March 26, Back to the Greeks.

On March 26 we will be discussing a play by 6th century BC Greek playwright Aeschylus: Agamemnon.

Those who do not own a copy of the Great Books Reading Set may download the reading of 63 pp. from http://classics.mit.edu/Aeschylus/agamemnon.html

"Time as he grows old teaches all things."
-- Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound
Posted by Great Books Discussion Group on Sunday, March 29, 2009

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 29, 2009 at 4:49 PM

    I was struck by the overpowering role of fate in this play. Do any characters in Greek dramas have "free will" or is "virtue" just a meek submission to the choices made by the gods?
    March 26, 2009 6:42 PM

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  2. AnonymousMarch 29, 2009 at 6:17 PM

    Marilyn asked why the Greek gods were so cruel. My answer--we created them in our own image--was rather careless, a half truth. The true part, I believe, is that all gods are created in the image of those who create them. We imagine the supreme authority figure(s) on the basis of the reality we know. What I did not say was that societies differ in their authority structures. A society in which tribal chiefs rule arbitrarily and have sway over
    life and death--that is, a society like that described in our tragedy is far different than the society in which we live. A society in which the ruler can, on almost a whim, have a subject killed or rape one of the women will have gods that reflect that cruelty. If the ruler must be obeyed without question, that will be reflected in the dominant theocratic beliefs of the society. So, I still think that the gods are created in our image, that we are not all the same and so have radically different gods.--Lee
    March 27, 2009 10:36 AM

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