Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris; Finding a lost sister

So, today we took the car for a warrant of fitness, (yearly car inspection to keep it road legal) and they found we need new tires. One wheel failed outright and another only just passed. But, because they are both left-hand side tires, we are probably going to have to change all four. This, of course, is going to be a bit of a shock on the finances, especially with Phil out of work, but fortunately we have enough laid aside. That and our headlights need polishing again. They seem to have this problem every year.

The Story
Iphigenia in Tauris starts with Iphigenia going about he duties as a priestess of Artemis and reveals that the temple offers human sacrifice to Artemis, of any foreigners that arrive. We also see Iphigenia pining to return to Hellene lands, and to her family. Though, also in her lamenting, she informs us that she was going to be used by her father as a child sacrifice but was stolen away by Artemis to Tauris where she has since spent her time as priestess.
Orestes with his friend and companion, Pylades, arrive at the island and leave their boat offshore as they survey the land. Orestes has come as an Oracle told him that if he stole the statue of Artemis, that had come from heaven, and returned it to Athenes, he would be free of the furies haunting and the fits of insanity that went with them.
Orestes and Pylades hide from sight, in a sea cave, until night fall but our found by some herdsmen that take the cattle down to the beach to wash them. Orestes then, temporarily, loses his mind and starts attacking the cattle with his sword. The two are captured and bought to Iphigenia for purification, before they are sacrificed to Artemis.
On talking with the two, Iphigenia finds out they are both from Athenes (though they will not give her their names) and conspires to let one of them go free to take a message from her to her brother. Orestes agrees and say Pylades must go free, so Iphigenia gives him the letter, he asks for her freedom if he is shipwrecked and only escapes with his life. She decides instead to tell him the message, so he can carry it no matter what. She reals off a message for Orestes, not knowing that it is him in front of her. Pylades, on hearing the message, says it will be easy to carry out as that is who he is with. At first Iphigenia does not quite believe him but, with the dissertation of a little family history she comes round and they quickly start planning the steeling of the idol and their escape. She decided to tell the king that the statue has been made unclean by the men who have committed Matricide, and that she needs to purify them and the statue in the sea in a secluded place. The king agrees and the three make their escape with this ruse. The king goes to set men and boats after them but is interrupted by Athena who convinces him to let them go.

Reflections
This play shows how the Greeks saw the people groups around them as less civilised and uncultured. This is evident in the sacrifice of men and woman to the deity Artemis, which is both something abhorrent to the Greeks and, even though they did have a god, Artemis, it is not how they would have worshiped her or understood it as a type of worship she would have accepted. It is interesting that Euripides stops to make the point that Iphigenia does not do the actual blood letting in the temple, but rather, prepares the men for sacrifice. It is as if it was too much to expect the audience to still like Iphigenia as a character if she had perpetrated the killings.
It is interesting to see Pylades back at Orestes side as we do not see him when Orestes runs from the furies. They both seem, as well as announce, each other as brothers: if not of blood, at least of spirit. We see this play out when Pylades is reluctant to leave Orestes to be sacrificed and him go free, protesting that he should suffer the same fate.

Comparisons
It is interesting to see that even after the trial in Aeschylus' Eumenides, the furies are still chasing and bothering Orestes. Athena explains it a little at the end of the play, saying that, not all the furies were satisfied by the trial and so had continued to hound him.
This is now the second play of Euripides we have seen that is not a tragedy, but rather, we see our hero victorious; the other being Alcestis. Both works have a more uplifting ending, though they are no less full of drama.

Have you read Iphigenia in Tauris? If so what did you think of it?

Want to read Iphigenia in Tauris but haven't? Hopefully this inspires you to take the time to do so.
Get a copy of Iphigenia in Tauris.

Euripides, Hippolytus; Investigate before sentencing

Its the weekend again, and yet again it does not feel long enough. I guess that's just a side effect of working Saturday mornings. It's still a little crazy to realise I'll be working on Euripides for the rest of the year, for the BC list, and because Augustine's city is so big, I'm slitting it into four and that will cover me for the rest of the year as well. In other news, I think I have already said that my hubby has a new three month contract, which is due to start at the start of September, so roll on September!

The Story
Aphrodite opens the play with a taste of things to come and foretells Hippolytus' demise. We then see Hippolytus returning from the hunt, full of life and vigor. We see the queen languishing in her bed. She is in a bad state and has not eaten for several days. Her nurse questions her as to her reasons and she eventually alludes to having erotic desires for Hippolytus, which would be both adulterous and incestuous, seeing that Hippolytus is the bastard son of the king. Her nurse suggests she should just go on and do what she is thinking, but Phaeda, the Queen, refuses. The nurse goes away and confronts Hippolytus about this but he is aggressively against the suggestion and rebukes the nurse. When Phaeda hears of this she is even more disturbed and kills herself. Her husband comes home to find her dead and reads the notes she left accusing Hippolytus of attempting to rape her. Her husband, in a fury, curses Hippolytus (using one of the three curses that Poseidon owed him). Hippolytus is gravely injured by a huge sea wave but manages to make it back to the palace, where he pleads his innocence as a virgin dedicated to Artemis. Eventually, the truth comes out and The king, Theseus, find himself both without a wife and having killed his own son in haste to believe his wife's suicide note.

Reflections
A tragedy perpetrated by Aphrodite, who starts the play by stirring up Eros in Phaeda. Theseus is both understandably distraught and yet overly hasty in Hippolytus' case. It seems nothing Hippolytus says can bend his wrath and Phaeda has left things in a way that she can not be questioned.
Phaeda's suicide is her solution for the great shame that she feels for having such thoughts about her husband's, bastard son. Him, knowing about this feeling, seems to embarrass her more, and drives her over the edge into suicide. We must conclude that the note she left was her attempt to push the blame and shame off herself and onto Hippolytus.

Comparisons
Like we see in the Alcestis, also by Euripides, we see a god at the start of the play almost foretell the story. Though, it seems to take the idea of foreshadowing and goes a step further into a straight telling. At first, this seemed rather odd to me but on further reflection, I guess, it is no different than having the synopsis on the back of the book or the blurb in the papers for a movie.
It is the first time we see Aphrodite in a negative light or at least in the part of troublemaker. Previously, we have seen her in battle in the Iliad or being called to by her own oracle.

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

Want to read Hippolytus but haven't? Hopefully this inspires you to take the time to do so.
Get a copy of Hippolytus.

Euripides, Alcestis; Hercules saves the day

And I'm back to writing as I read the books. And wow, this is quite different. I just sat down and read the play in one sitting and I'm already writing about it. I might manage to rebuild a buffer yet!
In other news, I've sat down and written the list of books and the dates that I need to publish their blogs and it looks like we are going to be working through Euripides for the rest of the year on the BC list.

The Story
Apollo starts by discussing with death, the upcoming death of Aclestis and trying to convince death not to take her. He has previously convinced death to take her rather than Admetus, her husband. This was a deal they struck on: death would pass over Admetus, if he could take someone else in his place. His parents refused, but his wife accepted that role and so knows that her life is coming to an end.
Admetus is with his failing wife to the end, with their two young children. After she passes, but before she is buried, Admetus' father turns up with burial gifts. Ademetus turns him away saying that if his father had had a bit more courage it would be him dead instead of his wife. His father hits back with the accusation that Ademetus is the coward for letting his wife take his place in death. His father then leaves.
Hercules then arrives and asks for hospitality, though he does ask Ademetus who has died, Ademetus does not want to turn him away and so lies and says it is a stranger. He puts Hercules in the guest wing and then goes to bury his wife. Hercules is feasting and drinking but the servants are all down cast. He asks them why they are so down cast and it comes out that it is Ademetus' wife that has died and Hercules takes it on himself to go and wrestle her back from death.
Ademetus returns to the palace to find Hercules, having just returned and fitted for war, rather than feasting. Hercules has with him a young woman who he tries to give to Ademetus. He tries to refuse but is eventually forced into it. At which time, he recognises her as his wife, back from the dead. Hercules offers little explanation and heads off on his way to perform one of his labours.

Reflections
I think is the first Greek play we have come across that is not a tragedy and actually ends on an upbeat, with Aclestis being returned alive to Ademetus. Although it is clear that Hercules has fought with death and won, we do not see the fight itself being played out on stage. He just goes away and comes back with her. This is more of Hercules, the hero, as I had expected to see play out in the plays.
Apollo states in the very beginning, Hercules would fight with death and return Aclestis to life, it is only as the play progresses that we see why: as a repayment for the hospitality given at such a time of grief. The 'how', however is only alluded to by Apollo in the beginning and, again, by Hercules before and after returning with Aclestis.

Comparisons
This is the first really positive story we have seen of Hercules. In contrast, the Shield of Heracles just focuses on a single battle and we see a lot more of Hercules' positive character. We see this in how he responds to the hospitality he is given after he realises that his host's wife is dead.
Alcestis also has a much happier ending to the story than we see in Women of Trachis as we see Hercules successful, rather than writhing in pain.

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

Want to read Alcestis but haven't? Hopefully this inspires you to take the time to do so.
Get a copy of Alcestis.

Herodotus, The Histories: A Plethora of Side Tracks

So, I finally finished The Histories. It has taken a day short of a year from start to finish, though I have taken a couple of big breaks in that time. It is a large, 600 page, 9 section work and in a lot of ways is easier in the seconds half. I did not get stuck with it in the same way I did with the Upanishads, it was just slow and steady going.
I'm not writing these in order at the moment. I've written this just after restarting the blog and, boy, is it good to be back! I'm excited to get more writing done, as well as a bit more reading!

The Story

The Histories centres around the story, from both sides of the two Persian invasions of the Greek city states. The first, under Darius, proceeds into the peninsular, only as far as Marathon and stopped short of the goal of Athens. The Second, under Xerxes, the son of Darius, sacked Athens but was turned back after the defeat of his maritime force at Salamis. A smaller contingent was left in Greece, after the retreat of the main army. This smaller army fought in the battle with the 300 Spartans, at Thermopylae. This gives us the great quote, where Leonidas replied "Won't it be nice, then, if we shall have shade in which to fight them?" about the threat of the Persians arrows blotting out the sun. After this battle, the army moved inland and sacked Athens again (not that there was much to sack). This army was eventually defeated at Plataea.
Though these are the two main thrust of The Histories, Herodotus spends a lot of time on side tracks and hearsay. Some of these are fanciful stories which he often notes as hearsay (ants that collect gold for the Indians) and others are other historical stories. These historical stories are always to the best of Herodotus' knowledge but that is, at times, misguided, for example, when he states that cinnamon is made from a certain bird's legs. He lays out, as best he can, what can be known of the Mediterranean world, at the time.

Reflections

This text is known as the first time someone tried to record the realities of a war, as well as its causes, and also to work in prose. Therefore, he is sometimes described as the father of western history, though Cicero calls him the father of lies due to the more fanciful parts of his work.
I know there is some debate on the numbers of Persians in Xerxes invasion, with many noting that there would not have been enough water on the peninsular to support as large an army, as is reported by Herodotus. And, in the retreat, we see some of this as the land struggles to supply the army in retreat. I think the main argument against a deliberate over numbering is Herodotus' precision in his reckoning of the army's numbers. I would believe he rounded these number up but I would not go so far as to say that I think they are not accurate.
Herodotus' progression around the Mediterranean world in the first parts of the book has a great many interesting stories and it surprised me just how wide of a world was known, at least in part, to Herodotus. His stories even included a circumnavigation of Africa (Libya) by a party sent from Egypt and gold mining ants in India. This, with his knowledge of Greece, gives quite a large sphere of  knowledge, even if some of it is a little misguided.   

Comparisons

Because this is the first history and the first prose text it may at first seem that there is little to compare it to, but I think there are still some worth while things to say.
Like the Iliad, there is a multitude of names that it is easy to get bogged down in, in the Iliad it is the listing of the names during combat. Thankfully, Herodotus only lists name when describing the gathering of troops and graciously saves us from more confusion. By contrast, the Iliad is about the Greek forces facing each other, where as, The Histories accounts for both the Persian and Greek forces. The descriptions of battle in both are mainly broad strokes, with the occasional addition of a named character who does specific, great things.

Have you read the The Histories? If so what did you think?
Does this inspire you to read the The Histories? If so tell me what you think when your done!

Buy a copy of the Histories

Dante, Vita Nuova; Lovesick fool

My hubby and flatmate are busy watching My Hero Academia, which makes for a lot of background noise while I try and type but, oh well, that's the joy of the lounge being my only work space. My husband has an assessment, for the job he wants, in a couple of weeks, so hopefully he won't be out of work too much longer.

Story
Vita Nuova (The New Life) is mainly a collection of Dante's poems about Beatrice and documenting his infatuation with her. Dante spends a lot of time venerating Beatrice as, above all other ladies. For a short while, he has everyone convinced he is in love with another woman but he is just using it as a cover. Eventually, the truth comes out and everyone knows how he feels about Beatrice. He can not bring himself to speak to her though, or even acknowledge her greeting, and yet he pines after her. Then, suddenly, she dies and he laments this bitterly, even writing two poems for her brother to mourn her with. He starts to get over her and fixates on another woman but eventually he scorns himself for moving on and goes back to morning Beatrice.

Reflections
Dante is a lovesick fool. He pines for Beatrice and yet cannot even bring himself to see her or talk to her. He, in doing so, paints himself as weak and vacillating. We never see him really take charge of the situation and constructively do anything both before and after her death.
This isn't really a story as we will come to expect from later novels but rather a collection of poems written in and around a series of events.

Comparisons
The New life is a book of a young man in foolish love, by comparison Dante's The Banquet is an older man's thinking, with a little love thrown in for good measure. Dante does not lose his high opinion of love, and of his love, but rather it becomes tempered with other things that are greater, or at least, of similar importance.
The new life also gives a bit of background into the veneration of Beatrice that we see in the Paradiso, though neither explains exactly why he believes her to be such a Paragon of virtue.

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

Want to read The New Life but haven't? Hopefully this inspires you to take the time to do so.
Get a copy of The New Life.