Tragedy, Sophocles, & The Women of Trachis

Dionysus & Drama

• Semele

The Dionysia

• 3 tragedies • 1 satyr play• Aeschylus• Sophocles• Euripides

Goat Song

• Tragos - goat• Aoidé - song• All-male cast• Masks• Chorus:

12/15/50• Lyric Song• Dithyramb

Tragic Conventions• Violence, critical acts

usually offstage• Chorus almost never

effects action of play.• Sophocles often makes

chorus favor a character, interested in outcome.

• Unity of Time Violated• Change of Place Rare

(but Ajax)

Satyr Play

• Grotesque Stories• Chorus of Satyrs

– Half goat/horse with phalli

Originators as Innovators

• Thespis: 1st actor• Aeschylus: 2nd• Sophocles: 3rd, and

maybe 4th• All adapted myths to fit

their needs (Euripides most of all)

Trachiniae of

Sophocles• Women of

Trachis• Chorus• Death of Herakles

Herakles as archetypal hero

• miraculous conception • threat to birth +

infancy • impossible adversaries • trips to Underworld • adventures in quest• magical tools/weapons• resistance of hero role

or temptation

Miraculous Conception of Herakles

• Amphitryon• Alkmene• Zeus• Hermes• Iphikles

“Fame of Hera”

Threat to the Child

• Early Career as Beast-slayer

Happily Ever After?

• Herakles & Megara

• 3-8 Kids!• BUT…• Maddened by

Hera, kills Family• Delphic Oracle

orders enslavement to Eurystheus for atonement

Herakles’ Family Tree

Hera’s Trick• "Listen to me, all you gods, and goddesses ... I

wish you to know that this day Eilithyia, the goddess of travail, will bring into the world a human child, born of a stock with my blood in their veins, who shall have dominion over all his neighbours." Zeus Iliad 19.100ff

• "I hasten to inform you that today there has been born a noble child who is to be King of the Argives. They have called him Eurystheus, and his father is Sthenelus, son of Perseus. So he comes of your stock, and it is quite a proper thing that he should have dominion over the Argives." Hera Iliad 19.122ff

Labors of Herakles: I-VI

1. Slay the Nemean Lion & bring back hide.2. Slay the 9-headed Lernaean Hydra.3. Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis.4. Capture the Erymanthian Boar.5. Clean the Augean stables in a single day.6. Slay the Stymphalian Birds.

Labors of Herakles: VII-XII

7. Capture the Cretan Bull.8. Steal Mares of Giant Diomedes.9. Obtain Girdle of Amazon queen Hippolyte.10. Obtain the Cattle of the Monster Geryon.11. Steal the Apples of the Hesperides,

guarded by Ladon (100-headed dragon).12. Capture Cerberus, guardian dog of Hades.

The 13th Labor…

Thespius & The 50 Thespiades

Labor Images I

Labor Images II

Cerberus & the Apples of The Hesperides

• Trickster Hero• Humorous Elements

Herakles at Crossroads

• Virtue or Vice

• Temptation

Heracles as Comic Figure

Trips to Underworld

• Alcestis• Cerberus• Theseus• Geryon?

Nessus, Deianeira, & the Doom of Herakles

Herakles’ Wandering

Eye• Many

Extramarital Liaisons

• Iole different• “to lie under one

blanket” with Deianeira!

Mens Rea?

• Aphrodisiac as Poison• Excessively Lustful• Malleable at Home• Impotent• Dead…

• Deianeira “Man-destroyer”• DeMorgan

Killed by Dead Enemy

• Nessus• Hydra• Philoctetes