoctetes, Sophocles references the myth in which no one but Philoctetes would light Heracles' funeral pyre, and in return for this favor Heracles gave Philoctetes his bow (seen in later texts, such as Ovid's Metamorphoses). Philoctetes left with the Greeks to participate in the Trojan War, but was bitten on the foot by a snake while walking on Chryse, a sacred ground. The bite caused him constant agony, and emitted a horrible smell. For this reason he was left by Odysseus and the Atreidai (sons of Atreus) on the desert island Lemnos.
Ten years pass, and the Greeks capture the Trojan seer Helenus, son of Priam. He foretells that they will need the master archer Philoctetes and the bow of Heracles to win the war. Odysseus sails back to Lemnos with Neoptolemus (son of Achilles) to get Philoctetes. The task is not easy, as Philoctetes bitterly hates Odysseus and the Greeks for leaving him there.
| 8
|
[
"Orestes (play)",
"form of creative work",
"play"
] |
Orestes (Ancient Greek: Ὀρέστης, Orestēs) (408 BCE) is an Ancient Greek play by Euripides that follows the events of Orestes after he had murdered his mother.
| 0
|
[
"Orestes (play)",
"genre",
"Greek tragedy"
] |
Orestes (Ancient Greek: Ὀρέστης, Orestēs) (408 BCE) is an Ancient Greek play by Euripides that follows the events of Orestes after he had murdered his mother.Background
In accordance with the advice of the god Apollo, Orestes has killed his mother Clytemnestra to avenge the death of his father Agamemnon at her hands. Despite Apollo's earlier prophecy, Orestes finds himself tormented by Erinyes or Furies to the blood guilt stemming from his matricide. The only person capable of calming Orestes down from his madness is his sister Electra. To complicate matters further, a leading political faction of Argos wants to put Orestes to death for the murder. Orestes’ only hope to save his life lies in his uncle Menelaus, who has returned with Helen after spending ten years in Troy and several more years amassing wealth in Egypt. In the chronology of events following Orestes, this play takes place after the events contained in plays such as Electra by Euripides and Sophocles or The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus, and before events contained in plays like Andromache by Euripides. Orestes presents a very different version of the myth which was also depicted by Aeschylus in The Eumenides.
| 1
|
[
"Orestes (play)",
"language of work or name",
"Ancient Greek"
] |
Orestes (Ancient Greek: Ὀρέστης, Orestēs) (408 BCE) is an Ancient Greek play by Euripides that follows the events of Orestes after he had murdered his mother.
| 2
|
[
"Orestes (play)",
"author",
"Euripides"
] |
Orestes (Ancient Greek: Ὀρέστης, Orestēs) (408 BCE) is an Ancient Greek play by Euripides that follows the events of Orestes after he had murdered his mother.Background
In accordance with the advice of the god Apollo, Orestes has killed his mother Clytemnestra to avenge the death of his father Agamemnon at her hands. Despite Apollo's earlier prophecy, Orestes finds himself tormented by Erinyes or Furies to the blood guilt stemming from his matricide. The only person capable of calming Orestes down from his madness is his sister Electra. To complicate matters further, a leading political faction of Argos wants to put Orestes to death for the murder. Orestes’ only hope to save his life lies in his uncle Menelaus, who has returned with Helen after spending ten years in Troy and several more years amassing wealth in Egypt. In the chronology of events following Orestes, this play takes place after the events contained in plays such as Electra by Euripides and Sophocles or The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus, and before events contained in plays like Andromache by Euripides. Orestes presents a very different version of the myth which was also depicted by Aeschylus in The Eumenides.
| 3
|
[
"Orestes (play)",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
Orestes (Ancient Greek: Ὀρέστης, Orestēs) (408 BCE) is an Ancient Greek play by Euripides that follows the events of Orestes after he had murdered his mother.
| 5
|
[
"The Phoenician Women",
"genre",
"Greek tragedy"
] |
The Phoenician Women (Ancient Greek: Φοίνισσαι, Phoinissai) is a tragedy by Euripides, based on the same story as Aeschylus' play Seven Against Thebes. It was presented along with the tragedies Hypsipyle and Antiope. With this trilogy, Euripides won the second prize. The title refers to the Greek chorus, which is composed of Phoenician women on their way to Delphi who are trapped in Thebes by the war. Unlike some of Euripides' other plays, the chorus does not play a significant role in the plot, but represents the innocent and neutral people who very often are found in the middle of war situations. Patriotism is a significant theme in the story, as Polynices talks a great deal about his love for the city of Thebes but has brought an army to destroy it; Creon is also forced to make a choice between saving the city and saving the life of his son.
Euripides wrote the play around 408 BC, amid military disasters for his homeland, Athens.
| 7
|
[
"The Phoenician Women",
"language of work or name",
"Ancient Greek"
] |
The Phoenician Women (Ancient Greek: Φοίνισσαι, Phoinissai) is a tragedy by Euripides, based on the same story as Aeschylus' play Seven Against Thebes. It was presented along with the tragedies Hypsipyle and Antiope. With this trilogy, Euripides won the second prize. The title refers to the Greek chorus, which is composed of Phoenician women on their way to Delphi who are trapped in Thebes by the war. Unlike some of Euripides' other plays, the chorus does not play a significant role in the plot, but represents the innocent and neutral people who very often are found in the middle of war situations. Patriotism is a significant theme in the story, as Polynices talks a great deal about his love for the city of Thebes but has brought an army to destroy it; Creon is also forced to make a choice between saving the city and saving the life of his son.
Euripides wrote the play around 408 BC, amid military disasters for his homeland, Athens.
| 10
|
[
"The Frogs",
"genre",
"Old Comedy"
] |
The Frogs (Greek: Βάτραχοι, translit. Bátrakhoi, lit. "Frogs"; Latin: Ranae, often abbreviated Ran. or Ra.) is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed at the Lenaia, one of the Festivals of Dionysus in Athens, in 405 BC and received first place.Plot
The Frogs tells the story of the god Dionysus, who, despairing of the state of Athens' tragedians, travels to Hades (the underworld) to bring the playwright Euripides back from the dead. (Euripides had died the year before, in 406 BC.) He brings along his slave Xanthias, who is smarter and braver than Dionysus. As the play opens, Xanthias and Dionysus argue over what kind of jokes Xanthias can use to open the play. For the first half of the play, Dionysus routinely makes critical errors, forcing Xanthias to improvise in order to protect his master and prevent Dionysus from looking incompetent—but this only allows Dionysus to continue to make mistakes with no consequence.
To find a reliable path to Hades, Dionysus seeks advice from his half-brother Heracles, who had been there before in order to retrieve the hell hound Cerberus. Dionysus shows up at his doorstep dressed in a lion-hide and carrying a club. Heracles, upon seeing the effeminate Dionysus dressed up like himself, can't help laughing. When Dionysus asks which road is the quickest to get to Hades, Heracles tells him that he can hang himself, drink poison or jump off a tower. Dionysus opts for the longer journey, which Heracles himself had taken, across a lake (possibly Lake Acheron).
When Dionysus arrives at the lake, Charon ferries him across. Xanthias, being a slave, is not allowed in the boat, and has to walk around it, while Dionysus is made to help row the boat.
This is the point of the first choral interlude (parodos), sung by the eponymous chorus of frogs (the only scene in which frogs feature in the play). Their croaking refrain – Brekekekèx-koàx-koáx (Greek: Βρεκεκεκὲξ κοὰξ κοάξ) – greatly annoys Dionysus, who engages in a mocking debate (agon) with the frogs. When he arrives at the shore, Dionysus meets up with Xanthias, who teases him by claiming to see the frightening monster Empusa. A second chorus composed of spirits of Dionysian Mystics soon appear.
The next encounter is with Aeacus, who mistakes Dionysus for Heracles due to his attire. Still angry over Heracles' theft of Cerberus, Aeacus threatens to unleash several monsters on him in revenge. Frightened, Dionysus trades clothes with Xanthias. A maid then arrives and is happy to see Heracles. She invites him to a feast with virgin dancing girls, and Xanthias is more than happy to oblige. But Dionysus quickly wants to trade back the clothes. Dionysus, back in the Heracles lion-skin, encounters more people angry at Heracles, and so he makes Xanthias trade a third time.
When Aeacus returns to confront the alleged Heracles (i.e., Xanthias), Xanthias offers him his "slave" (Dionysus) for torturing, to obtain the truth as to whether or not he is really a thief. The terrified Dionysus tells the truth that he is a god. After each is whipped, Dionysus is brought before Aeacus' masters, and the truth is verified. The maid then catches Xanthias and chats him up, interrupted by preparations for the contest scene.
| 0
|
[
"The Frogs",
"language of work or name",
"Ancient Greek"
] |
The Frogs (Greek: Βάτραχοι, translit. Bátrakhoi, lit. "Frogs"; Latin: Ranae, often abbreviated Ran. or Ra.) is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed at the Lenaia, one of the Festivals of Dionysus in Athens, in 405 BC and received first place.
| 4
|
[
"The Bacchae",
"characters",
"Dionysus"
] |
The Bacchae (; Greek: Βάκχαι, Bakkhai; also known as The Bacchantes ) is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumously at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC as part of a tetralogy that also included Iphigeneia at Aulis and Alcmaeon in Corinth, and which Euripides' son or nephew is assumed to have directed. It won first prize in the City Dionysia festival competition.
The tragedy is based on the Greek myth of King Pentheus of Thebes and his mother Agave, and their punishment by the god Dionysus (who is Pentheus's cousin). The god Dionysus appears at the beginning of the play and proclaims that he has arrived in Thebes to avenge the slander, which has been repeated by his aunts, that he is not the son of Zeus. In response, he intends to introduce Dionysian rites into the city, and he intends to demonstrate to the king, Pentheus, and to Thebes that he was indeed born a god. At the end of the play, Pentheus is torn apart by the women of Thebes and his mother Agave bears his head on a pike to her father Cadmus.The Bacchae is considered to be not only one of Euripides's greatest tragedies, but also one of the greatest ever written, modern or ancient. The Bacchae is distinctive in that the chorus is integrated into the plot and the god is not a distant presence but a character in the play, indeed, the protagonist.Plot
The play begins before the palace at Thebes, with Dionysus telling the story of his birth and his reasons for visiting the city. Dionysus explains he is the son of a mortal woman, Semele, and a god, Zeus. Some in Thebes, he notes, do not believe this story. In fact, Semele's sisters—Autonoe, Agave, and Ino—claim it is a lie intended to cover up the fact that Semele became pregnant by some mortal. Dionysus reveals that he has driven the women of the city mad, including his three aunts, and has led them into the mountains to observe his ritual festivities. He has disguised himself as a mortal for the time being, but he plans to vindicate his mother by appearing before all of Thebes as a god, the son of Zeus, and establishing his permanent cult of followers.Dionysus exits to the mountains, and the chorus (composed of the titular Bacchae) enters. They perform a choral ode in praise of Dionysus. Then Tiresias, the blind and elderly seer, appears. He calls for Cadmus, the founder and former king of Thebes. The two old men start out to join the revelry in the mountains when Cadmus’ petulant young grandson Pentheus, the current king, enters. Disgusted to find the two old men in festival dress, he scolds them and orders his soldiers to arrest anyone engaging in Dionysian worship, including the mysterious "foreigner" who has introduced this worship. Pentheus intends to have him stoned to death.The guards soon return with Dionysus himself in tow. Pentheus questions him, both skeptical of and fascinated by the Dionysian rites. Dionysus's answers are cryptic. Infuriated, Pentheus has Dionysus taken away and chained to an angry bull in the palace stable. But the god now shows his power. He breaks free and razes the palace with an earthquake and fire. Dionysus and Pentheus are once again at odds when a herdsman arrives from the top of Mount Cithaeron, where he had been herding his grazing cattle. He reports that he found women on the mountain behaving strangely: wandering the forest, suckling animals, twining snakes in their hair, and performing miraculous feats. The herdsmen and the shepherds made a plan to capture one particular celebrant, Pentheus' mother. But when they jumped out of hiding to grab her, the Bacchae became frenzied and pursued the men. The men escaped, but their cattle were not so fortunate, as the women fell upon the animals, ripping them to shreds with their bare hands. The women carried on, plundering two villages that were further down the mountain, stealing bronze, iron and even babies. When villagers attempted to fight back, the women drove them off using only their ceremonial staffs of fennel. They then returned to the mountain top and washed up, as snakes licked them clean.
| 6
|
[
"The Bacchae",
"characters",
"Maenad"
] |
Background
The Dionysus in Euripides' tale is a young god, angry that his mortal family, the royal house of Cadmus, has denied him a place of honor as a deity. His mortal mother, Semele, was a mistress of Zeus; while pregnant she was killed by Hera, who was jealous of her husband's affair. When Semele died, her sisters said it was Zeus' will and accused her of lying; they also accused their father, Cadmus, of using Zeus as a coverup. Most of Semele's family refused to believe Dionysus was the son of Zeus, and the young god was spurned by his household. He traveled throughout Asia and other foreign lands, gathering a cult of female worshipers, the Maenads. At the play's start he has returned, disguised as a stranger, to take revenge on the house of Cadmus. He has also driven the women of Thebes, including his aunts, into an ecstatic frenzy, sending them dancing and hunting on Mount Cithaeron, much to the horror of the young Pentheus, king of Thebes who also is Dionysius' cousin. Complicating matters, Pentheus has declared a ban on the worship of Dionysus throughout Thebes.
| 8
|
[
"The Bacchae",
"characters",
"Pentheus"
] |
Plot
The play begins before the palace at Thebes, with Dionysus telling the story of his birth and his reasons for visiting the city. Dionysus explains he is the son of a mortal woman, Semele, and a god, Zeus. Some in Thebes, he notes, do not believe this story. In fact, Semele's sisters—Autonoe, Agave, and Ino—claim it is a lie intended to cover up the fact that Semele became pregnant by some mortal. Dionysus reveals that he has driven the women of the city mad, including his three aunts, and has led them into the mountains to observe his ritual festivities. He has disguised himself as a mortal for the time being, but he plans to vindicate his mother by appearing before all of Thebes as a god, the son of Zeus, and establishing his permanent cult of followers.Dionysus exits to the mountains, and the chorus (composed of the titular Bacchae) enters. They perform a choral ode in praise of Dionysus. Then Tiresias, the blind and elderly seer, appears. He calls for Cadmus, the founder and former king of Thebes. The two old men start out to join the revelry in the mountains when Cadmus’ petulant young grandson Pentheus, the current king, enters. Disgusted to find the two old men in festival dress, he scolds them and orders his soldiers to arrest anyone engaging in Dionysian worship, including the mysterious "foreigner" who has introduced this worship. Pentheus intends to have him stoned to death.The guards soon return with Dionysus himself in tow. Pentheus questions him, both skeptical of and fascinated by the Dionysian rites. Dionysus's answers are cryptic. Infuriated, Pentheus has Dionysus taken away and chained to an angry bull in the palace stable. But the god now shows his power. He breaks free and razes the palace with an earthquake and fire. Dionysus and Pentheus are once again at odds when a herdsman arrives from the top of Mount Cithaeron, where he had been herding his grazing cattle. He reports that he found women on the mountain behaving strangely: wandering the forest, suckling animals, twining snakes in their hair, and performing miraculous feats. The herdsmen and the shepherds made a plan to capture one particular celebrant, Pentheus' mother. But when they jumped out of hiding to grab her, the Bacchae became frenzied and pursued the men. The men escaped, but their cattle were not so fortunate, as the women fell upon the animals, ripping them to shreds with their bare hands. The women carried on, plundering two villages that were further down the mountain, stealing bronze, iron and even babies. When villagers attempted to fight back, the women drove them off using only their ceremonial staffs of fennel. They then returned to the mountain top and washed up, as snakes licked them clean.
| 10
|
[
"Oedipus at Colonus",
"author",
"Sophocles"
] |
Oedipus at Colonus (also Oedipus Coloneus; Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ, Oidipous epi Kolōnōi) is the last of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BC.
In the timeline of the plays, the events of Oedipus at Colonus occur after Oedipus Rex and before Antigone; however, it was the last of Sophocles's three Theban plays to be written. The play describes the end of Oedipus's tragic life. Legends differ as to the site of Oedipus's death; Sophocles set the place at Colonus, a village near Athens and also Sophocles's own birthplace, where the blinded Oedipus has come with his daughters Antigone and Ismene as suppliants of the Erinyes and of Theseus, the king of Athens.
| 0
|
[
"Oedipus at Colonus",
"language of work or name",
"Ancient Greek"
] |
Oedipus at Colonus (also Oedipus Coloneus; Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ, Oidipous epi Kolōnōi) is the last of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BC.
In the timeline of the plays, the events of Oedipus at Colonus occur after Oedipus Rex and before Antigone; however, it was the last of Sophocles's three Theban plays to be written. The play describes the end of Oedipus's tragic life. Legends differ as to the site of Oedipus's death; Sophocles set the place at Colonus, a village near Athens and also Sophocles's own birthplace, where the blinded Oedipus has come with his daughters Antigone and Ismene as suppliants of the Erinyes and of Theseus, the king of Athens.Fate
While the two other plays about Oedipus often bring up the theme of a person's moral responsibility for their destiny, and whether it is possible to rebel against destiny, Oedipus at Colonus shows Oedipus's resolution of the problem. In Oedipus Rex, he was told by Tiresias, "You bear your fate and I will bear mine," a message repeated by the Chorus, but scorned by Oedipus, who like his father has believed he can escape his fate. In Oedipus at Colonus, he declares that even though fate, which literally means "necessity" in ancient Greek, is something we must suffer as beyond our choice in its power of necessity and is not a person's creation, we must also find a way to work with it. The key line in the play is when Oedipus declares, "Let us not fight necessity," and Antigone adds, "For you will never see in all the world a man whom God has let escape his destiny!"
| 2
|
[
"Oedipus at Colonus",
"characters",
"Oedipus"
] |
Oedipus at Colonus (also Oedipus Coloneus; Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ, Oidipous epi Kolōnōi) is the last of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BC.
In the timeline of the plays, the events of Oedipus at Colonus occur after Oedipus Rex and before Antigone; however, it was the last of Sophocles's three Theban plays to be written. The play describes the end of Oedipus's tragic life. Legends differ as to the site of Oedipus's death; Sophocles set the place at Colonus, a village near Athens and also Sophocles's own birthplace, where the blinded Oedipus has come with his daughters Antigone and Ismene as suppliants of the Erinyes and of Theseus, the king of Athens.
| 4
|
[
"Oedipus at Colonus",
"characters",
"Ismene"
] |
Oedipus at Colonus (also Oedipus Coloneus; Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ, Oidipous epi Kolōnōi) is the last of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BC.
In the timeline of the plays, the events of Oedipus at Colonus occur after Oedipus Rex and before Antigone; however, it was the last of Sophocles's three Theban plays to be written. The play describes the end of Oedipus's tragic life. Legends differ as to the site of Oedipus's death; Sophocles set the place at Colonus, a village near Athens and also Sophocles's own birthplace, where the blinded Oedipus has come with his daughters Antigone and Ismene as suppliants of the Erinyes and of Theseus, the king of Athens.A possible heroic interpretation of Oedipus
Darice Birge has argued that Oedipus at Colonus can be interpreted as a heroic narrative of Oedipus rather than a tragic one. It can be viewed as developing a transition from the Oedipus of Oedipus Rex whose acts were abominable enough to make him a pollution to his city, to an Oedipus whose presence is so powerful a blessing that it is sought after by both Thebes and Athens. The major image used to show this transition from exile to hero is Oedipus's relationship with the sacred grove of the Erinyes. At the beginning of the play, Oedipus has to be led through the grove by Antigone and is only allowed to go through it because as a holy place it is an asylum for beggars. He recognizes the grove as the location once described to him in a prophecy as his final resting place. When Elders come looking for him, Oedipus enters the grove. This act, according to Birge, is his first act as a hero. He has given up his habit of trying to oppose divine will (as was his wont in Oedipus Rex) and prophecies, and accepts this grove as the place of his death. Oedipus then hints at the divine gift that is his body, which will bring success to those who accept him and suffering to those who turned him away. When Oedipus's daughter Ismene arrives, she brings news that Thebes, the city that once exiled Oedipus as a pollution, wants him back as a blessing. Ismene assists Oedipus's transformation into a hero when she performs a ritual atonement to the Erinyes on his behalf, but his status is fully cemented when he chooses a hidden part of the sacred grove as his final resting place, which even his daughters are forbidden to know.
| 5
|
[
"Oedipus at Colonus",
"characters",
"Antigone"
] |
Oedipus at Colonus (also Oedipus Coloneus; Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ, Oidipous epi Kolōnōi) is the last of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BC.
In the timeline of the plays, the events of Oedipus at Colonus occur after Oedipus Rex and before Antigone; however, it was the last of Sophocles's three Theban plays to be written. The play describes the end of Oedipus's tragic life. Legends differ as to the site of Oedipus's death; Sophocles set the place at Colonus, a village near Athens and also Sophocles's own birthplace, where the blinded Oedipus has come with his daughters Antigone and Ismene as suppliants of the Erinyes and of Theseus, the king of Athens.
| 7
|
[
"Oedipus at Colonus",
"characters",
"Theseus"
] |
Oedipus at Colonus (also Oedipus Coloneus; Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ, Oidipous epi Kolōnōi) is the last of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BC.
In the timeline of the plays, the events of Oedipus at Colonus occur after Oedipus Rex and before Antigone; however, it was the last of Sophocles's three Theban plays to be written. The play describes the end of Oedipus's tragic life. Legends differ as to the site of Oedipus's death; Sophocles set the place at Colonus, a village near Athens and also Sophocles's own birthplace, where the blinded Oedipus has come with his daughters Antigone and Ismene as suppliants of the Erinyes and of Theseus, the king of Athens.
| 11
|
[
"Oedipus at Colonus",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
Oedipus at Colonus (also Oedipus Coloneus; Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ, Oidipous epi Kolōnōi) is the last of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BC.
In the timeline of the plays, the events of Oedipus at Colonus occur after Oedipus Rex and before Antigone; however, it was the last of Sophocles's three Theban plays to be written. The play describes the end of Oedipus's tragic life. Legends differ as to the site of Oedipus's death; Sophocles set the place at Colonus, a village near Athens and also Sophocles's own birthplace, where the blinded Oedipus has come with his daughters Antigone and Ismene as suppliants of the Erinyes and of Theseus, the king of Athens.
| 13
|
[
"Oedipus at Colonus",
"described by source",
"Sophocles"
] |
Oedipus at Colonus (also Oedipus Coloneus; Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ, Oidipous epi Kolōnōi) is the last of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BC.
In the timeline of the plays, the events of Oedipus at Colonus occur after Oedipus Rex and before Antigone; however, it was the last of Sophocles's three Theban plays to be written. The play describes the end of Oedipus's tragic life. Legends differ as to the site of Oedipus's death; Sophocles set the place at Colonus, a village near Athens and also Sophocles's own birthplace, where the blinded Oedipus has come with his daughters Antigone and Ismene as suppliants of the Erinyes and of Theseus, the king of Athens.
| 15
|
[
"Assemblywomen",
"genre",
"Old Comedy"
] |
Assemblywomen (Greek: Ἐκκλησιάζουσαι Ekklesiazousai; also translated as, Congresswomen, Women in Parliament, Women in Power, and A Parliament of Women) is a comedy written by the Greek playwright Aristophanes in 391 BC. The play invents a scenario where the women of Athens assume control of the government and institute reforms that ban private wealth and enforce sexual equity for the old and unattractive. In addition to Aristophanes' political and social satire, Assemblywomen derives its comedy through sexual and scatological humor. The play aimed to criticize the Athenian government at the time.
| 0
|
[
"Assemblywomen",
"language of work or name",
"Ancient Greek"
] |
Assemblywomen (Greek: Ἐκκλησιάζουσαι Ekklesiazousai; also translated as, Congresswomen, Women in Parliament, Women in Power, and A Parliament of Women) is a comedy written by the Greek playwright Aristophanes in 391 BC. The play invents a scenario where the women of Athens assume control of the government and institute reforms that ban private wealth and enforce sexual equity for the old and unattractive. In addition to Aristophanes' political and social satire, Assemblywomen derives its comedy through sexual and scatological humor. The play aimed to criticize the Athenian government at the time.
| 4
|
[
"Assemblywomen",
"instance of",
"play"
] |
Assemblywomen (Greek: Ἐκκλησιάζουσαι Ekklesiazousai; also translated as, Congresswomen, Women in Parliament, Women in Power, and A Parliament of Women) is a comedy written by the Greek playwright Aristophanes in 391 BC. The play invents a scenario where the women of Athens assume control of the government and institute reforms that ban private wealth and enforce sexual equity for the old and unattractive. In addition to Aristophanes' political and social satire, Assemblywomen derives its comedy through sexual and scatological humor. The play aimed to criticize the Athenian government at the time.
| 5
|
[
"Plutus (play)",
"author",
"Aristophanes"
] |
Plutus (Ancient Greek: Πλοῦτος, Ploutos, "Wealth") is an Ancient Greek comedy by the playwright Aristophanes, which was first produced in 388 BCE. A political satire on contemporary Athens, it features the personified god of wealth Plutus. Reflecting the development of Old Comedy towards New Comedy, it uses such familiar character types as the stupid master and the insubordinate slave to attack the morals of the time.
| 2
|
[
"Plutus (play)",
"language of work or name",
"Ancient Greek"
] |
Plutus (Ancient Greek: Πλοῦτος, Ploutos, "Wealth") is an Ancient Greek comedy by the playwright Aristophanes, which was first produced in 388 BCE. A political satire on contemporary Athens, it features the personified god of wealth Plutus. Reflecting the development of Old Comedy towards New Comedy, it uses such familiar character types as the stupid master and the insubordinate slave to attack the morals of the time.
| 3
|
[
"Perikeiromene",
"genre",
"New Comedy"
] |
Perikeiromene (Greek: Περικειρομένη, translated as The Girl with her Hair Cut Short, is a comedy by Menander (342/41 – 292/91 BC) that is only partially preserved on papyrus. Of an estimated total of between 1030 and 1091 lines, about 450 lines (between 40 and 45%) survive. Most acts lack their beginning and end, except that the transition between act I and II is still extant. The play may have been first performed in 314/13 BC or not much later.
| 3
|
[
"Perikeiromene",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
Perikeiromene (Greek: Περικειρομένη, translated as The Girl with her Hair Cut Short, is a comedy by Menander (342/41 – 292/91 BC) that is only partially preserved on papyrus. Of an estimated total of between 1030 and 1091 lines, about 450 lines (between 40 and 45%) survive. Most acts lack their beginning and end, except that the transition between act I and II is still extant. The play may have been first performed in 314/13 BC or not much later.
| 4
|
[
"Miles Gloriosus (play)",
"author",
"Plautus"
] |
Models for the play
The Miles Gloriosus is believed to be adapted from a Greek comedy from the age of New Comedy, but it is not known from which author it is derived. Because there are two separate intrigues (the hole in the wall and the fake wife), and some puzzling details such as the lack of coherence between the end of Act 2 and the beginning of Act 3, it has been argued by some scholars that to make the plot Plautus may have joined together two separate Greek plays; however, other scholars have argued that there is insufficient evidence for this assumption. In her article, Blanche Brotherton points out that double intrigues are fairly common in comedic plots, and one Greek comedy, the Δὶς Ἐξαπατῶν (Dìs Exapatôn) "The Twice Deceiving" (the original of Plautus's Bacchides) even indicates a double intrigue in the title.
A more likely suggestion is that not the double intrigue, but the long and amusing (but irrelevant) discourse of Periplectomenus on the advantages of being unmarried (Act 3.1, lines 596–765) comes partly from another play, and in part is invented by Plautus himself. It is also thought that the scene with the drunken slave Lurcio or Lucrio (Act 3.2) is a Plautine addition, not part of the original Greek play.The story itself contains elements which are familiar from a number of folk-tales recounted in later centuries in oriental countries: the hole in the wall through which the lovers meet, their escape by ship, assistance by the dupe himself, the dupe's surrender of the faithful slave and gift of valuables to the departing heroine are found in tales from Albania, Syria, Iraq, and Central Asia.
| 1
|
[
"Miles Gloriosus (play)",
"time period",
"ancient history"
] |
Miles Gloriosus is a comedic play written by Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254–184 B.C.). The title can be translated as "The Swaggering Soldier" or "Vainglorious Soldier". His source for Miles Gloriosus was a Greek play, now lost, called Alazon or The Braggart. Although the characters in Miles Gloriosus speak Latin, they are Greeks and largely have Greek names, clothing, and customs. The action takes place in Ephesus, a Greek city on the coast of Asia Minor, famous for its Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The play is thought to date from early in Plautus's career, partly because it contains no polymetric songs (which became frequent in the later plays), and partly because lines 210–211 have been taken as a reference to the temporary imprisonment of the poet Naevius in 206 BC.At 1437 lines this is Plautus's longest surviving play. Some scholars have suggested that it may combine two Greek originals; others have thought this unlikely. De Melo, however, suggests that Periplectomenus's long scene of self-praise (596–812) may come from another play; and the scene with Lurcio, which is not well integrated into the story, is also thought to be an addition invented by Plautus.
| 3
|
[
"Miles Gloriosus (play)",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
Models for the play
The Miles Gloriosus is believed to be adapted from a Greek comedy from the age of New Comedy, but it is not known from which author it is derived. Because there are two separate intrigues (the hole in the wall and the fake wife), and some puzzling details such as the lack of coherence between the end of Act 2 and the beginning of Act 3, it has been argued by some scholars that to make the plot Plautus may have joined together two separate Greek plays; however, other scholars have argued that there is insufficient evidence for this assumption. In her article, Blanche Brotherton points out that double intrigues are fairly common in comedic plots, and one Greek comedy, the Δὶς Ἐξαπατῶν (Dìs Exapatôn) "The Twice Deceiving" (the original of Plautus's Bacchides) even indicates a double intrigue in the title.
A more likely suggestion is that not the double intrigue, but the long and amusing (but irrelevant) discourse of Periplectomenus on the advantages of being unmarried (Act 3.1, lines 596–765) comes partly from another play, and in part is invented by Plautus himself. It is also thought that the scene with the drunken slave Lurcio or Lucrio (Act 3.2) is a Plautine addition, not part of the original Greek play.The story itself contains elements which are familiar from a number of folk-tales recounted in later centuries in oriental countries: the hole in the wall through which the lovers meet, their escape by ship, assistance by the dupe himself, the dupe's surrender of the faithful slave and gift of valuables to the departing heroine are found in tales from Albania, Syria, Iraq, and Central Asia.
| 6
|
[
"Andria (comedy)",
"based on",
"Perinthia"
] |
Andria (English: The Woman from Andros) is a Roman comedy adapted by Terence from two Greek plays by Menander the first being Samia and the other being Perinthia. It was the first play by Terence to be presented publicly, and was performed in 166 BC during the Ludi Megalenses. It became the first of Terence's plays to be performed post-antiquity, in Florence in 1476. It was adapted by Machiavelli, whose Andria was likewise the author's first venture into playwriting and was the first of Terence's plays to be translated into English ca. 1520. The second English translation was by the Welsh writer Morris Kyffin in 1588.
| 9
|
[
"Heauton Timorumenos",
"author",
"Terence"
] |
Heauton Timorumenos (Greek: Ἑαυτὸν τιμωρούμενος, Heauton timōroumenos, The Self-Tormentor) is a play written in Latin by Terence (Latin: Publius Terentius Afer), a dramatist of the Roman Republic, in 163 BC. The play concerns two neighbours, Chremes and Menedemus, whose sons Clitipho and Clinia are in love with different girls, Bacchis and Antiphila. By a series of deceptions, Chremes' wily slave Syrus dupes Chremes into paying money owed to Bacchis, who is a prostitute. The other girl, Antiphila, is discovered to be Chremes' own daughter, whom he promises in marriage to Clinia.
In his edition, A. J. Brothers calls this "the most neglected of the dramatist's six comedies". He adds: "Yet the Self-Tormentor, for all its occasional imperfections, in many ways shows Terence at his best; the plot is ingenious, complex, fast-moving, and extremely skilfully constructed, its characters are excellently drawn, and the whole is full of delightful dramatic irony. It deserves to be better known."The play has presented academics with some problems. Firstly it is not entirely clear whether Heauton Timorumenos is Terence's second or third play. In the prologue, Terence says he has altered the plot of the Greek play on which it is based by making it "double". However, due to the scant survival of Menander's play of the same name, there is no simple way to judge how much of Terence's version is translation and how much is invention.The play is set in a village in the countryside of Attica. On the stage are two houses, one belonging to Chremes, and the other to his neighbour Menedemus. All the action takes place in the street in front of the houses.
| 2
|
[
"Heauton Timorumenos",
"characters",
"Chremes"
] |
Act one
Menedemus, a wealthy farmer, explains to his neighbour Chremes why he is punishing himself by working hard in his fields. Menedemus explains that he had reproached his son Clinia for his having a relationship with a penniless girl, and had held up his own youth as a soldier as a virtuous contrast. Clinia, shamed, has taken Menedemus more literally than he intended and has gone to live as a soldier in the East. By coincidence, immediately after Menedemus exits, Chremes encounters his own son, Clitipho with Clinia, who has returned from the East. Clitipho begs Chremes not to tell Menedemus, as Clinia is still afraid of his father's wrath. Chremes agrees for the moment but adds that a father's duty is to be severe. Once alone, Clitipho swears he will never be a tyrant in the mould of his father.Homo sum, humani
The most famous line in the play is line 77:
homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto.
The line was quoted twice by Cicero (Leg. 1.33 and Off. 1.29–30) and later by Seneca and many other writers. St Augustine (Epist. 155.14) recounts that he had heard that when it was spoken "whole theatres burst into applause (theatra tota ... applausisse)".
In its original context it is a defensive reply by the busybody old man Chremes to his neighbour Menedemus, who says "Have you got so much free time as to concern yourself with other people's affairs which have nothing to do with you?", to which Chremes replies, "I'm human: nothing human is not my concern".
However, in later centuries, it received a much wider interpretation:
Some would see in it, as Michel de Montaigne did, a man's confession of his emotional and spiritual weakness. Others, like John of Salisbury, perceive an expression of Christian charity. Others again make it a disavowal of intolerance and prudery in regard to human behaviour. Most would say that it had to do with being 'humane' in some very positive sense of this much used word...
Among English authors who quoted it was Henry Fielding in Tom Jones (1749, Book XV, ch. VIII) who applies the quotation to his hero: “He was one who could truly say with him in Terence, Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto.”A shortened version of the line, HVMANI NIHIL ALIENVM, is used as the motto of various institutions, such as the Law Society of Scotland and the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
| 6
|
[
"Phormio (play)",
"form of creative work",
"play"
] |
Phormio is a Latin comic play by the early Roman playwright Terence, based on a now lost play by Apollodorus of Carystus entitled Epidikazomenos ("The Claimant"). It is generally believed to be Terence's fifth play. It was first performed at the Ludi Romani of 161 BC. Structurally, Phormio is considered to be one of the best Roman comedies.
| 1
|
[
"Phormio (play)",
"genre",
"fabula palliata"
] |
Phormio is a Latin comic play by the early Roman playwright Terence, based on a now lost play by Apollodorus of Carystus entitled Epidikazomenos ("The Claimant"). It is generally believed to be Terence's fifth play. It was first performed at the Ludi Romani of 161 BC. Structurally, Phormio is considered to be one of the best Roman comedies.
| 6
|
[
"Phormio (play)",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
Phormio is a Latin comic play by the early Roman playwright Terence, based on a now lost play by Apollodorus of Carystus entitled Epidikazomenos ("The Claimant"). It is generally believed to be Terence's fifth play. It was first performed at the Ludi Romani of 161 BC. Structurally, Phormio is considered to be one of the best Roman comedies.
| 8
|
[
"Eunuchus",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
Eunuchus (The Eunuch) is a comedy written by the 2nd century BC Roman playwright Terence featuring a complex plot of rape and reconciliation. It was Terence's most successful play during his lifetime. Suetonius notes how the play was staged twice in a single day and won Terence 8,000 sesterces. The play is a loose translation of one written by Menander in Greek.The play was first performed at the Megalesian Games in Rome in the spring of 161 BC. It is the fourth of Terence's six plays.
| 9
|
[
"Adelphoe",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
Adelphoe (also Adelphoi and Adelphi; from Greek ᾰ̓δελφοί, Brothers) is a play by Roman playwright Terence, adapted partly from plays by Menander and Diphilus. It was first performed in 160 BC at the funeral games of Aemilius Paulus. Exploring the best form of child-rearing, the play inspired Molière's The School for Husbands.Adelphoe was Terence's last play and is often considered his masterpiece.
| 6
|
[
"Gaude Mater Polonia",
"country of origin",
"Poland"
] |
Gaude Mater Polonia (Medieval Latin for "Rejoice, oh Mother Poland"; Ecclesiastical Latin: [ˈɡau̯.dɛ ˈmaː.tɛr pɔˈlɔː.ni.a], Polish: Raduj się, matko Polsko) was one of the most significant medieval Polish hymns, written in Latin between the 13th and the 14th century to commemorate Saint Stanislaus, Bishop of Kraków. Polish knights sang and chanted the hymn after victory in battle, presumably to one of the Gregorian melodies associated with the Eucharistic psalm O Salutaris Hostia on which it is based. It's widely considered a historical, national anthem of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
| 0
|
[
"Gaude Mater Polonia",
"form of creative work",
"song"
] |
Gaude Mater Polonia (Medieval Latin for "Rejoice, oh Mother Poland"; Ecclesiastical Latin: [ˈɡau̯.dɛ ˈmaː.tɛr pɔˈlɔː.ni.a], Polish: Raduj się, matko Polsko) was one of the most significant medieval Polish hymns, written in Latin between the 13th and the 14th century to commemorate Saint Stanislaus, Bishop of Kraków. Polish knights sang and chanted the hymn after victory in battle, presumably to one of the Gregorian melodies associated with the Eucharistic psalm O Salutaris Hostia on which it is based. It's widely considered a historical, national anthem of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
| 1
|
[
"Gaude Mater Polonia",
"instance of",
"national anthem"
] |
Gaude Mater Polonia (Medieval Latin for "Rejoice, oh Mother Poland"; Ecclesiastical Latin: [ˈɡau̯.dɛ ˈmaː.tɛr pɔˈlɔː.ni.a], Polish: Raduj się, matko Polsko) was one of the most significant medieval Polish hymns, written in Latin between the 13th and the 14th century to commemorate Saint Stanislaus, Bishop of Kraków. Polish knights sang and chanted the hymn after victory in battle, presumably to one of the Gregorian melodies associated with the Eucharistic psalm O Salutaris Hostia on which it is based. It's widely considered a historical, national anthem of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
| 2
|
[
"Gaude Mater Polonia",
"language of work or name",
"Ecclesiastical Latin"
] |
Gaude Mater Polonia (Medieval Latin for "Rejoice, oh Mother Poland"; Ecclesiastical Latin: [ˈɡau̯.dɛ ˈmaː.tɛr pɔˈlɔː.ni.a], Polish: Raduj się, matko Polsko) was one of the most significant medieval Polish hymns, written in Latin between the 13th and the 14th century to commemorate Saint Stanislaus, Bishop of Kraków. Polish knights sang and chanted the hymn after victory in battle, presumably to one of the Gregorian melodies associated with the Eucharistic psalm O Salutaris Hostia on which it is based. It's widely considered a historical, national anthem of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
| 3
|
[
"Gaude Mater Polonia",
"instance of",
"musical work/composition"
] |
Gaude Mater Polonia (Medieval Latin for "Rejoice, oh Mother Poland"; Ecclesiastical Latin: [ˈɡau̯.dɛ ˈmaː.tɛr pɔˈlɔː.ni.a], Polish: Raduj się, matko Polsko) was one of the most significant medieval Polish hymns, written in Latin between the 13th and the 14th century to commemorate Saint Stanislaus, Bishop of Kraków. Polish knights sang and chanted the hymn after victory in battle, presumably to one of the Gregorian melodies associated with the Eucharistic psalm O Salutaris Hostia on which it is based. It's widely considered a historical, national anthem of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
| 5
|
[
"Le Miracle de Théophile",
"country of origin",
"France"
] |
Le Miracle de Théophile (The Miracle of Theophilus) is a thirteenth-century miracle play written in Langues d'oïl, circa 1261 by the trouvère Rutebeuf.The play is a religious drama, drawn from traditional accounts of the lives of the Saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the play, Théophile sells his soul to the Devil. Overcome by remorse, he prays to the Virgin Mary, who delivers him from the cursed pact.The play refers to the legendary history of St. Theophilus of Adana, who according to traditional saints' legends made a pact with the Devil and repented of it.
This play is the original source of an influential invocation to the Devil (in an unknown language). The original text from the French play is given to the character Salatin – apparently a version of Saladin – who in this play is labelled a sorcerer; Salatin uses these words to invoke the Devil:
| 0
|
[
"Le Miracle de Théophile",
"language of work or name",
"French"
] |
Le Miracle de Théophile (The Miracle of Theophilus) is a thirteenth-century miracle play written in Langues d'oïl, circa 1261 by the trouvère Rutebeuf.The play is a religious drama, drawn from traditional accounts of the lives of the Saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the play, Théophile sells his soul to the Devil. Overcome by remorse, he prays to the Virgin Mary, who delivers him from the cursed pact.The play refers to the legendary history of St. Theophilus of Adana, who according to traditional saints' legends made a pact with the Devil and repented of it.
This play is the original source of an influential invocation to the Devil (in an unknown language). The original text from the French play is given to the character Salatin – apparently a version of Saladin – who in this play is labelled a sorcerer; Salatin uses these words to invoke the Devil:
| 1
|
[
"Le Miracle de Théophile",
"language of work or name",
"Old French"
] |
Le Miracle de Théophile (The Miracle of Theophilus) is a thirteenth-century miracle play written in Langues d'oïl, circa 1261 by the trouvère Rutebeuf.The play is a religious drama, drawn from traditional accounts of the lives of the Saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the play, Théophile sells his soul to the Devil. Overcome by remorse, he prays to the Virgin Mary, who delivers him from the cursed pact.The play refers to the legendary history of St. Theophilus of Adana, who according to traditional saints' legends made a pact with the Devil and repented of it.
This play is the original source of an influential invocation to the Devil (in an unknown language). The original text from the French play is given to the character Salatin – apparently a version of Saladin – who in this play is labelled a sorcerer; Salatin uses these words to invoke the Devil:
| 2
|
[
"Le Miracle de Théophile",
"genre",
"play"
] |
Le Miracle de Théophile (The Miracle of Theophilus) is a thirteenth-century miracle play written in Langues d'oïl, circa 1261 by the trouvère Rutebeuf.The play is a religious drama, drawn from traditional accounts of the lives of the Saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the play, Théophile sells his soul to the Devil. Overcome by remorse, he prays to the Virgin Mary, who delivers him from the cursed pact.The play refers to the legendary history of St. Theophilus of Adana, who according to traditional saints' legends made a pact with the Devil and repented of it.
This play is the original source of an influential invocation to the Devil (in an unknown language). The original text from the French play is given to the character Salatin – apparently a version of Saladin – who in this play is labelled a sorcerer; Salatin uses these words to invoke the Devil:
| 3
|
[
"Le Miracle de Théophile",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
Le Miracle de Théophile (The Miracle of Theophilus) is a thirteenth-century miracle play written in Langues d'oïl, circa 1261 by the trouvère Rutebeuf.The play is a religious drama, drawn from traditional accounts of the lives of the Saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the play, Théophile sells his soul to the Devil. Overcome by remorse, he prays to the Virgin Mary, who delivers him from the cursed pact.The play refers to the legendary history of St. Theophilus of Adana, who according to traditional saints' legends made a pact with the Devil and repented of it.
This play is the original source of an influential invocation to the Devil (in an unknown language). The original text from the French play is given to the character Salatin – apparently a version of Saladin – who in this play is labelled a sorcerer; Salatin uses these words to invoke the Devil:
| 4
|
[
"Mankind (play)",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
Mankind is an English medieval morality play, written c. 1470. The play is a moral allegory about Mankind, a representative of the human race, and follows his fall into sin and his repentance. Its author is unknown; the manuscript is signed by a monk named Hyngham, believed to have transcribed the play. Mankind is unique among moralities for its surprising juxtaposition of serious theological matters and colloquial (sometimes obscene) dialogue. Along with the morality plays Wisdom and The Castle of Perseverance, Mankind belongs to the collection of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., as a part of the Macro Manuscript (so named after 18th-century owner Cox Macro).Synopsis
The play is a moral allegory about Mankind, a representative of the human race, and follows his fall into sin and his repentance. The audience is instructed in the proper Christian life by watching Mankind's fall and redemption.
The play begins with Mercy, who instructs the audience in how they should behave but is soon interrupted by Mischief (whose name indicates, in fifteenth-century English, something much more serious than the 'prank' it means now). Mischief mocks Mercy's preaching. A page is then missing in the manuscript. When the play resumes, Mischief has departed and New Guise (i.e., 'Fashion), Nowadays (i.e. 'living for today') and Nought (i.e. 'nothingness') are on stage. They continue the mockery of Mercy. After their exit, Mercy again addresses the audience, explaining why the three are evil and urging the audience to not follow their example.
Mankind enters, and addresses the audience, introducing himself. He is a farmer, and is resolved to live a virtuous life. Mercy instructs Mankind about how to continue in this goal, warning him specifically about Mischief, New Guise, Nowadays and Nought. But Mankind has to stand against temptation on his own, and so Mercy leaves.
New Guise, Nowadays and Nought return to tempt Mankind. First, they encourage the audience to join in with a scatological song. Then they turn their attention to Mankind, but he successfully resists their enticements and beats them off with his spade.
Mischief returns and conspires with New Guise, Nowadays and Nought to bring in a greater devil, Titivillus. But first, they demand that the audience pay money before they can see Titivillus. When the audience does so, Titivillus enters, and begins immediately making Mankind's life difficult. The audience can see him, but he is invisible to Mankind. He hardens the ground, making it hard to farm. He steals Mankind's seed and spade. He induces a need to urinate. He distracts him from his prayers. Finally Mankind becomes so frustrated that he gives up and goes to sleep, and Titivillus whispers to him that Mercy is dead. Through his scene, Titivillus implores the audience to keep silent and watch him, which makes the audience complicit in his actions.
Thus deluded, Mankind rejects Mercy and goes to join New Guise, Nowadays and Nought. But now their full evil is revealed. Mischief has been in jail, and has escaped, robbed the jailer, and raped his wife. New Guise has narrowly escaped hanging. Nowadays has robbed a church. The three have Mankind swear vows to join their gang, vows which also show their depravity—to be a highway robber, to seduce women, to 'rob, steal, and kill as fast as you may go' (708). When they leave, Mercy returns to plead with the audience about the unreliability of Mankind, and to pray for his redemption.
The three reveal to Mankind that Mercy is not really dead, and tempt him to kill himself rather than face Mercy. But Mercy chases them away.
The final struggle for Mankind's redemption is with himself. Mercy tells him all that he must do to be forgiven is to ask, but Mankind finds this difficult and raises a series of objections. The theology of the ending focuses on perseverance, on living as a Christian even while continuing to sin, even while trying not to, and having to repeatedly ask for mercy for those offences. Mankind finally accepts Mercy, and then promptly tries to blame the devils for his problems, but Mercy reminds him that he warned Mankind about them. For the play ends with Mercy addressing the audience again, exhorting them to repentance.
| 3
|
[
"The World and the Child",
"form of creative work",
"play"
] |
The World and the Child (Latin: Mundus et Infans) is an anonymous English morality play. Its source is a late 14th-century or 15th-century poem The Mirror of the Periods of Man's Life, from which the play borrows significantly while reducing the number of characters. It is thought to have influenced William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1.Date
The earliest surviving edition (printed by Wynkyn de Worde) is dated 17 July 1522, although the play is believed to have been written earlier than that and to have circulated in manuscript form. A bookseller in Oxford records the sale of "mundus a play" in 1520. T. W. Craik suggests a date of 1508 while MacCracken offers sometime in the late 15th century.
| 0
|
[
"The World and the Child",
"genre",
"morality play"
] |
The World and the Child (Latin: Mundus et Infans) is an anonymous English morality play. Its source is a late 14th-century or 15th-century poem The Mirror of the Periods of Man's Life, from which the play borrows significantly while reducing the number of characters. It is thought to have influenced William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1.
| 1
|
[
"Everyman (15th-century play)",
"genre",
"morality play"
] |
The Somonyng of Everyman (The Summoning of Everyman), usually referred to simply as Everyman, is a late 15th-century morality play. Like John Bunyan's 1678 Christian novel The Pilgrim's Progress, Everyman uses allegorical characters to examine the question of Christian salvation and what Man must do to attain it.Summary
The plot is that the good and evil deeds of one's life will be tallied by God after death, as in a ledger book. The play is the allegorical accounting of the life of Everyman, who represents all mankind. In the course of the action, Everyman tries to convince other characters to accompany him in the hope of improving his life. All the characters are also mystical; the conflict between good and evil is shown by the interactions between the characters. Everyman is being singled out because it is difficult for him to find characters to accompany him on his pilgrimage. Everyman eventually realizes through this pilgrimage that he is essentially alone, despite all the personified characters that were supposed necessities and friends to him. Everyman learns that when you are brought to death and placed before God, all you are left with are your own good deeds.
| 3
|
[
"A Satire of the Three Estates",
"genre",
"morality play"
] |
A Satire of the Three Estates (Middle Scots: Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis), is a satirical morality play in Middle Scots, written by makar Sir David Lyndsay. The complete play was first performed outside in the playing field at Cupar, Fife in June 1552 during the Midsummer holiday, where the action took place under Castle Hill. It was subsequently performed in Edinburgh, also outdoors, in 1554. The full text was first printed in 1602 and extracts were copied into the Bannatyne Manuscript. The Satire is an attack on the Three Estates represented in the Parliament of Scotland – the clergy, lords and burgh representatives, symbolised by the characters Spiritualitie, Temporalitie and Merchant. The clergy come in for the strongest criticism. The work portrays the social tensions present at this pivotal moment in Scottish history.
| 4
|
[
"The Disobedient Child",
"author",
"Thomas Ingelend"
] |
The Disobedient Child is a theatrical comic interlude written c.1560 by Thomas Ingelend (an author who is known only as a "late student of Cambridge", as described on the first edition's title-page) and first performed in a Tudor hall.This play contains the famous line: "None is so deaf as who will not hear."
| 1
|
[
"The Disobedient Child",
"form of creative work",
"play"
] |
The Disobedient Child is a theatrical comic interlude written c.1560 by Thomas Ingelend (an author who is known only as a "late student of Cambridge", as described on the first edition's title-page) and first performed in a Tudor hall.This play contains the famous line: "None is so deaf as who will not hear."
| 2
|
[
"The Disobedient Child",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
The Disobedient Child is a theatrical comic interlude written c.1560 by Thomas Ingelend (an author who is known only as a "late student of Cambridge", as described on the first edition's title-page) and first performed in a Tudor hall.This play contains the famous line: "None is so deaf as who will not hear."
| 3
|
[
"Palamon and Arcite (Edwardes)",
"form of creative work",
"play"
] |
Palamon and Arcite (1566) is a play by Richard Edwardes, which was performed before Elizabeth I at Oxford. It is based on Chaucer's The Knight's Tale. Though the text of the play is lost, there is a detailed record of its structure and plot.
The performance was a highly spectacular affair organised by staff and students of Oxford University. The event was vividly recalled and described by many contemporary witnesses.Context
The play was created for a visit of the queen to Christ Church, Oxford, part of Oxford University. Edwardes was the courtier whose job it was to organise the Royal entertainments. He is usually credited as its author, but one writer at the time said that it was translated "from the Latin into the English tongue by Master Edwards and some other alumni of the college." However, no Latin original is known, and the source (Chaucer) is English. No other source says this; the writer may be conflating the play with others performed at the same event, a comedy and a tragedy, both in Latin, written by Oxford scholars. The performance was spread over two days, 2 and 4 September 1566.According to Edwardes's biographer Albert Cook, the play was carefully crafted to appeal to Elizabeth, by emphasising the virginal purity of the heroine Emilia. But it was created at a time when Elizabeth was still young, and it was expected that she would marry at some point, as Emilia does at the end. The final scene was applauded and the queen gave a reward in gold coins (angels) to the actors in the principal female roles, Emilia and Hippolyta. The latter was performed by John Rainolds, who later became a leading Puritan, and recalled his youthful cross-dressing role with embarrassment.
| 0
|
[
"Palamon and Arcite (Edwardes)",
"author",
"Richard Edwardes"
] |
Palamon and Arcite (1566) is a play by Richard Edwardes, which was performed before Elizabeth I at Oxford. It is based on Chaucer's The Knight's Tale. Though the text of the play is lost, there is a detailed record of its structure and plot.
The performance was a highly spectacular affair organised by staff and students of Oxford University. The event was vividly recalled and described by many contemporary witnesses.Context
The play was created for a visit of the queen to Christ Church, Oxford, part of Oxford University. Edwardes was the courtier whose job it was to organise the Royal entertainments. He is usually credited as its author, but one writer at the time said that it was translated "from the Latin into the English tongue by Master Edwards and some other alumni of the college." However, no Latin original is known, and the source (Chaucer) is English. No other source says this; the writer may be conflating the play with others performed at the same event, a comedy and a tragedy, both in Latin, written by Oxford scholars. The performance was spread over two days, 2 and 4 September 1566.According to Edwardes's biographer Albert Cook, the play was carefully crafted to appeal to Elizabeth, by emphasising the virginal purity of the heroine Emilia. But it was created at a time when Elizabeth was still young, and it was expected that she would marry at some point, as Emilia does at the end. The final scene was applauded and the queen gave a reward in gold coins (angels) to the actors in the principal female roles, Emilia and Hippolyta. The latter was performed by John Rainolds, who later became a leading Puritan, and recalled his youthful cross-dressing role with embarrassment.
| 1
|
[
"Palamon and Arcite (Edwardes)",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
Palamon and Arcite (1566) is a play by Richard Edwardes, which was performed before Elizabeth I at Oxford. It is based on Chaucer's The Knight's Tale. Though the text of the play is lost, there is a detailed record of its structure and plot.
The performance was a highly spectacular affair organised by staff and students of Oxford University. The event was vividly recalled and described by many contemporary witnesses.
| 2
|
[
"Liberality and Prodigality",
"form of creative work",
"play"
] |
Liberality and Prodigality (A Pleasant Comedie, shewing the contention betweene Liberalitie and Prodigalitie, also known as Contention between Liberality and Prodigality) is a morality play by an unknown author from c.1567. Its title page also reads: "As it was played before her Maiestie. London Printed by Simon Stafford for George Vincent, and are to be sold at the signs of the Hand in hand in Wood-street over against S. Michaels Church."
The play is a farcical allegorization of the relationship between the ethical concepts of Liberality and Prodigality, the qualities of which are derived from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. It is notable for being one of the earliest attempts to present an Aristotelian dramatization of these qualities in early modern drama.The copy of this play in the Garrick Collection appears to be the only one known. There is some internal evidence, from the allusion to the 43rd year of Queen Elizabeth, that the production was performed before her Majesty in 1600; and it seems likely that it was a revival of a more ancient piece. Edward Phillips, author of the Theatrum Poetarum, assigned it to Robert Greene, but this attribution is dubious.
| 0
|
[
"Liberality and Prodigality",
"genre",
"morality play"
] |
Liberality and Prodigality (A Pleasant Comedie, shewing the contention betweene Liberalitie and Prodigalitie, also known as Contention between Liberality and Prodigality) is a morality play by an unknown author from c.1567. Its title page also reads: "As it was played before her Maiestie. London Printed by Simon Stafford for George Vincent, and are to be sold at the signs of the Hand in hand in Wood-street over against S. Michaels Church."
The play is a farcical allegorization of the relationship between the ethical concepts of Liberality and Prodigality, the qualities of which are derived from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. It is notable for being one of the earliest attempts to present an Aristotelian dramatization of these qualities in early modern drama.The copy of this play in the Garrick Collection appears to be the only one known. There is some internal evidence, from the allusion to the 43rd year of Queen Elizabeth, that the production was performed before her Majesty in 1600; and it seems likely that it was a revival of a more ancient piece. Edward Phillips, author of the Theatrum Poetarum, assigned it to Robert Greene, but this attribution is dubious.
| 1
|
[
"Horestes",
"form of creative work",
"play"
] |
Horestes is a late Tudor morality play by the English dramatist John Pickering. It was first published in 1567 and was most likely performed by Lord Rich's men as part of the Christmas revels at court that year. The play's full title is A new interlude of Vice containing the history of Horestes with the cruel revengement of his father's death upon his one natural mother. It has been proposed that John Pickering (John Pickeryng) is likely to be the same person as lawyer and politician Sir John Puckering.
| 0
|
[
"Horestes",
"genre",
"morality play"
] |
Horestes is a late Tudor morality play by the English dramatist John Pickering. It was first published in 1567 and was most likely performed by Lord Rich's men as part of the Christmas revels at court that year. The play's full title is A new interlude of Vice containing the history of Horestes with the cruel revengement of his father's death upon his one natural mother. It has been proposed that John Pickering (John Pickeryng) is likely to be the same person as lawyer and politician Sir John Puckering.
| 1
|
[
"Horestes",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
Horestes is a late Tudor morality play by the English dramatist John Pickering. It was first published in 1567 and was most likely performed by Lord Rich's men as part of the Christmas revels at court that year. The play's full title is A new interlude of Vice containing the history of Horestes with the cruel revengement of his father's death upon his one natural mother. It has been proposed that John Pickering (John Pickeryng) is likely to be the same person as lawyer and politician Sir John Puckering.
| 2
|
[
"Aminta",
"characters",
"Silvia"
] |
Text
The text is written in hendecasyllabic and septenary verses; it is divided into five acts.
The play has a pastoral theme, and is set in the time of Alexander the Great. The characters are shepherds and nymphs.
The story is about Aminta's love for the beautiful nymph Silvia, who does not return his attentions and prefers hunting. She risks rape at the hands of a Satyr but Aminta saves her; however, again she flees from him. Aminta, finding her blood-stained veil, attempts to kill himself. Now Silvia is remorseful, comes back to cry over Aminta's body who is still alive, and the two can happily marry, following the advice that older and wiser friends had been giving them.
| 2
|
[
"Aminta",
"author",
"Torquato Tasso"
] |
Aminta is a play written by Torquato Tasso in 1573, represented during a garden party at the court of Ferrara. Both the actors and the public were noble persons living at the Court, who could understand subtle allusions the poet made to that style of life, in contrast with the life of shepherds, represented in an idyllic way.
| 6
|
[
"The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys",
"country of origin",
"Poland"
] |
The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys: 68 (title also rendered as The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys, The Discharge of the Greek Envoys, and The Envoys; Polish: Odprawa posłów greckich) is a tragedy written by Polish Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski ca. 1565-66 and first published and performed in 1578.
It recounts an incident leading up to the Trojan War, inspired by the writings of Homer. It is widely recognized as one of Kochanowski's finest works, and one of the most significant early plays written in Polish.
| 0
|
[
"The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys",
"language of work or name",
"Polish"
] |
The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys: 68 (title also rendered as The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys, The Discharge of the Greek Envoys, and The Envoys; Polish: Odprawa posłów greckich) is a tragedy written by Polish Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski ca. 1565-66 and first published and performed in 1578.
It recounts an incident leading up to the Trojan War, inspired by the writings of Homer. It is widely recognized as one of Kochanowski's finest works, and one of the most significant early plays written in Polish.
| 2
|
[
"The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys",
"time period",
"Renaissance"
] |
The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys: 68 (title also rendered as The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys, The Discharge of the Greek Envoys, and The Envoys; Polish: Odprawa posłów greckich) is a tragedy written by Polish Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski ca. 1565-66 and first published and performed in 1578.
It recounts an incident leading up to the Trojan War, inspired by the writings of Homer. It is widely recognized as one of Kochanowski's finest works, and one of the most significant early plays written in Polish.
| 3
|
[
"The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys",
"form of creative work",
"play"
] |
The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys: 68 (title also rendered as The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys, The Discharge of the Greek Envoys, and The Envoys; Polish: Odprawa posłów greckich) is a tragedy written by Polish Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski ca. 1565-66 and first published and performed in 1578.
It recounts an incident leading up to the Trojan War, inspired by the writings of Homer. It is widely recognized as one of Kochanowski's finest works, and one of the most significant early plays written in Polish.
| 4
|
[
"The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys",
"depicts",
"Trojan War"
] |
The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys: 68 (title also rendered as The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys, The Discharge of the Greek Envoys, and The Envoys; Polish: Odprawa posłów greckich) is a tragedy written by Polish Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski ca. 1565-66 and first published and performed in 1578.
It recounts an incident leading up to the Trojan War, inspired by the writings of Homer. It is widely recognized as one of Kochanowski's finest works, and one of the most significant early plays written in Polish.
| 7
|
[
"The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys",
"author",
"Jan Kochanowski"
] |
The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys: 68 (title also rendered as The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys, The Discharge of the Greek Envoys, and The Envoys; Polish: Odprawa posłów greckich) is a tragedy written by Polish Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski ca. 1565-66 and first published and performed in 1578.
It recounts an incident leading up to the Trojan War, inspired by the writings of Homer. It is widely recognized as one of Kochanowski's finest works, and one of the most significant early plays written in Polish.
| 9
|
[
"The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys",
"genre",
"tragedy"
] |
The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys: 68 (title also rendered as The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys, The Discharge of the Greek Envoys, and The Envoys; Polish: Odprawa posłów greckich) is a tragedy written by Polish Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski ca. 1565-66 and first published and performed in 1578.
It recounts an incident leading up to the Trojan War, inspired by the writings of Homer. It is widely recognized as one of Kochanowski's finest works, and one of the most significant early plays written in Polish.
| 10
|
[
"The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys",
"instance of",
"literary work"
] |
The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys: 68 (title also rendered as The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys, The Discharge of the Greek Envoys, and The Envoys; Polish: Odprawa posłów greckich) is a tragedy written by Polish Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski ca. 1565-66 and first published and performed in 1578.
It recounts an incident leading up to the Trojan War, inspired by the writings of Homer. It is widely recognized as one of Kochanowski's finest works, and one of the most significant early plays written in Polish.
| 17
|
[
"Ballet Comique de la Reine",
"country of origin",
"France"
] |
The Ballet Comique de la Reine (at the time spelled Balet comique de la Royne) was an elaborate court spectacle performed on October 15, 1581, during the reign of Henry III of France, in the large hall of the Hôtel de Bourbon, adjacent to the Louvre Palace in Paris. It is often referred to as the first ballet de cour.
| 1
|
[
"Ballet Comique de la Reine",
"genre",
"comédie-ballet"
] |
The Ballet Comique de la Reine (at the time spelled Balet comique de la Royne) was an elaborate court spectacle performed on October 15, 1581, during the reign of Henry III of France, in the large hall of the Hôtel de Bourbon, adjacent to the Louvre Palace in Paris. It is often referred to as the first ballet de cour.
| 2
|
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