The Early Greek Theater

Abstract

The first great writer for the theater whose work we know was Aeschylus who lived from 525 to 456 B C and is considered the father of Greek tragic drama. Aeschylus wrote over seventy plays, of which only seven have come down to us. Aeschylus surpassed his contemporaries and his successors in his great tragic power (as in Agamemnon, with its dire prophecies by the Chorus, Cassandra's rantings, Agamemnon's scream of death, and Clytemnestra's remorseless gloating over Agamemnon's murder), dramatic effects, and originality of ideas. In the Persians, one of his earliest plays, he introduced a second actor, and consequently much more dialogue. The first great rival of Aeschylus was Sophocles. He did much to humanize both the language and the characters of the tragedy. Sophocles wrote well over a hundred plays, but only seven survive: Oedipus the King, Oedipus Coloneus, Antigone, Electra, The Trachinian Women, Ajax and Philoctetes. Euripides followed Sophocles as the third great tragic poet. Seventeen tragedies and one satire-play survive of the approximately ninety-two plays composed by Euripides. Aristophanes was the great writer of comedies. His extant work was produced from 425 to 388 B C.