The Wooden Horse , Keld Zeruneith -- Main Notes -- Re-Posting -- May 31, 2020

This may be the main page for this book.

Chthonic
"homer": to compose; to bind together

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Original Note
Editing and Updating Periodically
Updates Not Necessarily Dated 

This note was originally posted April 3, 2010, but for some reason it linked to Amazon. So I'm re-posting it here so I can link it properly.

The three tragedians: Aeschylus (the old man), Sophocles (the rock star), and Euripides (a rebel, controversial, born in 480 BC). After Euripides, there were no more tragedians of note. Following these three tragedians came the three philosophers: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle (the first scientist).

Important dates:

• Homer probably lived around 650 BC
• Athenians defeat the Persians: 480 BC 
• Golden era of Greece: 5th century BC; under leadership of Pericles, 495 - 429 BC; 15 years old when Athenians crushed the Persians
• Tragedy: during the 50-year golden era of Greece, following the defeat of the Persians
• Aeschylus: 525 - 455 BC -- about 80 years old when he died; middle-aged/older when Persians defeated
• Sophocles: 496 - 406 BC -- about 16 years old when Athenians defeated the Persians; 90 years old
• Euripides: 480 - 406 BC -- 74 years old; born the same year the Athenians defeat the Persians
• Socrates: 470 - 399 BC -- overlapped with Euripides; ten years younger than Euripides
  Plato: 428 - 348 BC -- lived to be 76 years old
• Aristotle: 384 - 322 BC -- lived to be 62 years old
• Alexander the Great: 356 - 323 BC; a contemporary of Aristotle
• Caesar Augustus: founder of the Roman Empire; its first emperor, 63 BC - 14 AD

Note: Pericles was the son of the politician Xanthippus, who, though ostracized in 485 - 484 BC, (Pericles) returned to Athens to command the Athenian contingent in the Greek victory at Mycale just five years later. Mycale was one of the two major battles that ended the second Persian invasion of Greece during the Greco-Persian Wars, late August, 479 BC, on the slopes of Mount Mycale, on the coast of Ionia, opposite the island of Samos. 

Xerxes I led the Persians. Xerxes had taken much of Greece earlier, but at the ensuing Battle of Salamis, Greece won an unlikely victory, and therefore prevented the conquest of the Peloponnese. The Peloponnese is the peninsula, southern Greece, separated from northern Greece by the Gulf of Corinth. 

This might be the best book for someone well versed in Greek mythology and Greek tragedy to use as a reference book for all of this.

The framework for all this:

• the Bible, probably first writings, about 1400 BC; oral history back to 3000 BC
• the poet Homer probably lived around 650 BC
• tragedy "born" in Greece, the 50-year golden era of Greece, following defeat of Persians in 480 BC; tragedians trying to move away from Homer
• three Greek tragedians all you really need to know: Aeschylus (the old man), Sophocles (the rock star), and Euripides (a rebel, controversial, born in 480 BC)
• the three philosopher/scientists followed: Socrates (the philosopher who never wrote down anything); Plato (the student of Socrates; pretty much impossible to separate the philosophy of Socrates from Plato, but easy to separate the men); Aristotle (the first scientist)

The tragedians:

• Aeschylus: Oresteia -- the "tragedy above all other tragedies"; trilogy, second actor, and possibly the third actor, though Sophocles is given credit for the third actor; Oresteia Aeschylus' view of life
• Sophocles: abandoned the trilogy; focused on a single actor as the protagonist; Ajax (one of Sophocles' oldest surviving tragedies); Antigone (written about the same time; much more gruesome than Ajax; Oedipus the King (wrote two plays of Oedipus including just before his death at age 90); Oedipus was Sophocles' view of life, just as Oresteia was for Aeschylus; "Sophocles was unable to let Oedipus go, wanting to demonstrate explicitly that it was meaningful and, above all, an example of how grandly the gods can view a man's destiny, since they finally sanctify Oedipus."
• Euripides: won very few prizes (as opposed to Aeschylus and Sophocles); a rebel; "his main characters display hitherto unseen passions, and dramatically peripheral or useless figures such as peasants appear on stage and are credited with a noble quality that the traditional heroic types lack in their arrogance. In addition, the gods seem to be deranged and Fate irresistible and unavoidable, while love leads to destruction. Women seem to be hated and men pathetic in their oppression." -- p. 456, Zeruneith. Iphigenia at Aulis; Electra; Orestes; Iphigenia at Taurus; Medea; Hippolytos; The Bacchae; 

After Sophocles and Euripides, it appears tragedy was dead because there were no good tragedians.

Did we have to wait almost 2,000 years for Shakespeare to appear?

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Those who want even more of Homer and the Iliad and the Odyssey, I heartily recommend The Wooden Horse by Keld Zeruneith. This is a phenomenal book, copyright 2007; I just happened to run across it at the local discount book store.

I know very little about this Danish author, but it would be hard to imagine someone, anyone, knowing more about Greek mythology, Homer, Hesiod, the Greek tragedians, or the Greek philosophers, than Zeruneith.

His 1970 master's thesis was titled, "The Odyssey Motif in Homer, Virgil, Dante and Joyce."

Some years ago I was in my James Joyce phase and read his Ulysses. In order to attack Ulysses, I had to to a lot of background reading, and even now, I assume I understand less than one percent of Ulysses and probably even less of Homer's duad.

One of the nice things about The Wooden Horse is that once you have read the foreword and the first chapter or so, you can feel comfortable skipping around. The author states at the outset that the book has a "comprehensive conceptual sequence" but the chapters tend to stand alone. It is important to read the first couple chapters in sequence since the author introduces concepts and Greek words that he will dwell on throughout this very, very scholarly study.

It is impossible for me to articulate everything the author has to say, but here is just one passage that should pique your interest:

Odysseus does not get his cunning from strangers. Its genetic source can, as we heard, be traced back to his grandfather Autolykos ("the wolf himself" -- auto [himself]; lykos [wolf]). It has the result that he is always the subject of suspicion and hatred, even among his own in the Iliad.

Seen from the viewpoint of the heroic, it is impossible not to think precisely of the feminine in relation to cunning and the negative assessment of it. It is said that female cunning is the strongest weapon in the world. 

And the two female characters who are supremely skillful at employing this strategy are Penelope, who uses cunning to keep her husband, and Klytemnestra, who does the same to kill hers. 

Women use cunning for at least two reasons. First, because they do not have a man's physique. Secondly, their insight is based on the fact that they are not at one with the male world of action. They can contemplate it from without and then devise their schemes in relation to the motives that make a man act more or less consciously -- especially the latter. In this way, Klytemnestra in the Orestia can manipulate Agamemnon through his vanity to his death.

Note: In Ancient Greek, Lykos (Λύκος) means "wolf" and was the name of many figures in Greek mythology, including kings and princes, often associated with strength and the wild. The word is also the root of the word lycanthropy, the belief in shapeshifting into a wolf. The name "Lycus" is found in various contexts, from mythological rulers like the kings of Libya, Thebes, and Athens, to a character in Sophocles' play Antigone.  

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Plan to be stranded on a South Pacific island this summer? Take a copy of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey; Keld Zeruneith's The Wooden Horse; James Joyce's Ulysses; and, Gifford's Ulysses Annotated.

Discursivity: Philosophy. Chiefly with reference to the philosophy of Kant: the quality of reasoning by a series of logical steps.

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Discursive Democracy vs Direct Democracy

Discursive democracy = deliberative democracy. Compare with "direct democracy."

Direct democracy involves citizens voting directly on laws and policies, while deliberative democracy (also called discursive democracy) emphasizes public deliberation, reasoned discussion, and argumentation before reaching a decision. Direct democracy is a form of citizen rule, whereas deliberative democracy focuses on the process of conversation and debate among citizens, often in smaller groups, to achieve a more informed and legitimate outcome. 

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Chapter I: The Wooden Horse -- The Myth of Discursivity

1. In The Iliad, XV, 71: Homer buries a line, stating that the 10-year siege has been a waste of time. Heroics have not worked; time for strategy, cunning, wiliness; sets the stage in The Iliad for Odysseus. Athena/Athene is the heroine, working through a mortal. The line in XV, 71:

Troy will fall through the designs of Athene.

2. Other references to Odysseus and his wiliness, metis. Interestingly, "no" English words come directly from "metis."

3. A bit of background to the wooden horse:

• Troy can only fall with Herakles' bow
• the bow was made by Herakles but given to Philoktetes who lit Herakles' funeral pyre
• Odysseus had abandoned Philoktetes on Lemnos due to the latter's "putrid" wounds
• Odysseus, Diomedes, and Neoptolemos all go back to rescue Philoktetes; cured
• Philoktetes shoots/kills Prince Paris, who earlier killed Achilles (arrow to his vulnerable heel)

Also, the seer Kalchas says that the Trojan prophet, Helenos (note: named after Helen), the son of Helen and Paris, must be captured and forced to tell the Greeks how Troy can be taken

4. The story of the wooden horse, from architect's design, to entering the city, killing all Trojans, except Aeneas, who escapes with a group of fugitives to become the founder of Rome.

5. The heroic age (Achilles) is thus over; a new age (Odysseus) has begun. The form of consciousness that lay behind the Wooden Horse -- dolos (guile) and metis (shrewdness) represent a watershed in the formation of his (Odysseus') identity.

6. Odysseus: proud to proclaim himself as "the sacker of cities." Agnomen. One of the most commonly used words, polymetis is used 66 times in Odysseus and is also used in The Iliad. The author says no good translation of polymetis: what about "polymath"? Metis was born of Oceanus and Tethys, of an earlier age than Zeus and his siblings.  

Metis was the first great spouse of Zeus. Athene/Athena was the daughter of Metis/Zeus. Thus, the author argues, "polymetis" is has a lineage to Athene/Athena through her mother Metis.

7. "In short, in iconographical terms the Wooden Horse signifies a shift in civilization." The mythical heroic world is overturned.

Might one consider "the Wooden Horse" a metonym for strategic thinking? Could one say, "To solve this problem, we need a "wooden horse.""? A "wooden horse" is more specific than simply "strategic thinking. 

Interestingly, may be this. We have "strategic thinking" and one method of solving a problem is with a "wooden horse." 

8. Sophrosyne. "More particularly, what happens is that Odysseus, by virtue of his metis, is able to act discursively (multiple meanings for discursive: rambling; or moving coherently from topic to topic, contemplative, thinking rationally, considering options). Odysseus able to control his emotions; able to move from mythic heroic world to civilized, intellectual thinking.

First use of sophrosyne: "So this enables Odysseus to exercise a self-control that is peculiar to him and the first example of the composure that later becomes a fundamental value in Greek thinking known as sophrosyne. 

Sophrosyne is an ancient Greek concept and virtue representing a sound mind and excellent character, achieved through moderation, self-control, and temperance. It involves inner harmony, the balance of desires with reason, and the wisdom to know when to act and when to refrain, providing a way to resist impulsiveness and chaos. The concept is rooted in a "sound mind" (sophron) and is considered a fundamental virtue in ancient Greek philosophy, notably in the works of Plato and Aristotle. 

9. "... an understanding of and ability to adapt and control his inner impulses."

10. "On an individual level, Odysseus finally becomes the person he truly is by virtue of the Wooden Horse." He is the original "transformer." A nice summary of this chapter, pp 30 - 31. One almost gets the feeling that the author Keld Zeruneith is taking the baton from the aging Harold Bloom in looking "where wisdom is found."

From wiki:

In Greek mythology, Autolycus (Ancient Greek: Αὐτόλυκος, Autolykos, "The Wolf Itself") was a son of the Olympian god Hermes and Chione. He was the husband of Neaera, or according to Homer, of Amphithea. Autolycus fathered Anticlea (who married Laertes of Ithaca and was the mother of Odysseus) and several sons, of whom only Aesimus is named.

Odysseus is the grandson of the god, Hermes.
 
"Odysseus has inherited this ambiguity from his grandfather Autolykos, a son of the god Hermes, renowned for his cunning and thievish ways. The close relationship to Hermes is also revealing, because not only was he the god of thieves but also the god of transformation and interpretation -- hermeneutics."

Hermeneutics is the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, especially of the Bible or literary texts. 

[Hermeneutics: The early usage of "hermeneutics" places it within the boundaries of the sacred. A divine message must be received with implicit uncertainty regarding its truth. This ambiguity is an irrationality; it is a sort of madness that is inflicted upon the receiver of the message. Only one who possesses a rational method of interpretation (i.e., a hermeneutic) could determine the truth or falsity of the message.

Folk etymology places its origin with Hermes, the mythological Greek deity who was the 'messenger of the gods'. Besides being a mediator between the gods and between the gods and men, he led souls to the underworld upon death. Hermes was also considered to be the inventor of language and speech, an interpreter, a liar, a thief, and a trickster.

These multiple roles made Hermes an ideal representative figure for hermeneutics.] 

Hermeneutics is the theory and practice of interpretation, which can apply to any field requiring understanding, such as texts, actions, or even human existence. It involves the science and art of explaining and making oneself understood, with a key application being textual interpretation, particularly in areas like biblical or literary studies. Hermeneutics can also be understood as a philosophical discipline that analyzes the conditions under which understanding is possible. 

Chapter II: The Homeric Project

The Myth and Metaphor of "Homer"

1. The historical Homer. Most likely lived around 650 B.C.

2. Homer's ancestry: through one story, Homer would be the grandchild of Odysseus (and Odysseus was the grandson of Hermes through his mother). [Note: the author uses the word "grandchild," not "grandson" or "granddaughter."

From Delphi, for example, for example, comes the following answer: "Ithaka is his country, Telemachos his father, Iokaste, Nestor's daughter, his mother." That is to say Homer was supposed to have been the fruit of a possible love relationship between Telemachos and Polykaste, Nestor's daughter, whom he meets on his voyage. In that case, Homer would be the grandchild of Odysseus!

Nestor was 110 years old when he fought with the Greeks in the Trojan war; so his daughter married Telemachos, the son of Odysseus.  

3. The author will dispense with this train of thought, and will take a radically different approach. The author will use the name Homer as a metaphor for the narrator's activity of linking or binding things together: of composing. "The challenge is to find the guiding principle behind the Homeric project that can put the works into a coherent experience and understanding." -- p. 34

4. The importance of Zeus, the "fulfiller of life."

5. "As the beginning of the Iliad has it, the will of Zeus is accomplished, though not completely until and with the end of the Odyssey. Although, at the Iliad's narrative level, it is a matter of restoring Achilleus' honor, this does not preclude that, in a more general sense, it is a question of ending the war."

"Insofar as it is the intent of both Zeus and Homer to guide the specific themes -- wrath and homecoming -- through the Iliad and the Odyssey, it may also be concluded that as a metaphorical entity Homer merges with the divine telos and does so in the composite awareness that of course belongs to the implicit narrator." -- p. 37

 ..... skip around from here....

Chapter III

Dual Religiosity

Chthonic and Olympian Gods

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The Great Mother

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The Origin and Gods of Olympos

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Fate and Free Will

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Delusion

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Religious Duplicity

Many suggest -- Greeks and Homeric point of view: the Olympian gods and the patriarchal world order triumphed over Mother Earth, matriarchal world order, fertility cults -- but author suggests this is far from the case. In fact, there remained many religious festivals directed at the divinities of the underworld, the chthonic.

"It is not possible to maintain a sharp distinction between the upper Olympian and the lower chthonic world of gods and demons (daimones) [this might be first time author uses this word; not sure.] For example, Demeter [fertility god) lives on Olympos, while Zeus can be worshiped under the name of the Zeus of the underworld (Chthonios)."

The tyrant Peisistratos seems to come up in conversation a lot in this book: apparently "the mysteries in honor of Demeter and Dionysos were integrated by Peisistratos into the Athenian state. There were four annual festivals in honor of Dionysos, including the great Dionysian festival in which the tragedy competitions were held."

Strife (eris) vs love (eros).

Chapter IV

Athene and the Apple of Discord -- on Eros, Eris, and Metis 

Eros and eris

Strife and love: forces like gods. 

Zeus' half-hearted attempt to stop the war in Book IV is sabotaged by the still vengeful goddesses Hera and Athene. [Aphrodite "judged" most beautiful of the three.]

Plato: man's highest aspiration -- the development of awareness and self-realization.

Prehistory

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Division and Unification

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Begins with Hesiod, and the Theogeny.

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Athene -- Goddess of metis

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Why Athene gets special attention:

• she is Odysseus' protectress
• she helps Telemachus to mature
• she is behind Penelope's skill at weaving and deceiving the suitors

It appears the Iliad is Achilles; and, in The Odyssey is as much Athene as Odysseus.

Again, the Iliad may be Achilles, but it is the passing of the torch from Achilles (heroic age) to Odysseus (discursive age). 
 
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Chapter V: The Telemachy

A reminder: Odysseus was a demigod, as would be his son Telemachos:

Athene's intervention in the passivity of Telemachus (much like the brooding Hamlet) is the theme of the first four books of the Odyssey, which have often been called the Telemachy. (This make me think of the first five books of Moses being called the Torah -- one wonders.)


The Maternal Bond

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Becoming Independent

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The Archetype of the Journey

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There were two journeys:

• Odysseus: "becoming" human -- "a big step for mankind"
• Telemachos: "becoming" a man -- the matriarchal break

"Their journeys do not have the same content or meaning. For while Odysseus is a traveler on the final leg, on the way toward himself and his final realization, the journey for Telemachos is the first step in becoming independent, which presumes primarily a breach with hismother. So it also has a deper meaning that he should go through this stage in the developemnt of his consciousenss and maturity in a search for his father." 

For Telemachos, the journey away from is mother also becomes a journey back to the heroic reality of men, personified by Nestor and Menelaos -- and under Athene's guidance. He learns here to distinguish what does not correspond to him and accordingly to seek those things that can fulfil his longings. -- p. 145

See this post. 

Chapter VI: Oydsseus

Chapter VII: The Wanderings

Chapter VIII: The Trials of Homecoming

Chapter IX: The Homeric Utopia

PART TWO: Socrates

Chapter X: The Subjective and Reflective Breakthrough in Poetry and Philosophy 

Chapter XIV: The Life and Form of Tragedy

To the world of literature, greatest contribution from Athens: bringing the tragedy to perfection.

The Return of Myth --

Dithyramb and Genesis

1

Aeschylus returns to Homer, as does Socrates.

"Whereas Homer's use of myth was to convert aristocratic and heroic ideals into peaceful ideals, the myth redivivus (through the tragedians) was to formulate a new set of rules for democratic citizens of Athens."

Prior to the three tragedians, others had used myth in a limited way: Hesiod, Archilochus, Solon, Semonides, Mimnermus, Sappho.

2

"It seems to be beyond doubt that Dionysos and tragedy are inextricably linked."

(Hermes was the second youngest of Zeus' progeny; Dionysos was the youngest.) 

Competitions in tragedy in Athens were held in his honor. But it is difficult to explain the connection AND why Dionysos never appears in any of the tragedies.

The author provides a possible connection; he notes that like all other gods, Dionysos appears in different forms -- depending on the function attributed to him (this is really well known for Athene).

Comedies: hallmark -- phallic songs.

In contrast to the phallic songs, there were four other types of songs:

• hymn: prayers to the gods
• lament: a contrasting one to hymns; passionate grief or sorrow
• paeans: enthusiastic praise to the gods
• dithyramb: a hymn devoted to Dionysos. "Dealing," Platos says in The Laws, "if I am not mistaken, with the birth of Dionysos."

The Bacchae is the only extant tragedy about Dionysos and his distinctive features; has the by-name of Dithyrambos in view of the myth that he was born twice; author relates that myth.

Page 331: the connection between the Dionysian intoxication, the tyrant Peisistratos, the birth song and choral form connected with development of the tragedy.

3

"While the basic form of tragedy developed from the Dionysian dithyramb, its content derives from myth, especially as it is known in Homer. Aristotle lived around 150 years after the rise of tragedy, which is why his description is encumbered with the same uncertainty that surrounded the rise of the epic." The author then gives Aristotle's explanation for rise of tragedy.

"Aristotle says that the Dorians in the Peloponnesus claimed to be the originators of tragedy, referring to the fact that the word "comedian" comes from the word for outlying hamlets (komai, which the Athenians called demes), where such figures used to wander about."

In Athens, tradition has it that the first named tragedian Thespis won a prize for a tragedy around 534 BC under the tyrant Peisistratos.

4

The author discusses Nietzsche: "Nietzsche assigns the origins of the tragedy to the Dionysian dithyrambs and the orgiastic life he imagines existed in connection with it."

Dramaturgy

1

The author proposes the following hypothesis on the development of tragedy: in the dithramb's original encomium of Dionysos, his life and deeds are recounted by the chorus leader in an exchange of song and dance with the chorus. In the middle of the 7th century BC, the chorus leader began to fill in his role in dialogue with the chorus and developed into the first actor. A dramatic space for action arose, where a single myth was to condense the sequence of events.

Aristotle confirms: says Aeschylus went from one to two actors. Sophocles introduced the third. At the same time, the chorus recedes ever more into the background as the spokesman for the poet.

Parallel to this, the formal structure of tragedy -- perhaps deriving from the ritual sequence (dromenon) in the dithyramb -- was formed by a prologue, the chorus' entrance song (parados), the plot-driven episodes in which the actors appear, the chorus' song from the orchestra (stasima) and the closing song (exodus). In addition comes the construction of the stage, the introduction of the scenery, a hoist for the deus ex machina -- in short, the whole theatrical apparatus that appears in later theater but was formed already in Greek tragedy -- not forgetting comedy.

2

Tragedy most likely means "goat song," derived from the word tragos, goat, though the reason for this is unclear. The author then gives several possible explanations.

3

Discusses the audience.

Tragedy's Athens

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Regardless of the roots and earliest forms of tragedy, the decisive thing is that it is only known from Athens.

Again, the turning point in Athenian history: crushing the Persian fleet in 480 BC -- against all odds.

2

Discusses the necessary shifts in the minds of the Athenians.

Tragedy According to Aristotle

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Aristotle used tragedy as a paradigm.

2

Even Homer and Hesiod spoke of the power of the fable or poetry over the listener.

3

Common to these tragedies, which developed according to moral necessity, is their telos: to describe human suffering, pathos. For without pathos, the audience cannot experience what is gripping about the mimesis in the play, as the characters elicit "pity (eleos) and fear (phobos) in their fateful deeds wherewith to accomplish [the play's] katharsis of such emotions."

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Chapter XV: Aeschylus

The Poet From Eleusis
(about 11 miles northwest of center of Athens)
1

"In my analysis of the works of Aeschylus, my conclusion that Homer did not have or did not use the same knowledge [as Aeschylus] is based on the fact that he [Aeschylus?] conceived his works in the enlightened region of Ionia with a view to establishing a patriarchal form of government -- by repressing fertility cults such as that of Demeter.

2

The family of Aeschylus belonged to the cult surrounding the Mysteries. From wiki:

The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. They are the "most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece".

It is thought that their basis was an old agrarian cult which probably goes back to the Mycenean period (c. 1600 – 1100 BC) and it is believed that the cult of Demeter was established in 1500 BC.

The mysteries represented the myth of the abduction of Persephone from her mother Demeter by the king of the underworld Hades, in a cycle with three phases, the "descent" (loss), the "search" and the "ascent", with the main theme the "ascent" of Persephone and the reunion with her mother.

It was a major festival during the Hellenic era, and later spread to Rome. The name of the town, Eleusís, seems to be Pre-Greek and it is probably a counterpart with Elysium and the goddess Eileithyia.

3

Aeschylus probably grew up during a period when tyranny was declining and democracy was developing.

The Persians: the oldest extant tragedy, 472 BC.

At one time The Suppliant Maidens was thought to be older due to dominance of chorus. A second actor had not yet been developed by this time.

4

Important source for Aeschylus: Aristophanes' comedy The Frogs.

The Trilogy as Dramatic Necessity

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The Persians

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Seven Against Thebes

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Aristophanes in The Frogs says The Persians and Seven Against Thebes were written in praise of Ares.  

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The Suppliant Maidens

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The flight of the Danaids, 50 young girls, from their country on the Nile to Argos.

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The Fire-Bringer -- Prometheus Bound

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Of all his plays, the most uncertainty surrounds this play.

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The Oresteia

Metaphorical Paraphrase

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458 BC: about 20 years after the Greek victory over the Persian

Written a few years before his death

"The tyrannical violation of the gods through arrogance is maintained as the curse, the guilt, the daimon or alastor, as it is also called, of the Atreid family.

"This guilt is ultimately only resolved in a development of consciousness, in which the primordial, death-bound world of blood revenge in mother cults is replaced by the paternal rule of the Olympian gods. Aeschylus takes this theme, consisting of the opposition between female and male, up through the constitution of Athenian democracy linked to the Areopagus Council.

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Zeus Teleios

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Suffering and Learning

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The Agamemnon.

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Hubris -- The Sure Road to Perdition

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Choice and Sacrifice

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Klytemnestra

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Helen -- the dialectic between eros and eris

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The Untrustworthy Seer 

The Matricide

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The lex talionis of Blood Vengeance

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The Principle of Father Power

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Chapter XVI: Sophocles

Sophocles: 496 - 406 BC -- about 16 years old when Athenians defeated the Persians; 90 years old

Metaphysical Indeterminacy

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Known to posterity for having introduced a third actor in the dramatic repertoire.

But, more importantly, he abandoned the trilogy.

The third actor: a material shift in psychological analysis -- the actors now function as a mirror to each other.

Aeschylus needed the trilogy to describe the gods' diplay of power in a family and its generations.

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Sophocles makes no use of inherited (blood) guilt; the true scene of the tragic consequently moves to the individual, who is placed at the center of the tragedy.

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The daimon of the Tragic Hero

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Ajax -- The Steadfast Tragic Hero

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Antigone -- The Tragic Heroine

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Oedipus the King -- Riddle and Prehistory

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The Riddle Solver

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Kreon -- The Pragmatic Politician

 Wife- -- Mother

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Becoming Your Own Self

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Oedipus at Colonus -- A Gift to Mankind

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Guilt-Free and Sacred

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The Tempters

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Apotheosis

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Philoktetes-- A Moral Mobilization Tract

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The Wound, the Bow, and the Weapon of the Tongue

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Chapter XVII: Euripides
  

Poet of Crisis
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From above:

Euripedes won very few prizes (as opposed to Aeschylus and Sophocles); a rebel; "his main characters display hitherto unseen passions, and dramatically peripheral or useless figures such as peasants appear on stage and are credited with a noble quality that the traditional heroic types lack in their arrogance.

In addition, the gods seem to be deranged and Fate irresistible and unavoidable, while love leads to destruction. Women seem to be hated and men pathetic in their oppression." -- p. 456, Zeruneith. Iphigenia at Aulis; Electra; Orestes; Iphigenia at Taurus; Medea; Hippolytos; The Bacchae; 

It sounds like with Euripides we are moving from men believing that gods rule men's destiny, to a tragedian who believes the gods play a minimal, if any, role. "Man, not the gods, is made into the object of everything...." -- p. 461, Zeruneith.

Odysseus' Cynicism

Iphigenia at Aulis -- The Sacrifice

Elektra -- The Matricide

Orestes -- The Erinyes of Conscience

Iphigenia at Taurus -- The Reconciliation

Medea -- Uncontrolled Passion

Hippolytos -- Sexual Purism

The Bacchae -- A Vision

The End of Tragedy

The author notes that is is surprising that only these three great dramatists have survived for posterity.

Life span of tragedy: 65 years, dating back to The Persians and ending with Oedipus at Colonus and The Bacchae.

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Tragedy disappears; fades away. Philosophy steps in to fill the void.  

Chapter XVIII: Socrates