Athenian tragedies of the 5th century BC provide an extra dimension to our impressions of women and attitudes to women in ancient Greece. Here, women can be strong, powerful and commit (under provocation!) heinous crimes; the men, in comparison, often seem vain, weak and too ready to break important social codes. In this lecture Dr Heather Sebo looks at three tragic plays which revolve around women – Aeschylos’ Agamemnon, Sophocles’ Antigone and Euripides’ Medea – and examines their exploration of women and their place in society.

Copyright 2013 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

Athenian tragedies of the 5th century BC provide an extra dimension to our impressions of women and attitudes to women in ancient Greece. Here, women can be strong, powerful and commit (under provocation!) heinous crimes; the men, in comparison, often seem vain, weak and too ready to break important social codes. In this lecture Dr Heather Sebo looks at three tragic plays which revolve around women – Aeschylos’ Agamemnon, Sophocles’ Antigone and Euripides’ Medea – and examines their exploration of women and their place in society. Copyright 2013 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

Women in Athenian Drama (handout)

This subject deals with the cultural history of the ancient Greek world through both textual sources and the material evidence of art and archaeology. The period covered runs from the Iron Age world of Archaic Greece through to the late Classical period (roughly from the 8th century to the 4th century BCE). We will concentrate mainly on Athens and mainland Greece, but we will also focus on the Greek expansion into other parts of the Mediterranean world (Sicily and South Italy) in the process of colonisation. Historical texts will be combined with literary sources and archaeology to explore the physical nature of ancient Greek cities and social issues such as the position of women, ethnicity, sexuality and slavery in the ancient Greek world.

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Women in Athenian Drama (handout)

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