The Oresteia

Aeschylus

a full cast (Narrator)

01-01-06

3hrs 38min

Abridgement

Audio Theater

Genre

Fiction/Classics

As low as $0.00
Play Audio Sample

01-01-06

3hrs 38min

Abridgement

Audio Theater

Genre

Fiction/Classics

Description

“The greatest achievement of the human mind.” Algernon Charles Swinburne

The only complete trilogy to survive from ancient Greek theater is presented here in this sound recording of all three plays: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides.

In the Oresteia, Aeschylus dramatizes the myth of the curse on the royal house of Argos. Action begins when King Agamemnon returns victorious from the Trojan War but is treacherously slain by his wife. It ends with the trial of their son, Orestes, who slew his mother to avenge her treachery—a trial with the goddess Athena as judge, the god Apollo as defense attorney, and avenging demons called The Furies as prosecutors. The results of the trial change the nature of divine and human justice forever.

As was the custom in antiquity, this trilogy was accompanied by a satyr play called Proteus, a broad farce on a related theme, namely, the encounter between Agamemnon’s brother, Menelaus, with the slippery Old Man of the Sea. This play is lost, but Blackstone has included verses from The Odyssey, which inspired it.

Praise

“The greatest achievement of the human mind.” Algernon Charles Swinburne

“Although these Greek plays are twenty-five centuries old, this production is, remarkably, the first audio release to include the complete trilogy…It features a fine performance by Robertson Dean.” AudioFile

“The Oresteia is perhaps the most unusual tragedy in the theater of the West and certainly one of the very greatest.” David Grene, University of Chicago scholar and noted translator of ancient Greek texts

“In their day, these poetic, highly stylized tragedies were chanted rather than acted…Thus they work particularly well in audio format. This production makes the most of modern technology to create haunting choral effects. The individual actors are all well-cast, and their performances are evenly balanced.” Kliatt

“The Oresteia is not merely a magnificent work, it is one of the supreme achievements of classical culture…the Oresteia is splendid, and as a depiction of the cumulative power of evil it is unsurpassed.” Masterpieces of World Literature

“In this terrifying masterpiece of his last years, Aeschylus passed through tragedy and out onto the other side: to a Divine Comedy of the stage.” Reader’s Encyclopedia of World Drama

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Details
More Information
Language English
Release Day Dec 31, 2005
Release Date January 1, 2006
Release Date Machine 1136073600
Imprint Blackstone Publishing
Provider Blackstone Publishing
Categories Literature & Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Drama & Plays, Classics, Evergreen Classics, Evergreen Classics, Classics, Fiction - All, Fiction - Adult
Author Bio
Aeschylus

Aeschylus (c. 525–456 BC) was the earliest of the three great tragic playwrights of ancient Greece whose work has survived to the twenty-first century. He fought bravely in the Battle of Salamis, which inspired his first surviving play, The Persians. According to legend, he died in Sicily when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head.

Narrator Bio

Overview

The only complete trilogy to survive from ancient Greek theater is presented here in this sound recording of all three plays: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides.

In the Oresteia, Aeschylus dramatizes the myth of the curse on the royal house of Argos. Action begins when King Agamemnon returns victorious from the Trojan War but is treacherously slain by his wife. It ends with the trial of their son, Orestes, who slew his mother to avenge her treachery—a trial with the goddess Athena as judge, the god Apollo as defense attorney, and avenging demons called The Furies as prosecutors. The results of the trial change the nature of divine and human justice forever.

As was the custom in antiquity, this trilogy was accompanied by a satyr play called Proteus, a broad farce on a related theme, namely, the encounter between Agamemnon’s brother, Menelaus, with the slippery Old Man of the Sea. This play is lost, but Blackstone has included verses from The Odyssey, which inspired it.

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