《希腊悲剧》课程参考资料：Alan H. Sommerstein 2010 Aeschylean Tragedy-Bristol Classical Press

The Life and Times of Aeschylus Aeschylus, the dramatist who made Athenian tragedy one of the worlds great art-forms, was born in or about 525/4 BC I at Eleusis in western Attica, a town famous as the home of an immensely popular mystery-cult of Demeter and Persephone. His ancient biographer reports that his father Euphorion was of aristocratic birth, and it is at any rate certain that in later years the family followed the lifestyle of the leisured class: surviving ptions proclaim, in the traditional manner of Greek upper-class homoeroticism, the beauty of Aeschylus' younger son Euaeon(Beazley 1963:1579) The state of Athens(whose territory had long comprised the whole of Attica, including Eleusis) had been for over twenty years under the personal rule first of Peisistratus and then, following his death in 528/7, of his son Hippias. They were what Greeks called tyranni that is, individuals who seized power by force or stratagem and ruled as de facto monarchs. Greek tyrannoi as a class earned the hatred both of the aristo chats whom they ousted from power and (at least at Athens) of the democrats who were soon to succeed them, and Aeschylus himself can be found using tyrannos and its derivatives in the pejorative sense which they still bear(e. g. Ag 1355, 1365; Cho 973). Most Athenians, however, appear to have accepted the rule of Peisistratus and hippias at the time: once Peisistratus was firmly established in power Athens enjoyed perhaps the longest peace in its independent history and a growing prosperity. like several tyranni elsewhere, the family was particularly noted for its patronage of the arts. Peisistratus(or according to other accounts his son Hipparchus) created, as a regular feature of the quadrennial summer festival of the Great Panathenaea, a competition for rhapsodes, profes sional reciters of the liad and Odyssey, and he was believed in later antiquity to have been responsible for standardizing the text of the two epics. Another new artistic competition which he instituted, probably in the 530s, ten years or so before Aeschylus'birth, was a contest at the spring festival of the City Dionysia in performing the comparatively new poetic-musical genre called tragoidia, tragedy The origins of tragoidia are not our present concern. at this stage of its existence it was an enactment of a story from heroic legend by an individ ual performer(called the hypocrites or respondent) and a chorus perhaps already(as in Aeschylus' time)of twelve members. The chorus sang and danced; the hypokrites may sometimes have done so too, but more usually

1 The Life and Times of Aeschylus Aeschylus, the dramatist who made Athenian tragedy one of the world’s great art-forms, was born in or about 525/4 BC 1 at Eleusis in western Attica, a town famous as the home of an immensely popular mystery-cult of Demeter and Persephone. His ancient biographer reports that his father Euphorion was of aristocratic birth, and it is at any rate certain that in later years the family followed the lifestyle of the leisured class: surviving vase inscriptions proclaim, in the traditional manner of Greek upper-class homoeroticism, the beauty of Aeschylus’ younger son Euaeon (Beazley 1963:1579). The state of Athens (whose territory had long comprised the whole of Attica, including Eleusis) had been for over twenty years under the personal rule first of Peisistratus and then, following his death in 528/7, of his son Hippias. They were what Greeks called tyrannoi – that is, individuals who seized power by force or stratagem and ruled as de facto monarchs. Greek tyrannoi as a class earned the hatred both of the aristo￾crats whom they ousted from power and (at least at Athens) of the democrats who were soon to succeed them, and Aeschylus himself can be found using tyrannos and its derivatives in the pejorative sense which they still bear (e.g. Ag. 1355, 1365; Cho. 973). Most Athenians, however, appear to have accepted the rule of Peisistratus and Hippias at the time: once Peisistratus was firmly established in power Athens enjoyed perhaps the longest peace in its independent history and a growing prosperity. Like several tyrannoi elsewhere, the family was particularly noted for its patronage of the arts. Peisistratus (or according to other accounts his son Hipparchus) created, as a regular feature of the quadrennial summer festival of the Great Panathenaea, a competition for rhapsodes, profes￾sional reciters of the Iliad and Odyssey, and he was believed in later antiquity to have been responsible for standardizing the text of the two epics.2 Another new artistic competition which he instituted, probably in the 530s, ten years or so before Aeschylus’ birth, was a contest at the spring festival of the City Dionysia in performing the comparatively new poetic-musical genre called tragôidia, tragedy.3 The origins of tragôidia are not our present concern. At this stage of its existence it was an enactment of a story from heroic legend by an individ￾ual performer (called the hypokritês or ‘respondent’) and a chorus perhaps already (as in Aeschylus’ time) of twelve members. The chorus sang and danced; the hypokritês may sometimes have done so too, but more usually 1

Aeschylean Tragedy he spoke, either direct to the audience or in dialogue with the chorus or its leader. The chorus represented a group of persons affected by the events of the story, such as elders of a city or slaves in a household; the hypocrites might impersonate not only the hero of the story but also(at different times during the performance)other characters, anonymous messengers bringing news of offstage events, even perhaps gods. All the performers were male, and at this date all the dramatis personae they represented were male also: female parts, we are told, were an innovation by Phrynichus, whose career began about 510( Suda 762). In the early days the leading tragic dramatist was Thespis, of Icaria in north-eastern Attica Thespian one-actor tragedy may seem primitive to us; it would undoubt edly have seemed primitive to Athenians of (say)the late fifth century; but it is striking that Agamemnon, produced as late as 458, which many have considered Aeschylus'masterpiece, is in at least one sense Thespian for most of its length. Only during 327 of Agamemnons 1673 lines is more than one hypokrites present on stage and only during about 64 lines, or four per cent of the play, do hypokritai actually engage in dialogue with one another(914-57,1654-73) Such, at any rate was the dramatic art which Aeschylus could have witnessed at the City Dionysia competitions of his boyhood. But by the time he had come of age the civic framework within which that art was practised had been utterly transformed. At the Panathenaea of 514 Hipparchus, the brother of Hippias, was assassinated by Harmodius and Aristogeiton. His death seems to have been the result of a private quarrel (Thucydides 6.54-9; Aristotle, Consti their failure was followed by increased repression, and eventually in 510 the opposition appealed to Sparta, the strongest power in greece and the traditional enemy of tyranni. After a first abortive attempt, the Spartans under king Cleomenes forced Hippias to surrender and go into exile with his whole family. But the Athens to which the emigres returned was almost as different from the athens of the days before Peisistratus as the france to which the bourbons returned in 1815 was from the france of 1788. Being generally at odds with much of the aristocracy, the tyranni had not unnaturally cultivated other strata of society, and had also admitted many non-citizens to membership of the polis'-new factors in the game of political power, about which the traditional rules of that game had nothing to say. The crisis came two years after the fall of Hippias Cleisthenes, of the Alcmeonid family, had been defeated in the election to the chief magistracy(the archonship) by his rival Isagoras. He sought the support of the common people(the demos) with the promise, apparently of greatly increasing their political power. Isagoras appealed to Sparta which at once ordered the expulsion of Cleisthenes and his family and sent Cleomenes with a small armed force to Athens. But now Isagoras over

he spoke, either direct to the audience or in dialogue with the chorus or its leader. The chorus represented a group of persons affected by the events of the story, such as elders of a city or slaves in a household; the hypokritês might impersonate not only the hero of the story but also (at different times during the performance) other characters, anonymous messengers bringing news of ‘offstage’ events, even perhaps gods. All the performers were male, and at this date all the dramatis personae they represented were male also: female parts, we are told, were an innovation by Phrynichus, whose career began about 510 (Suda f762). In the early days the leading tragic dramatist was Thespis, of Icaria in north-eastern Attica. Thespian one-actor tragedy may seem primitive to us; it would undoubt￾edly have seemed primitive to Athenians of (say) the late fifth century; but it is striking that Agamemnon, produced as late as 458, which many have considered Aeschylus’ masterpiece, is in at least one sense Thespian for most of its length. Only during 327 of Agamemnon’s 1673 lines is more than one hypokritês present on stage, and only during about 64 lines, or four per cent of the play, do hypokritai actually engage in dialogue with one another (914-57, 1654-73). Such, at any rate, was the dramatic art which Aeschylus could have witnessed at the City Dionysia competitions of his boyhood. But by the time he had come of age, the civic framework within which that art was practised had been utterly transformed. At the Panathenaea of 514 Hipparchus, the brother of Hippias, was assassinated by Harmodius and Aristogeiton. His death seems to have been the result of a private quarrel (Thucydides 6.54-9; Aristotle, Consti￾tution of Athens 18); but the exiled opponents of the ruling family were emboldened by it to an attempt to return to Attica and overthrow Hippias, their failure was followed by increased repression, and eventually in 510 the opposition appealed to Sparta, the strongest power in Greece and the traditional enemy of tyrannoi. After a first abortive attempt, the Spartans under king Cleomenes forced Hippias to surrender and go into exile with his whole family. But the Athens to which the émigrés returned was almost as different from the Athens of the days before Peisistratus as the France to which the Bourbons returned in 1815 was from the France of 1788. Being generally at odds with much of the aristocracy, the tyrannoi had not unnaturally cultivated other strata of society, and had also admitted many non-citizens to membership of the polis4 – new factors in the game of political power, about which the traditional rules of that game had nothing to say. The crisis came two years after the fall of Hippias. Cleisthenes, of the Alcmeonid family, had been defeated in the election to the chief magistracy (the archonship) by his rival Isagoras. He sought the support of the common people (the dêmos) with the promise, apparently, of greatly increasing their political power. Isagoras appealed to Sparta, which at once ordered the expulsion of Cleisthenes and his family and sent Cleomenes with a small armed force to Athens. But now Isagoras over￾Aeschylean Tragedy 2

1. The Life and Times of aeschylus played his hand. Secure in Cleomenes' support, he tried to banish every possible opponent, and to concentrate all power in the hands of his own faction. But he found he did not have enough of a following even among the upper class. The Council refused to disband itself. Isagoras and the Spartans occupied the acropolis, where they were besieged by the people for two days and then surrendered. Cleisthenes and the demos were masters of Athens In the next few years the whole political system of Attica was reorgan ized. The basis of the new system was the demos (english 'deme)in another sense of the word, the local community-hamlet, village, town,or district of the city -in which every citizen was henceforth to be registered, and the name of which increasingly became regarded as part of his own official name. Aeschylus, registered on coming of age in the deme of Eleusis, was now often called not just Aiskhulos Euphorionos but Aiskhu Euphorionos Eleusinios. The Council, the army, the magistracies, all were organized around the 139 demes and the ten new, artificial tribes (phyla) into which they were grouped. So too was the City Dionysia. In 01 the competitions for dithyrambic choruses at this festival were made tribal, the winning tribe in each of the two contests(for boys and men) being listed each year in the festival records, for which 501 was regarded as a new beginning. This innovation did not apply to the tragic competi- tion, in which there may perhaps simply not have been enough individuals with the required combination of expertise as poets, composers, choreog raphers, directors and actors to make a tribal contest a practical possibility It was in this new ' democratic' City Dionysia that Aeschylus made his debut as a tragic dramatist, probably in 499. Three outstanding practitio- ners, Pratinas, Choerilus and Phrynichus, were already active, and the newcomer was not to win first prize for another fifteen years. It is uncertain whether any plays from this early period of Aeschylus activity were preserved for posterity to read: of the work of Phrynichus, far more popular at the time, only some late plays seem to have survived into later generations-his Capture of Miletus(493 or 492) is famous, or notorious only because the historian Herodotus(6.21. 2) had occasion to mention it, for not a word of its text survives. Perhaps it was not until a few years ater, possibly in the early or middle 480s, that the scripts of tragic dramas began to be copied and p Before then, and before Aeschylus at last reached the top rank of his profession, other and momentous events had occurred. The capture of Miletus by the Persians in 494, which had been the occasion of Phrynichus celebrated play, had marked the end of a major revolt by some of the greek poleis of Asia Minor against Persian rule. At one stage Athens had given active(though limited) support to the revolt, and the persians, who already controlled the northern shore of the Aegean, were thus provided with a justification for establishing themselves in greece proper. In 490 a 3

played his hand. Secure in Cleomenes’ support, he tried to banish every possible opponent, and to concentrate all power in the hands of his own faction. But he found he did not have enough of a following even among the upper class. The Council refused to disband itself. Isagoras and the Spartans occupied the Acropolis, where they were besieged by the people for two days and then surrendered. Cleisthenes and the dêmos were masters of Athens. In the next few years the whole political system of Attica was reorgan￾ized. The basis of the new system was the dêmos (English ‘deme’) in another sense of the word, the local community – hamlet, village, town, or district of the city – in which every citizen was henceforth to be registered, and the name of which increasingly became regarded as part of his own official name. Aeschylus, registered on coming of age in the deme of Eleusis, was now often called not just Aiskhulos Euphoriônos but Aiskhu￾los Euphoriônos Eleusînios. The Council, the army, the magistracies, all were organized around the 139 demes and the ten new, artificial ‘tribes’ (phylai) into which they were grouped. So too was the City Dionysia. In 501 the competitions for dithyrambic choruses5 at this festival were made tribal, the winning tribe in each of the two contests (for boys and men) being listed each year in the festival records, for which 501 was regarded as a new beginning.6 This innovation did not apply to the tragic competi￾tion, in which there may perhaps simply not have been enough individuals with the required combination of expertise as poets, composers, choreog￾raphers, directors and actors to make a tribal contest a practical possibility. It was in this new ‘democratic’ City Dionysia that Aeschylus made his début as a tragic dramatist, probably in 499.7 Three outstanding practitio￾ners, Pratinas, Choerilus and Phrynichus, were already active, and the newcomer was not to win first prize for another fifteen years. It is uncertain whether any plays from this early period of Aeschylus’ activity were preserved for posterity to read:8 of the work of Phrynichus, far more popular at the time, only some late plays seem to have survived into later generations9 – his Capture of Miletus (493 or 492) is famous, or notorious, only because the historian Herodotus (6.21.2) had occasion to mention it, for not a word of its text survives. Perhaps it was not until a few years later, possibly in the early or middle 480s, that the scripts of tragic dramas began to be copied and preserved. Before then, and before Aeschylus at last reached the top rank of his profession, other and momentous events had occurred. The capture of Miletus by the Persians in 494, which had been the occasion of Phrynichus’ celebrated play, had marked the end of a major revolt by some of the Greek poleis of Asia Minor against Persian rule. At one stage Athens had given active (though limited) support to the revolt, and the Persians, who already controlled the northern shore of the Aegean, were thus provided with a justification for establishing themselves in Greece proper. In 490 a 1. The Life and Times of Aeschylus 3

Aeschylean Tragedy Persian expedition crossed the Aegean to attack Eretria and Athens accompanied by the now elderly Hippias. Eretria(on the island of Euboea) was quickly taken and its population enslaved; but when the persians landed at Marathon in eastern Attica they were decisively defeated by the Athenians under Callimachus and Miltiades. in a battle which Athenians ever after regarded as the most glorious event in their whole history Aeschylus fought in the battle, and one of the 192 Athenian dead was his brother In this struggle. Cynegeirus son of Euphorion seized hold of an enemy ship by the sternpost, and fell when his hand was severed by an axe(herodotus 6.114) A year or two after Marathon there was a major political upheaval at Athens and a move towards a more self-confident. assertive anti-elitist democracy. Miltiades, who had failed to capture the island of Paros, was put on trial, heavily fined, and, unable to pay, died in prison soon after wards. Then in 488/7 the Assembly of all adult male citizens, the sovereign ody of democratic Athens, took three significant decisions. One was that the holders of the nine chief magistracies should no longer be elected by ote but chosen by lot from a list of 100 candidates -thus making it unlikely that any prominent politician would in future hold one of these prestigious positions. The second was to put into operation, for the first time, the machinery of ostracism'created twenty years before by Cleis thenes, whereby the people annually had the optional right to vote to expel one citizen from Athenian territory for ten years without charge or trial: in the next six years five men were thus expelled, including two of the three leading politicians of the period The third was to introduce, as part performing the rumbustious, undignified entertainment that came to of the official programme of the City Dionysia, a contest for chorus known as komoidia, comedy, which specialized in debunking satire of the prominent and the pretentious All these decisions are clearly of a populist nature and seem to be part of a considered programme, and it is likely that they should be associated with the name of Themistocles. He was certainly the gainer by the successive ostracisms(despite repeated efforts by his enemies, including the mass- production of pre-inscribed ballots, to turn them against him), and it was he who a few years later(483-480) was mainly responsible for the creation of a great Athenian navy, which did much to shift the balance of political power in Athens towards those who erved as oarsmen because they could not afford the hoplite equipment necessary for military service on land It was in the middle of this period, in the spring of 484, that Aeschylus at last won first prize in the tragic competition at the city Dionysia. From now to the end of his career he won first prize thirteen times in all especially after the death of Phrynichus in 473/2 he may have been 4

Persian expedition crossed the Aegean to attack Eretria and Athens – accompanied by the now elderly Hippias. Eretria (on the island of Euboea) was quickly taken and its population enslaved; but when the Persians landed at Marathon in eastern Attica they were decisively defeated by the Athenians under Callimachus and Miltiades, in a battle which Athenians ever after regarded as the most glorious event in their whole history. Aeschylus fought in the battle, and one of the 192 Athenian dead was his brother: In this struggle ! Cynegeirus son of Euphorion seized hold of an enemy ship by the sternpost, and fell when his hand was severed by an axe (Herodotus 6.114). A year or two after Marathon there was a major political upheaval at Athens and a move towards a more self-confident, assertive, anti-élitist democracy. Miltiades, who had failed to capture the island of Paros, was put on trial, heavily fined, and, unable to pay, died in prison soon after￾wards. Then in 488/7 the Assembly of all adult male citizens, the sovereign body of democratic Athens, took three significant decisions. One was that the holders of the nine chief magistracies should no longer be elected by vote but chosen by lot from a list of 100 candidates – thus making it unlikely that any prominent politician would in future hold one of these prestigious positions. The second was to put into operation, for the first time, the machinery of ‘ostracism’ created twenty years before by Cleis￾thenes, whereby the people annually had the optional right to vote to expel one citizen from Athenian territory for ten years without charge or trial: in the next six years five men were thus expelled, including two of the three leading politicians of the period. The third was to introduce, as part of the official programme of the City Dionysia, a contest for choruses performing the rumbustious, undignified entertainment that came to be known as kômôidia, comedy, which specialized in debunking satire of the prominent and the pretentious. All these decisions are clearly of a populist nature and seem to be part of a considered programme, and it is likely that they should be associated with the name of Themistocles. He was certainly the gainer by the successive ostracisms (despite repeated efforts by his enemies, including the mass-production of pre-inscribed ballots, to turn them against him), and it was he who a few years later (483-480) was mainly responsible for the creation of a great Athenian navy, which did much to shift the balance of political power in Athens towards those who served as oarsmen because they could not afford the hoplite equipment necessary for military service on land. It was in the middle of this period, in the spring of 484, that Aeschylus at last won first prize in the tragic competition at the City Dionysia. From now to the end of his career he won first prize thirteen times in all;10 especially after the death of Phrynichus in 473/2 he may have been Aeschylean Tragedy 4

1. The Life and Times of aeschylus victorious almost every time he competed. By now tragedy was becoming prestigious enough for an embryo reading public to have come into exist ence, perhaps at this stage mainly confined to other literary artists in Athens and elsewhere, so that some scripts of plays from this period survived for later generations to read. We cannot, however, identify the plays concerned, with the possible exception of the tetralogy based on the Iliad(see n 8) In 481/0 another Persian expedition, under the command of king Xerxe himself, advanced by land and sea against greece with the object of conquering the whole country. The Athenians, who over the previous few years had built up the largest navy in greece, abandoned their city, evacuated their population and put every available man on board their ships, and we can be certain that Aeschylus was present at the naval battles of Artemisium and Salamis in the late summer of 480-which gives his account of the latter battle in The Persians a unique status: there is perhaps no other battle in ancient history of which we possess a substan tial eyewitness account written down so soon after the event for the ears of an audience most of whom had been eyewitnesses themselves. As an Athenian hoplite Aeschylus will also have taken part in the final defeat of the persian invaders on land at plataea in the summer of 479 The Greeks were victorious; but Athens was destroyed-houses, public buildings, walls, temples demolished, looted and burnt. Yet her prestige was higher than it had ever been, and when the greek allies(mainly from Asia Minor and the Aegean islands), who were continuing the war at sea against the Persians, sensed that Sparta was reluctant to make a long term commitment to support them, they offered the leadership of their alliance to Athens, and the Athenians accepted. From this time, in 478, begins the period of Athenian maritime domination of the Aegean region which was to last for most of the rest of the fifth century and was to make Athens, before the end of Aeschylus'life, the most powerful polis greece had ever seen In Athens the Persian invasion had led to a closing of ranks, with those previously ostracized being recalled and some of them given high com mands. But with the Persian threat removed, personal and policy rivalries soon came to the surface again. two main groups can be discerned. Of one group Cimon, the son of Miltiades, was the unchallenged leader. His policy was to take the offensive against the persians with the object of driving them out of reach of all areas of Greek population, to maintain the alliance with Sparta established in 480, and to uphold the political and constitu tional status quo and especially his own ascendancy. In all these aims he was fairly consistently successful until 462. His main rivals at first were Xanthippus(who had prosecuted Miltiades over the Paros affair) and Themistocles. Themistocles was deeply suspicious of Sparta, and was instrumental, soon after the persian retreat, in effecting the rebuilding of the walls of Athens and of her port Peiraeus despite Spartan diploma 5

victorious almost every time he competed. By now tragedy was becoming prestigious enough for an embryo reading public to have come into exist￾ence, perhaps at this stage mainly confined to other literary artists in Athens and elsewhere, so that some scripts of plays from this period survived for later generations to read. We cannot, however, identify the plays concerned, with the possible exception of the tetralogy based on the Iliad (see n. 8). In 481/0 another Persian expedition, under the command of king Xerxes himself, advanced by land and sea against Greece with the object of conquering the whole country. The Athenians, who over the previous few years had built up the largest navy in Greece, abandoned their city, evacuated their population and put every available man on board their ships, and we can be certain that Aeschylus was present at the naval battles of Artemisium and Salamis in the late summer of 480 – which gives his account of the latter battle in The Persians a unique status: there is perhaps no other battle in ancient history of which we possess a substan￾tial eyewitness account written down so soon after the event for the ears of an audience most of whom had been eyewitnesses themselves. As an Athenian hoplite Aeschylus will also have taken part in the final defeat of the Persian invaders on land at Plataea in the summer of 479. The Greeks were victorious; but Athens was destroyed – houses, public buildings, walls, temples demolished, looted and burnt. Yet her prestige was higher than it had ever been, and when the Greek allies (mainly from Asia Minor and the Aegean islands), who were continuing the war at sea against the Persians, sensed that Sparta was reluctant to make a long￾term commitment to support them, they offered the leadership of their alliance to Athens, and the Athenians accepted. From this time, in 478, begins the period of Athenian maritime domination of the Aegean region, which was to last for most of the rest of the fifth century and was to make Athens, before the end of Aeschylus’ life, the most powerful polis Greece had ever seen. In Athens the Persian invasion had led to a closing of ranks, with those previously ostracized being recalled and some of them given high com￾mands. But with the Persian threat removed, personal and policy rivalries soon came to the surface again. Two main groups can be discerned. Of one group Cimon, the son of Miltiades, was the unchallenged leader. His policy was to take the offensive against the Persians with the object of driving them out of reach of all areas of Greek population, to maintain the alliance with Sparta established in 480, and to uphold the political and constitu￾tional status quo and especially his own ascendancy. In all these aims he was fairly consistently successful until 462. His main rivals at first were Xanthippus (who had prosecuted Miltiades over the Paros affair) and Themistocles. Themistocles was deeply suspicious of Sparta, and was instrumental, soon after the Persian retreat, in effecting the rebuilding of the walls of Athens and of her port Peiraeus despite Spartan diplomatic 1. The Life and Times of Aeschylus 5