Aeschylus, The Suppliants; Fleeing arranged marriages.

The Story
The 50 daughters of Danaus flee Egypt with their father to avoid arranged marriages with the 50 sons of Danaus' Brother, their cousins.
When they reach Argos, they petition the King Pelasgus for protection. They explain how they are, themselves, descendants of Argos, by Io, and that, at the end of her wandering, she ended up in Egypt, which is why they look more North African than Greek. He denies them protection to seek the will of the Argive people. They agree to protection. No sooner have they agreed, the 50 brothers and their fleet arrive and a herald is dispatched. He insists that the daughters of Deanaus return with him and marry the brothers, he even goes so far as to start dragging them towards the boats. At this point, King Pelasgus intervenes, and the herald leaves. Danaus and his daughters enter the city walls and are protected there. Danaus tells his daughters to pray thanksgiving to the Greek gods for their protection at Argos.

Reflections
It is interesting that in this play the main character and the chorus are one. My research suggests that this is because it is one of the earlier plays and this form of play is just beginning.
Pelasgus asking the Argive people before choosing to harbor the runaways is also interesting, it may suggest that there was a movement towards democracy before the end of the kings.

Comparisons
Aeschylus' The Suppliants does not finish they way we see in a lot of other plays, that is in tragedy. Agamemnon for example ends with the death of Agamemnon and the Libation Bearers ends with the deaths of Orestes' Mother and her second Husband.

Have you read The Suppliants? If so what did you think of it?

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Aeschylus, Prometheus bound; The punishment for the gift of fire

The Story
In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan but he is not trapped in Tartarus. Rather, he sided with the Olympians in the war with the Titans and so, Zeus did not trap him with the others. It does not take Prometheus long to run a foul of Zeus by giving humans fire and hope.
The Prometheus bond starts with two gods holding Prometheus in place against a rock so that Hephaestus can chain him to it in punishment for giving fire to man. Hephaestus is reluctant in his work, lamenting that he must chain his friend to this rock.
Prometheus is visited by a chorus of Oceanids, who enquire what he did to end up there. Prometheus recounts his part in the Titan war with the Olympians. This includes his stealing fire for man, thwarting Zeus's plan to destroy mankind, and teaching mankind the civilizing arts, including mathematics, medicine, and writing.
Oceanus comes to visit Prometheus and implore him to make peace with Zeus. Prometheus says he will not atone for his actions. Oceanus then says he will go to Zeus and plead for him but Prometheus dissuades him.
Prometheus' next visitor is Io who has been changed into a cow and constantly bothered by a gadfly. Prometheus prophesise that Io will travel as far as Egypt and will be turned back to human and marry, and that her descendants will come and free him from his punishment.
There is a prophecy that a son of Zeus will topple him and Zeus sends Hermes to Prometheus, who is known for prophecy, to find out who his son's mother will be. Prometheus refuses and is sent to Tartarus.

Reflections
Prometheus is quite resigned to his punishment and does not seem to want others to try and put an end to it at this time. This is most likely due to his prophetic gifts as it is said he could see the future and how things would unfold for himself.
There is a great contrast between Hephaestus and Prometheus in how they react to Zeus. Hephaestus does Zeus' bidding even when he does not fully agree. Where as, Prometheus does what he thinks is right and does not submit to Zeus' kingship.

Comparisons
This take on Prometheus' story differs from Theogony in a couple of ways. First, we do not see the crow eating out his liver every day in this telling. Second, we do not see him being instrumental in the opening of Pandora's box. In fact, Pandora's box isn't even mentioned.
Also, Prometheus bound dwells on the spitefulness of Zeus. Where as, in Theogony we see him in a more passive light and we see Hera in a more spiteful role.

Have you read Prometheus Bound? If so what did you think of it?

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Aeschylus, Eumenides; Orestes judgement

Eumenides is the last surviving part of the story of Orestes(Agamemnon and The Libation Bearers being the first and second), there was one more volume but it has been lost in time.

The Story
The Eumenides is the story of Orestes as he flees from the Furies to the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Once at the temple, he implores Apollo who bars the Furies from his temple. The Furies rage and try to talk their way into the temple. Orestes then flees to Athena's temple in Athens, petitioning her to arbitrate the dispute. Athena convenes a jury and the evidence of the murders is put forward. The jury finds Orestes in the right for killing his mother, in vengeance for her slaying of his Father.

Reflections
The conversation between Apollo and the Furies is quite interesting. The Furies argue that, as older gods they should have precedence, but Apollo doesn't find their argument persuasive. Also, there seems to be no travel time in the play between the temple of Apollo in Delphi and the temple of Athena in Athens. It is curious that the Furies do not catch Orestes between the two temples.

Comparisons
As a continuation of the Libation Bearers, we see Orestes dealing with the aftermath of his actions in killing his mother. Unlike the Libation Bearers and Agamemnon, the gods Apollo and Athena get a lot of lines and are a main part of the action.
In the Eumenides, we see the peace time aspects of Apollo and Athena. Especially Athena, the arbitrator, rather than their aspects in a war, as we see in the Iliad.

Have you read The Eumenides? If so what did you think of it?

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Dante Alighieri, Inferno; A downwards spiral

So I landed myself a new job! I will soon be a call center operator part time, which will be really cool. I don't start until the 18th of March, which is a few weeks away, at the moment.

The Story
Inferno is the story of Dante as he is being lead through Hell by the spirit of Virgil and progresses down in a spiral. Dante starts in a dark forest, which he cannot seem to escape as his way is blocked by three vicious creatures. Here he meets Virgil who agrees to take him through hell and out the other side as the only escape. They the proceed through the nine circles of hell: Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, and Violence which is broken into three rings, Fraud which is broken into 10 Bolgia and Treachery which is broken into four rounds. Dante then proceeds to the center of hell and climbs the devil, himself, to escape. As he progresses down through the circles, he stops and talks to many shades of note, mainly Greek or Roman including Homer and Ovid. All those that are named are references to history and older epics.

Reflections
As simple as the above description is, the text is not that straight forward. It is more a meandering through of different parts, without clear distinctions between circles or their sub-portions. I did not always recognize the named shades that Dante meet but I think I will come across them as I continue through my BC list.
Dante at first seems to be working from a Christian perspective but this quickly falls away as he uses many other descriptions of the afterlife from many different cultures and sources, with the rives Styx needing to be crossed and with demons and principalities drawn from the Greek and Roman gods and famous people. Dante also presents the poem as a recounting of a vision that happened to him, which it could have been but it does not line up with the Christian scriptures but rather is a large part of Christian mysticism.
I had thought that this was the origin of the seven deadly sins and it is a part of it's propagation; but, it is more accurately a doctrine of the Catholic Church as part of their doctrine of carnal and venal sins. I do not believe, from my research, that it is still an active doctrine and it is not biblical.

Comparisons
The crossing of the river Styx is straight out of Greek mythology and we also see the crossing of the river of the dead in the Gilgamesh epic. The difference being them, is that in both Greek mythology and the Gilgamesh epic, the river was something that separated the world of the living from the world of the dead and that all the dead had to make the crossing. In the Inferno, it is one of the punishments for the damned and is part way though the circles, so not all the dead cross it, only those going to deeper circles.

Have you read Inferno? If so what did you think of it?

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