The Furies

By Aeschylus

This classic trilogy by the great tragedian deals with the bloody history of the House of Atreus. Grand in style, rich in diction and dramatic dialogue, the plays embody Aeschylus' concerns with the destiny and fate of both individuals and the state, all played out under the watchful eye of the gods.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Start Publishing LLC
• Release date: Apr 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781627930284

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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The Furies

by Aeschylus

Start Publishing LLC

Copyright © 2012 by Start Publishing LLC

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

First Start Publishing eBook edition October 2012

Start Publishing is a registered trademark of Start Publishing LLC

Manufactured in the United States of America

10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1

ISBN 978-1-62793-028-4

Table of Contents

Dramatis Personae

Introduction

The Furies

Dramatis Personae

THE PYTHIAN

PRIESTESS

APOLLO

ORESTES

THE GHOST OF CLYTEMNESTRA

CHORUS OF FURIES

ATHENA

ATTENDANTS OF ATHENA

TWELVE ATHENIAN CITIZENS

Introduction

Of the life of Aeschylus, the first of the three great masters of Greek tragedy, only a very meager outline has come down to us. He was born at Eleusis, near Athens, B. C. 525, the son of Euphorion. Before he was twenty-five he began to compete for the tragic prize, but did not win a victory for twelve years. He spent two periods of years in Sicily, where he died in 456, killed, it is said, by a tortoise which an eagle dropped on his head. Though a professional writer, he did his share of fighting for his country, and is reported to have taken part in the battles of Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea.

Of the seventy or eighty plays which he is said to have written, only seven survive: The Persians, dealing with the defeat of Xerxes at Salamis; The Seven against Thebes, part of a tetralogy on the legend of Thebes; The Suppliants, on the daughters of Danaüs; Prometheus Bound, part of a trilogy, of which the first part was probably Prometheus, the Fire-bringer, and the last, Prometheus Unbound; and the Oresteia, the only example of a complete Greek tragic trilogy which has come down to us, consisting of Agamemnon, Choephorae (The Libation-Bearers), and the Eumenides (Furies).

The importance of Aeschylus in the development of the drama is immense. Before him tragedy had consisted of the chorus and one actor; and by introducing a second actor, expanding the dramatic dialogue thus made possible, and reducing the lyrical parts, he practically created Greek tragedy as we understand it. Like other writers of his time, he acted in his own plays, and trained the chorus in their dances and songs; and he did much to give impressiveness to the performances by his development of the accessories of scene and costume on the stage. Of the four plays here reproduced, Prometheus Bound holds an exceptional place in the literature of the world. (As conceived by Aeschylus, Prometheus is the champion of man against the oppression of Zeus; and the argument of the drama has a certain correspondence to the problem of the Book of Job.) The Oresteian trilogy on The House of Atreus is one of the supreme productions of all literature. It deals with the two great themes of the retribution of crime and

Reviews for The Furies

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although I own this Kindle edition, I actually read a different translation which I can't find here on GoodReads by George Thomson. The Thomson translation was the best of the three Aeschylus plays I have read, and was contained in the anthology Greek Plays in Modern Translation (modern to the editor in 1947 when this book was published).I found this final play of the Orestiea to be an interesting commentary on the need for old ways to surrender to new ones - this was timely in Aeschylus' day and is still valid. Strangely enough, I recently finished a sci fi novella with this same theme. Truly one of universal application!

[mimal_5 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

bookshelves: currently-reading, classic, families, betrayal, fradio, greece, legal-courtcase, lifestyles-deathstyles, lit-richer, mythology, play-dramatisation, published-458bc, radio-3, revenge, winter-20132014Recommended for: BBC Radio ListenersR3 A new version by Rebecca Lenkiewicz of The Furies, the last play in Aeschylus's trilogy.BBC description: The Oresteia: The Furies By Aeschylus. A new version by Rebecca LenkiewiczThe final play in Aeschylus' classic trilogy about murder, revenge and justice. Orestes has avenged his father Agamemnon by murdering his killer, his own mother Clytemnestra. Now the Furies, deities of revenge, are on his trail and baying for blood. Can the young gods Apollo and Athena stop this cycle of revenge?BBC Concert Orchestra Percussionists: Alasdair Malloy, Stephen Webberley and Stephen Whibley Sound design: Colin Guthrie.To halt the blood feud spreading to yet another generation we are introduced to the emergence of the first homicide court.

[jpsnow · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The final installment of the trilogy has Orestes fleeing from the Furies who seek judgement against him for spilling the blood of his own kin. Orestes flees a great distance with them constantly upon him, his primary defense that Apollo bade him to seek justice for the murder of Agammemnon. The Furies finally catch Orestes at a temple of Athena, where he grasps her statue in search of aid. Athena then appears and brings the matter to question, allowing testimony from Apollo, Orestes, and the Ghost of Clytemenstra. The judges decide in favor of Orestes, for which the Furies threaten wrath upon Athens. Athena instead offers them a temple there where the Athenian people will pay them proper respect. We have here another great tragedy - perhaps the best at demonstrating the attitudes of the Greek culture toward religion and justice, as well as the relationship between the major deities. The poetry itself is truly gruesome in some places ("Deep draughts of jellied blood will I sip and sup, Though bitter be the wine. And then when I've sucked thy lifeblood dry, I'll drag thee down below.") I kept a copy of this whole play. It's wonderful.