The Seven Against Thebes

By Aeschylus

Often called the father of Greek tragedy, Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.) was the earliest and possibly the greatest of the Greek tragic poets. Altogether he may have written as many as 90 plays (including satyr plays as well as tragedies), but only seven have survived.
The Seven Against Thebes (first produced in 467 B.C.) was the final play in a trilogy (the other two are lost) dramatizing the well-known legend of Laius and his son Oedipus. In this culminating play, Oedipus is dead after his banishment from Thebes, and his two sons vie for the crown. The victor, Eteocles, expels his brother, Polynices, who flees to Argos and recruits a force of seven champions to lead an assault on Thebes. The tragic outcome is the fulfillment of the curse of Oedipus — that his sons should divide their inheritance with the sword.
Although Sophocles' treatment of the Oedipus legend is better known, the dialogue and imagery in Aeschylus's play retain an immediacy that resonates with modern readers and audiences. The result is a deeply moving theatrical milestone that is essential reading for students of literature, drama, and the classics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Aug 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9780486154299

Aeschylus

Aeschylus (c.525-455 B.C) was an ancient Greek playwright and solider. Scholars’ knowledge of the tragedy genre begins with Aeschylus’ work, and because of this, he is dubbed the “father of tragedy”. Aeschylus claimed his inspiration to become a writer stemmed from a dream he had in which the god Dionysus encouraged him to write a play. While it is estimated that he wrote just under one hundred plays, only seven of Aeschylus’ work was able to be recovered.

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DOVER THRIFT EDITIONS

GENERAL EDITOR: PAUL NEGRI

EDITOR OF THIS VOLUME: JULIE NORD

Copyright

Copyright © 2000 by Dover Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved under Pan American and International Copyright Conventions.

Published in Canada by General Publishing Company, Ltd., 30 Lesmill Road, Don Mills, Toronto, Ontario.

Theatrical Rights

This Dover Thrift Edition may be used in its entirety, in adaptation, or in any other way for theatrical productions, professional and amateur, in the United States, without permission, fee, or acknowledgment. (This may not apply outside of the United States, as copyright conditions may vary.)

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2000, is an unabridged republication of The Seven Against Thebes from The Suppliant Maidens, The Persians, The Seven Against Thebes, The Prometheus Bound of Aeschylus translated into English verse by E. D. A. Morshead, originally published by Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London, in 1928. An introductory Note and several footnotes identifying persons and deities referred to by name in the play have been specially prepared for this edition.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Aeschylus.

[Seven against Thebes. English]

The seven against Thebes / Aeschylus.

p. cm.

Translated into English verse by E.D.A. Morshead.

9780486154299

1. Seven against Thebes (Greek mythology)—Drama. I. Morshead, E. D. A. (Edmund Doidge Anderson) II. Title.

PA3827.S4 M67 2000

882’.01—dc21

00-031389

Manufactured in the United States of America

Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Note

Argument

Dramatis Personæ

Scene—The Acropolis of Thebes.

Note

If anyone may be said to have invented the kind of drama we know as Greek tragedy, it was Aeschylus (525–455/6 B.C.). The drama he wrote, like that of his predecessors, was derived from choral song and dance, and played an important role in the religious and cultural life of the community. Traditionally, the players in each scene consisted of the chorus and a single actor; Aeschylus’ stroke of genius was to add a second actor, thereby vastly increasing his works’ dramatic possibilities.

The generation that followed Aeschylus brought the great dramatists Sophocles and Euripides, who added further refinements to the art form. With the surviving plays of these three—and there are only 32 such plays—we have all the complete examples left to us of one of the greatest and most influential arts of Western civilization. It is believed that Aeschylus himself wrote between seventy and one hundred plays in the 69 years of his life, of which just seven have come down to us. The Seven Against Thebes was the third play in a trilogy dramatizing the legend of Laius, whose defiance of the oracle at Delphi led to his own son Oedipus committing patricide (see Argument, page xi), and to tragedy for all his progeny. The two previous plays in this trilogy are no longer with us, but we do know that the trilogy as a whole won the dramatic crown in 467 B.C.

Much has been written about the fact that the name Thebes is never mentioned in this play. Instead the setting is referred to as Cadmea and the chorus as the Cadmean maidens. It has been suggested that Thebes was not the name in use in Aeschylus’ day and that, moreover, its unique