Agamemnon Flashcards
When did Aeschylus live?
525-455
Aeschylus
Father of Tragedy
Fought in Persian wars
Used special effects and dialogue
Setting of the play performance
Dionysia (religious festival)
Dionysia
Spring, performed plays once, competition, 3 tragedies and 1 Satyr play (separate comedy competition)
Date
458
Trilogy
Orestia
Orestia
Trilogy about the curse of the house of Atreus
Plot
Return from Trojan war Wife kills him Takes Aegisthus as a husband Orestes kills his mother endless cycle broken by legal justice system
What does the play show?
Changing world views on war- The Trojan war is portrayed as bad, everyone is miserable, same issues as current Persian war
Clytemnestra
Agamemnon’s wife, described like a man
What did Agamemnon do that his wife wants to kill him?
Sacrificed their daughter to get good winds
Iphigenia
Daughter
Cassandra
Trojan princess and prophet, cursed that no one ever believes her prophecies
Aegisthus
Agamemnon’s cousin
Orestes
Agamemnon’s son, kills his mother