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November 07, 2005
Oresteia
After listening to Peter Meineck's lecture on Ancient Greek Mythology in the Modern Scholar lecture series, I have become even more interested in reading classical mythology literature again. I started reading the Oresteia by Aeschylus on Saturday. Somehow I missed all these Aeschylus plays in college, although I did read Elektra by Sophocles about two years ago, which deals with the same themes. I am reading the Oresteia translation by Ted Hughes and so far I think it is very good. One of the toughest things about enjoying ancient literature is finding an accurate translation that is still entertaining. I finished reading Agamemnon (the first play in the Oresteia trilogy) and thought that Hughes did a good job translating the chorus and a very good job translating Cassandra's part. The best line was the one that described Helen as "homicidal Helen" in reference to her starting the Trojan war. I doubt that is quite what the Greek said, but it got the point across well.
I have read most of the major Greek poems and I think I am going to finish up on all the Greek tragedies before I move on the Roman ones. I am also interested in reaading some of the other original Greek texts that deal with mythology so I may start reading Hesiod since he is the only major Greek author I have not read yet that I can think of. I am also interested in reading some Seneca's plays after reading this, especially Thyestes (arggghhh.....soup), although I am also interested in Seneca's Hercules.
Anyone know of a good translation of Hesiod or Seneca?
Posted by Pete at November 7, 2005 09:11 AM
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