The famed Athenian tragedy in which Oedipus’s own faults contribute to his tragic downfall. A great masterpiece on which Aristotle based his aesthetic theory of drama in the Poetics and from which Freud derived the Oedipus complex, King Oedipus puts out a sentence on the unknown murderer of his father Laius. By a gradual unfolding of incidents, Oedipus learns that he was the assassin and that Jocasta, his wife, is also his mother. This Enriched Classic Edition includes: -A concise introduction that gives readers important background information -Timelines of significant events in Greek history and theater that provide the book’s historical context -An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations -Detailed explanatory notes -Critical analysis and modern perspectives on the work -Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction -A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader’s experience Enriched Classics offers readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential. Series edited by Cynthia Brantley Johnson
AN EPIC TRAGEDY, WIDELY CONSIDERED TO BE A MASTERPIECE Oedipus Rex, Sophocles’ finest play is considered by many to be the greatest of the classic Greek tragedies. First produced sometime around 429 BC, it exhibits near-perfect harmony of character and action and is a work of extraordinary power which has circulated throughout world culture for thousands of years. After Laius, King of Thebes, learns from an oracle that he is doomed to perish by the hand of his own son, he orders his wife Jocasta to kill his newly born son. Unable to do it, Jocasta entrusts a servant with the task instead, who takes the baby to a mountaintop and leaves him to die of exposure. A passing shepherd rescues the baby and names him Oedipus, taking him to Corinth where he is raised by the childless King Polybus as if it were his own. When Oedipus learns that he is not the biological son of Polybus, he seeks the counsel of the Oracle of Delphi who relates to him that he is doomed to kill his father and marry his mother. The play is a unique combination of a murder mystery, a political thriller, and a psychological whodunit. This ironic story of patricide and incest tells how Oedipus, who has become King of Thebes, in order to stop a plague in his kingdom, is determined to find and punish the former king’s assassin, only to learn that the murderer is himself. At the end of the play, after this truth comes to light, the queen, Jocasta hangs herself while Oedipus, horrified at his patricide and incest, gouges out his own eyes in despair.
Antigone, defying her uncle Creon's decree that her brother should remain unburied, challenges the morality of man's law overruling the laws of the gods. The clash between her and Creon, with its tragic consequences, has inspired continual reinterpretation. This translation by Don Taylor was made for a 1986 BBC TV production of the Theban Plays, which he directed. A Methuen Student Edition.
One of the greatest of the classic Greek tragedies and a masterpiece of dramatic construction. Catastrophe ensues when King Oedipus discovers he has inadvertently killed his father and married his mother. Masterly use of dramatic irony greatly intensifies impact of agonizing events. Sophocles' finest play, Oedipus Rex ranks as a towering landmark of Western drama. A selection of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.
This is an English translation of Sophocles’ tragedy of Antigone and her fate when she decides to bury her dead brother Polyneices. Focus Classical Library provides close translations with notes and essays to provide access to understanding Greek culture.
Includes the plays Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone, collectively known as the Theban plays. Starting with Oedipus the King and ending with the ultimate sacrifice of Antigone, his daughter the plays follow the trials of a family cursed by the edict of an oracle that "you will kill your father and marry with your mother". From the fourth century BC - when Aristotle took Oedipus the King as his model tragedy, the influence of Sophocles' great plays has been assured. These three great tragedies have a relevance and immediacy as metaphors for some of the most fundamentally held beliefs and values in our culture.This volume contains the Theban plays - widely studied in schools and universities. Translated and with an introduction and notes from Don Taylor - the playwright who directed these plays for BBC TV
In this wide-ranging and stimulating book, a leading authority on the history of medicine and science presents convincing evidence that Dutch commerce, not religion, inspired the rise of science in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Harold Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands, Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his conclusions are fresh and exciting. He uncovers direct links between the rise of trade and commerce in the Dutch Empire and the flourishing of scientific investigation. Cook argues that engaging in commerce changed the thinking of Dutch citizens, leading to a new emphasis on such values as objectivity, accumulation, and description. The preference for accurate information that accompanied the rise of commerce also laid the groundwork for the rise of science globally, wherever the Dutch engaged in trade. Medicine and natural history were fundamental aspects of this new science, as reflected in the development of gardens for both pleasure and botanical study, anatomical theatres, curiosity cabinets, and richly illustrated books about nature. Sweeping in scope and original in its insights, this book revises previous understandings of the history of science and ideas.
The latest title to join the acclaimed Greek Tragedy in New Translations series, Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus tells the story of the last day in the life of Oedipus. It was written at the end of the fifth century BCE in Athens, in the final years of the "Golden Age" of Athenian culture, and in the last year of Sophocles' own life. At the center of the play is the mysterious transformation of Oedipus from an old and blind beggar, totally dependent on his daughters, to the man who rises from his seat and, without help, leads everyone to the place where he is destined to die. In the background of this transformation stands the grove of the Furies, the sacred place of the implacable goddesses who pursue the violators of blood relationships. Although Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother, is an obvious target of the Furies' vengeance, he enters their grove at the beginning of the play, sure that it is the resting place Apollo has predicted for him. The reversals and paradoxes in the play speak to the struggle that Oedipus' life and the action of the play bring vividly before us: how do we as humans, subject to constant change, find stable ground on which to stand and define our moral lives? Sophocles offers his play as a witness to the remarkable human capacity to persevere in this struggle.
One of the greatest, most moving of all tragedies, Antigone continues to have meaning for us because of its depiction of the struggle between individual conscience and state policy, and its delicate probing of the nature of human suffering. Mr. Rudall's splendid translation brings a new power and speakability to Sophocles' prose.
Philoktetes Sophocles - Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Philoketes is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet James Scully. A powerful tale born out of the blood and chaos of the Trojan War, Philoketes tells the story of a wounded soldier exiled by Odysseus, and the devastating consequences of the abandoned warrior's dangerously conflicted emotions when his former commander realizes Troy will not fall without Philoktetes and attempts to recruit him once more. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.
A collection that includes the complete texts of Sophocles' Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone—translated by Paul Roche. Revising and updating his classic 1958 translation, Paul Roche captures the dramatic power and intensity, the subtleties of meaning, and the explosive emotions of Sophocles' great Theban trilogy. In vivid, poetic language, he presents the timeless story of a noble family moving toward catastrophe, dragged down from wealth and power by pride, cursed with incest, suicide, and murder. William Carlos Williams called the Roche translation of Antigone “brilliantly successful...as spirited and powerful as the original must have been.” Roche's versions of the Oedipus plays are both stunning and sympathetic, awe-inspiring and intimate, and bring the elemental myths of ancient Greece to life for modern readers. Included in this edition are a glossary of classical names, notes on pronunciation and meter, suggestions for production and acting, and historical material, which offer the reader a greater appreciation of Sophocles' dramatic genius.
Sophocles (497/6-406 BC), considered one of the world's greatest poets, forged tragedy from the heroic excess of myth and legend. Seven complete plays are extant, including Oedipus Tyrannus, Ajax, Antigone, and Philoctetes. Among many fragments that also survive is a substantial portion of the satyr play The Searchers.
Ajax Sophocles - Ajax is enraged because Achilles' armor was awarded to Odysseus, rather than to him. He vows to kill the Greek leaders who disgraced him. Before he can enact his extraordinary revenge, though, he is tricked by the goddess Athena into believing that the sheep and cattle that were taken by the Achaeans as spoil are the Greek leaders. He slaughters some of them, and takes the others back to his home to torture, including a ram which he believes to be his main rival, Odysseus.
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