Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
PHILOSOPHERS AND WRITERS
1. HOMER C.700 BC
Next to nothing is known about the bard who compiled the tales of
The Iliad
and
The Odyssey
. These poems, which were kept alive by oral tradition, are arguably the
greatest and most influential in history.
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2. AESCHYLUS 535-456 BC
When the “Father of Tragedy” began writing, theatre was in its infancy. He brought a
wealth of characters, powerful narratives, grandeur of language, and a sweeping vis-
ion of humans working out a plan of cosmic justice to works such as
Prometheus Un-
bound
and the
Oresteia
.
3. SOPHOCLES 496-406 BC
Only seven of Sophocles' plays survive, but his reputation rests securely on three:
An-
tigone, Oedipus at Colonus
, and
Oedipus Rex
. The last of these, the story of a king
bound hopelessly by fate to murder his father and marry his mother, is the greatest
masterpiece of Greek tragedy.
4. EURIPIDES 484-407 BC
Euripides was the last of the great triumvirate of Greek tragedians. He wrote radical
re-interpretations of the ancient myths in which humans bore their suffering without
reference to the gods or fates. His most famous plays,
The Bacchae
and
Medea
, are
about mothers murdering their children.
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