Greek Playwrights

Question 1

Aeschylus

Answer 1

Greek Tragedian, who added a second actor and reduced the role of the chorus in tragedy. Famous plays include The Oresteia Trilogy, The Persians, Seven Against Thebes.

Question 2

Sophocles

Answer 2

Greek Tragedian, who added a third actor and continued to reduce the chorus role in tragedy. Famous plays include Oedipus Rex, Antigone, and Oedipus at Colonus.

Question 3

Euripedes

Answer 3

Greek Tragedian, who wrote plays that challenged societal norms and presented the gods as petty and selfish. Famous plays include The Trojan Women, The Bacchae, and Medea.

Question 4

Aristophanes

Answer 4

Greek Old Comedy playwright, who was the most famous Greek comedic writer. Plays satirized politics, philosophy and theatre. Plot usually centered on a contest or llogic. Most famous works include Lysistrata, The Frogs, The Birds.

Question 5

Menander

Answer 5

Greek New Comedy playwright, who wrote later than Aristophanes. His plays were situational comedies about domestic family issues