Aeschylus, Choephori [The Libation-Bearers]

Anthony Podlecki (University of British Columbia)

Ed. by Vaios Liapis, Open University of Cyprus
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.1: Greek Writing and Culture: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Imperial, -800--100.
Vol. editors: Jonathan Burgess (University of Toronto), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Vaios Liapis (Open University of Cyprus), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Mali Skotheim (Ashoka University), Laura Swift (The Open University)

Dates

First circulation or publication -458

Places

Ancient Greece (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play
Tragedy

Resources

This, the second drama in Aeschylus’ Oresteia trilogy which was produced in 458 B.C.E., derives its name from the chorus of slave women who are bringing libations to Agamemnon’s grave as the play opens. Some considerable time has elapsed since the events dramatized in the first play of the trilogy, Agamemnon: the return from the Trojan campaign of the victorious commander of the Greek forces only to be lured into his palace and there treacherously slain by his adulterous wife Clytemnestra and her lover, Agamemnon’s cousin Aegisthus. In the earlier play Clytemnestra had made a lame excuse to her perplexed husband for the absence of their son Orestes: she had claimed she had had to spirit him away to a relative …

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1702 words

Citation: Podlecki, Anthony. "Choephori". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 April 2009 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=370, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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