Dramas of Euripides. "Iphigenia in Taurida"

At first glance, it seems that the drama, as was customary, was written in mythological plot. However, it is noteworthy that the playwright chooses that fragment of the myth when the heroic past of the heroes is behind, and depicts the personal, family drama. The dynamics of feeling and passion is one of Euripides' favorite themes. For the first time in ancient literature clearly sets out psychological problems, especially the problems of female psychology, and the significance of Euripides for world literature is based primarily on his female images.

Among the most powerful tragedies of Euripides is Medea (431). Medea is a mythological figure from the cycle of legends about the Argonauts, the granddaughter of Helios (the Sun), a sorceress capable of the most terrible crimes. in 431 to the image of Medea and gave the tragedy of a passionately loving, but deceived woman.

And as the bearer of a new attitude towards marriage, Medea delivers a speech to the choir of the Corinthians about plight women in the family, about unequal morality, requiring fidelity from a woman, but not extending this requirement to a man. Jason, whose second marriage is dictated by the desire to create a "support for the house" and ensure the future of children, follows the traditional views on the tasks of the family, but Euripides does not spare colors in order to portray his baseness, cowardice and insignificance. Jason's response to Medea's accusations of ingratitude is an example of the sophistical art of "proving" any position and defending an unjust cause.

"Medea" is indicative of Euripides' dramaturgy in many respects. The image of the struggle of feelings and internal discord is something new that Euripides introduced into Attic tragedy. Along with this - numerous discussions about the family, marriage, fatherhood, about the fatality of passions: not only Medea argues, but also the choir, and even the old nurse.

The heroine does not consider her fate exceptional, she expresses sorrowful reflections about the subordinate, dependent fate of a woman, her defenselessness and lack of rights:

However, Medea herself, in accordance with the nature and integrity of her character, is not capable of putting up with humiliation. with the same force that she loved, she begins to hate Jason and look for a way to take revenge on him. The idea of infanticide finally prompts her meeting with the childless Athenian king Aegeus. In a conversation with him, she understands how a childless man suffers, and decides to take the most precious thing from Jason. But this blow is directed at the same time against herself, and therefore Medea does not decide to take this step immediately and with terrible agony. The heroine changes her intention several times, conflicting feelings struggle in her, and yet, gradually, a terrible decision ripens in her.

Before Euripides, the prevailing version of the myth was that children were killed by angry Corinthians upon learning of the death of their king and young princess. Euripides left this to the heroine herself, convincingly showing that, no matter how terrible this act, Medea, who belongs to natures proud, powerful, incapable of forgiving insults, could do this. The viewer cannot accept and forgive Medea for her deed, but understands by whom and how she was driven to a crime.

At first glance, it seems that the drama, as was traditional, was written on a mythological plot. However, it is noteworthy that the playwright chooses that fragment of the myth when the heroic past of the heroes is behind, and depicts a personal, family drama. Before us is the grief of a lonely, deceived, abandoned woman. Deviations from traditional mythological versions are often found in the tragedies of Euripides. Behind this, a certain trend is palpable: for Euripides, myth is not the sacred history of the people, but material for creativity. As a matter of fact, Euripides constrains the limits of myth: the new social content of his tragedies conflicts with the old mythological form. In essence, Euripides would have to abandon the myth, but this would be too bold and decisive a violation of tradition, but he certainly brought the destruction of the mythological basis of the tragedy closer. Euripides was one of the first to turn to the image love conflict in drama and made love passion the driving motive of events. In "Antigone" Sophocles created a bright female character and the theme of love was present (the line of Antigone and Haemon), however, as a secondary and not self-sufficient, subject to choice citizenship heroes. For Medea, her passion is the main basis of life. She sacrificed her loved ones, her homeland, good name, however, after a number of years life together Jason treacherously neglected her for the sake of low calculation.

The murder of Creon and the princess Medea conceives in cold blood, not at all doubting the correctness of the chosen decision; the only thing that “confuses” her is that “on the way to the bedroom” or “on business” she can be “captured ... and the villains get mocked”, and a conversation with Jason only strengthens Medea in her intention to do so .

A verbal duel with Jason, she exposes him as the most complete nonentity and scoundrel

hot, passionate, emotional, driven by feelings and instincts, proud, harsh, unrestrained and immeasurable. Medea is immeasurable in everything: in love, hatred, revenge. It is because of this that other characters in the tragedy do not understand her.

Medea plays the scene of reconciliation with Jason

Medea's selfishness: she does not think about what is best for her children, to live or die, to stay in the city or wander with her, she is driven only by her own feelings and her own desires.

The finale of the tragedy is very bright: Medea appears in a chariot drawn by dragons, which was sent to her by Helios. She has the corpses of her children with her. Her last dialogue with Jason takes place, which somewhat changes the nature of the drama.

Tragedy carries a sense of the absurdity of life: there is no justice in the world, there is no border between good and evil, there is no measure, there is no truth, there is no happiness. Medea makes one doubt the highest values, the existence of the gods (she calls for their help, but they do not help her in any way), and her view of the world.

chorus - on the side of Medea,

Medea is the undoubted center of the work, the world of tragedy revolves around her, she focuses on herself all the emotional and psychological content of the drama; Willy-nilly, you begin to empathize with her, her throwing causes a response storm of feelings. It seems that Euripides himself was fascinated by the image of the murderous sorceress.

Innovation: The duality of her character - and mourns, pities the children, and kills. to E. inner world no person was shown. The image of the struggle of feelings and internal discord is something new that Euripides introduced into Attic tragedy. Along with this - numerous arguments about the family, marriage, fatherhood, about the fatality of passions: not only Medea argues, but also the choir, and even the old nurse.

Medea Euripides: conflict and characters.

Euripides (circa 485-406 BC). The social crisis of the Athenian slave-owning democracy and the resulting breakdown of traditional concepts and views were most fully reflected in the work of Sophocles-Euripides, a younger contemporary.. In contrast to Sophocles, Euripides did not take direct part in political life state, but he was keenly interested in social events. His tragedies are full of various political statements and allusions to modernity.

great success contemporaries Euripides did not have. 18 dramas have come down to us from Euripides (in total, he wrote from 75 to 92) and a large number of passages. The playwright brought his heroes closer to reality; according to Aristotle, he depicted people as "what they are." The characters of his tragedies, remaining, like those of Aeschylus and Sophocles, heroes of myths, were endowed with thoughts, aspirations, passions of contemporary people to the poet.

In a number of tragedies of Euripides criticism is heard religious beliefs and the gods turn out to be more insidious, cruel and vindictive than people. According to his socio-political views, he was a supporter of moderate democracy, the mainstay of which he considered small landowners. In some of his plays, there are sharp attacks against politicians-demagogues: flattering the people, they seek power in order to use it for their own selfish purposes. In a number of tragedies, Euripides passionately exposes tyranny: the dominance of one person over other people against their will seems to him a violation of the natural civil order. Nobility, according to Euripides, lies in personal virtues and virtues, and not in noble birth and wealth. The positive characters of Euripides repeatedly express the idea that the unbridled desire for wealth can push a person to crime. Noteworthy is the attitude of Euripides towards slaves. He believes that slavery is injustice and violence, that people have one nature and a slave, if he has a noble soul, is no worse than a free one.

Euripides often responds in his tragedies to the events of the Peloponnesian War. Although he is proud of the military successes of his compatriots, he generally has a negative attitude towards war. He shows what suffering war brings to people, especially women and children. War can only be justified if if people defend the independence of their homeland. These ideas put forward Euripides among the most progressive thinkers of mankind. Euripides became the first playwright known to us, in whose works the characters of the characters were not only revealed, but also developed. At the same time, he was not afraid to depict low human passions, the struggle of conflicting aspirations in one and the same person. Aristotle called him the most tragic of all Greek playwrights.

The tragedy of Medea was staged on the Athenian stage in 438. It depicts the daughter of the Colchis king, who fell in love with one of the Argonauts. Out of jealousy, Medea, contrary to the norms of polis ethics, commits the crime of killing her own children (a kind of refraction of the sophist theory that man is the measure of all things). Euripides acts as a deep psychologist, shows a storm of passions in Medea's soul when she decided to kill her children. The conflict in her soul is between love for children and jealousy for her husband, between passion and a sense of duty. Euripides reveals the soul of a man tormented internal struggle, he does not embellish reality, the characters are realistic (and in life passion often takes precedence over duty). The characters are realistic, but the ending is given according to the myth, the god Helios, Medea's grandfather, appears and saves her. This gives a mythological coloring to the whole image of the heroine, but in general it is very psychological.

Ancient Greek literature

Euripides

Biography

The great playwright was born on Salamis, on the day of the famous victory of the Greeks over the Persians in a naval battle, September 23, 480 BC. e., from Mnesarchus and Kleito. Parents were on Salamis among other Athenians who fled from the army of the Persian king Xerxes. The exact linking of Euripides' birthday to victory is an embellishment that is often found in the stories of ancient authors about the great. So in the Court it is reported that the mother of Euripides conceived him at the time when Xerxes invaded Europe (May, 480 BC), from which it follows that in September he could not have been born. An inscription on Parian marble identifies the year of the playwright's birth as 486 BC. e., and in this chronicle Greek life the name of the playwright is mentioned 3 times - more often than the name of any king. According to other evidence, the date of birth can be attributed to 481 BC. e.

Euripides' father was a respected and apparently wealthy man, Kleito's mother was engaged in the sale of vegetables. As a child, Euripides was seriously engaged in gymnastics, even won competitions among boys and wanted to get into Olympic Games but was rejected at a young age. Then he was engaged in drawing, without much, however, success. Then he began to take lessons in oratory and literature from Prodicus and Anaxagoras, and the lessons of philosophy from Socrates. Euripides collected books for the library, and soon began to write himself. The first play, Peliad, hit the stage in 455 BC. e., but then the author did not win because of a quarrel with the judges. Euripides won the first prize for skill in 441 BC. e. and from then until his death he created his creations. The public activity of the playwright was manifested in the fact that he participated in the embassy in Syracuse in Sicily, apparently supporting the goals of the embassy with the authority of a writer recognized by all Hellas.

The family life of Euripides developed unsuccessfully. From his first wife, Chloirina, he had 3 sons, but divorced her because of her adultery, writing the play Hippolytus, where he ridiculed sexual relations. The second wife, Melitta, was no better than the first. Euripides gained fame as a misogynist, which gave reason to joke with him to the master of comedy Aristophanes.

In 408 BC e. great playwright decided to leave Athens, accepting the invitation of the Macedonian king Archelaus. It is not known exactly what influenced Euripides' decision. Historians are inclined to think that the main reason was, if not persecution, then resentment of the vulnerable creative personality on fellow citizens for not recognizing merit. The fact is that out of 92 plays, only 4 were awarded prizes at theatrical competitions during the life of the author, and one play posthumously. The popularity of the playwright among the people is evidenced by the story of Plutarch about the terrible defeat of the Athenians in Sicily in 413 BC. e.:

“They were sold into slavery and branded on their foreheads in the form of a horse. Yes, there were those who, in addition to captivity, had to endure this as well. But even in this extreme, they benefited from the feeling dignity and self-control. The owners either set them free or highly valued them. And some were saved by Euripides. The fact is that the Sicilians, probably more than all the Greeks living outside of Attica, honored the talent of Euripides. When visitors delivered to them small excerpts from his works, the Sicilians delightedly learned them by heart and repeated them to each other. It is said that at that time many of those who returned safely home warmly greeted Euripides and told him how they gained freedom by teaching the owner what was left in the memory of his poems, or how, wandering after the battle, they earned their food and water by singing songs from his tragedy."

Archelaus showed honor and demonstrative respect to the famous guest to such an extent that signs of disposition were the cause of the death of the king himself. Aristotle in the work "Politics" reports on a certain Dekamnikh, who was given out to scourge Euripides for the offense he had inflicted, and this Dekamnich organized a conspiracy in retaliation, as a result of which Archelaus died. It happened already later than death Euripides himself in 406 BC. e. The death of such a remarkable person gave rise to the legends set forth in the Court:

“Euripides ended his life as a result of the conspiracy of Arrhidaeus from Macedonia and Crateus from Thessaly, poets jealous of the glory of Euripides. They bribed a courtier named Lysimachos for 10 minutes to unleash the royal hounds on Euripides, which he followed. Others say that Euripides was torn to pieces not by dogs, but by women, when he hurried at night to rendezvous with Crater, the young lover of Archelaus. Still others claim that he was going to meet Nicodice, Areth's wife."

The version about women is a rude joke with a hint of Euripides' play "The Bacchae", where distraught women tore the king apart. About the love of the aged writer for young men, Plutarch reports in "Quotes". Modern version more mundane - the body of the 75-year-old Euripides simply could not stand the harsh winter in Macedonia.

The Athenians requested permission to bury the playwright in hometown, but Archelaus wished to leave the tomb of Euripides in his capital, Pella. Sophocles, having learned about the death of the playwright, forced the actors to play the play with uncovered heads. Athens erected a statue of Euripides in the theater, honoring him after his death. Plutarch passed on the legend: lightning struck the tomb of Euripides, a great sign that he was awarded from famous people only Lycurgus.

The Athenian playwright Euripides was born on Salamis on September 23, 480 BC. e. His parents, the Athenians Mnesarchus and Kleito, fled to Salamis from Athens, fleeing the army of the Persian king Xerxes.

Euripides' father was a wealthy and respected man, and Kleito's mother was a vegetable trader. In his youth, Euripides was engaged in gymnastics and drawing, took lessons in oratory from Prodicus and Anaxagoras, and studied philosophy from Socrates. Euripides' first play, Peliad, was performed on stage in 455 BC. e.

In 441 BC the writer won the first prize for his work. Since then, he has not stopped writing. He also participated in the embassy to the Sicilian city of Syracuse, thus showing his social activity.

With his first wife, who bore him three sons, Euripides divorced because of her infidelity and composed the play Hippolytus, where he ridiculed intimate relationships. His second wife also did not differ in exemplary behavior. Disillusioned with family life, Euripides became a misogynist, which made him the object of jokes of the master of comedy Aristophanes.

In 408 BC the great playwright left Athens and went to Macedonia at the invitation of King Archelaus, where he died in 406 BC. e. There were many legends about the cause of his death, which claimed that Euripides was the victim of a conspiracy. However, most likely, the elderly playwright simply could not stand the harsh Macedonian winter. Euripides was buried in Pella, the capital of Macedonia, although the Athenians asked permission to return his body to their homeland. In the theater of Athens, in memory of the great playwright, his statue was erected.

Euripides (more correctly Euripides, other Greek Εὐριπίδης, lat. Euripides, 480 - 406 BC) is an ancient Greek playwright, a representative of the new Attic tragedy, in which psychology prevails over the idea of divine fate.

According to a later account in the Judgment, there lived before Euripides a little-known dramatist of the same name.

The ancient "Biographies" of Euripides claim that he was born on Salamis, on the day of the famous victory of the Greeks over the Persians in a naval battle, September 23, 480 BC. e., from Mnesarchus and Kleito. Parents were on Salamis among other Athenians who fled from the army of the Persian king Xerxes. Aeschylus participated in this battle, and the sixteen-year-old Sophocles performed in the choir of young men who glorified the victory. So the ancient Greek chroniclers presented the succession of the three great tragedians. The exact linking of Euripides' birthday to victory is an embellishment that is often found in the stories of ancient authors about the great. So in the Court it is reported that the mother of Euripides conceived him at the time when Xerxes invaded Europe (May, 480 BC), from which it follows that in September he could not have been born. An inscription on Parian marble identifies the year of the playwright's birth as 486 BC. e., and in this chronicle of Greek life, the name of the playwright is mentioned 3 times - more often than the name of any king. According to other evidence, the date of birth can be attributed to 481 BC. e.

Euripides' father was a respected and apparently wealthy man, Kleito's mother was engaged in the sale of vegetables. As a child, Euripides was seriously engaged in gymnastics, even won competitions among boys and wanted to get to the Olympic Games, but was rejected because of his youth. Then he was engaged in drawing, without much, however, success. Then he began to take lessons in oratory and literature from Prodicus and Anaxagoras and lessons in philosophy from Socrates. Euripides collected books for the library, and soon began to write himself. The first play, Peliad, hit the stage in 455 BC. e., but then the author did not win because of a quarrel with the judges. Euripides won the first prize for skill in 441 BC. e. and from then until his death he created his creations. The public activity of the playwright was manifested in the fact that he participated in the embassy in Syracuse in Sicily, apparently supporting the goals of the embassy with the authority of a writer recognized by all Hellas.

In 408 BC e. the great playwright decided to leave Athens, accepting the invitation of the Macedonian king Archelaus. It is not known exactly what influenced Euripides' decision. Historians are inclined to think that the main reason was, if not persecution, then the resentment of a vulnerable creative person against fellow citizens for not recognizing merit. The fact is that out of 92 plays (75 according to another source), only 4 were awarded prizes in theater competitions during the author's lifetime, and one play posthumously. The popularity of the playwright among the people is evidenced by the story of Plutarch about the terrible defeat of the Athenians in Sicily in 413 BC. e.:

“They [the Athenians] were sold into slavery and branded on their foreheads in the form of a horse. Yes, there were those who, in addition to captivity, had to endure this as well. But even in this extreme, they benefited from self-esteem and self-control. The owners either set them free or highly valued them. And some were saved by Euripides. The fact is that the Sicilians, probably more than all the Greeks living outside of Attica, honored the talent of Euripides. When visitors delivered to them small excerpts from his works, the Sicilians delightedly learned them by heart and repeated them to each other. It is said that at that time many of those who returned safely home warmly greeted Euripides and told him how they gained freedom by teaching the owner what was left in the memory of his poems, or how, wandering after the battle, they earned their food and water by singing songs from his tragedy."

Archelaus showed honor and demonstrative respect to the famous guest to such an extent that signs of disposition were the cause of the death of the king himself. Aristotle in the work "Politics" reports on a certain Dekamnikh, who was given out to scourge Euripides for the offense he had inflicted, and this Dekamnich organized a conspiracy in retaliation, as a result of which Archelaus died. This happened after the death of Euripides himself in 406 BC. e. The death of such a remarkable person gave rise to the legends set forth in the Court:

Euripides (480 BC – 406 BC), ancient Greek playwright According to other sources, the year of birth is 485-484 BC.

Euripides is considered one of the first three professional playwrights who formed one of the fundamental genres of drama - tragedy. However, turning to the work of his predecessors, Aeschylus and Sophocles, we meet, first of all, with the formation and development of the architectonics and structure of the genre. Thus, Aeschylus was the first to introduce a second actor into the tragedy; Sophocles significantly increased the volume of dialogues and introduced a third actor, which made it possible to exacerbate the dramatic action. As for Euripides, he radically transformed the essential aspect of tragedy - the problems and characters of its characters. The fundamental novelty of his work allowed the tragedy to make a huge leap in its development - in fact, his plays already contain the principles of today's dramaturgy, contemporary theater. Many circumstances testify in favor of this.

So, for example, if you rely only on chronology, it becomes clear that Euripides was by no means the successor and successor of Sophocles - they were contemporaries and worked at the same time (Sophocles is older than Euripides by no more than a decade and a half, and he died even a little later than Euripides). However, in our minds, the work of Euripides is rightly attributed to a completely different, new theatrical era.

The staging of the tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles is a rarity for contemporary scene; and, if such performances appear, then, as a rule, within the framework of an experiment and in a strong revised form. However, the tragedies of Euripides periodically appear in the repertoire of today's theater - in any case, no less than the ancient comedies of, say, Aristophanes or Plautus.

And, finally, the fact that Euripides was ahead of his time is evidenced by the not too pleasant fact that his dramaturgy was not particularly popular with his contemporaries. The innovations of Euripides (in particular, the realistic tendencies of his dramaturgy) often remained incomprehensible to the audience. In 405 BC, after the death of Euripides, the comedy of Aristophanes the Frog gained great fame in Athens, in which the author severely criticized ideological foundations and figurative means of Euripides. Comparing his dramaturgy with the work of Aeschylus, Aristophanes argues that if the tragedies of Aeschylus educate people, then the works of Euripides "spoil" them. Thus, the lifetime glory of Euripides was incomparable with the popularity of either Aeschylus or Sophocles, whose works fully corresponded to the established dramatic canon. Euripides' work was truly appreciated after his death; and, until the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century. AD, Euripides remained the most famous and popular playwright of antiquity. His works had a huge impact on the formation of Attic everyday comedy; on the creation of Roman tragedy (in particular, Seneca worked under the serious influence of Euripides). Euripides playwright tragedy mythology

There is evidence that Euripides began working on tragedies already at the age of eighteen. However, for the first time in the competition of playwrights, he took part in 455 BC, when he was about thirty. In this competition, he took third place. During his life, he managed to win only the first five victories, and the last - posthumously. Euripides, unlike Aeschylus and Sophocles, did not perform on stage himself, and also, refuting established traditions, did not write music for his works, entrusting it to musicians. 17 tragedies of Euripides, one satyr drama and many dramatic fragments(according to various ancient sources, from 75 to 92 works of dramaturgy are attributed to the authorship of Euripides).

Almost all of the surviving plays by Euripides were created during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) between Athens and Sparta, which had a huge impact on all aspects of life ancient Hellas. And the first feature of the tragedies of Euripides is the burning modernity: heroic-patriotic motives, hostility towards Sparta, the crisis of ancient slave-owning democracy, the first crisis religious consciousness associated with the rapid development of materialistic philosophy, etc. In this regard, the attitude of Euripides to mythology is especially indicative: the myth becomes for the playwright only material for reflection contemporary events; he allows himself to change not only the minor details of classical mythology, but also to give unexpected rational interpretations famous stories(for example, in Iphigenia in Tauris, human sacrifices are explained by the cruel customs of the barbarians). The gods in the works of Euripides often appear more cruel, insidious and vindictive than people (Hippolytus, Hercules, etc.). It is precisely for this reason, “by the contrary”, that the technique of “dues ex machina” (“God from the machine”) has become so widespread in the dramaturgy of Euripides, when in the finale of the work God suddenly appears and hastily administers justice. In the interpretation of Euripides, divine providence could hardly consciously take care of restoring justice.

However, the main innovation of Euripides, which caused rejection among most of his contemporaries, was the depiction of human characters. If in Aeschylus's tragedies the titans acted as characters, and in Sophocles - ideal heroes, in the playwright's own words, "people as they should be"; then Euripides, as Aristotle already noted in his Poetics, brought people to the stage as they are in life. The heroes and especially the heroines of Euripides by no means possess integrity, their characters are complex and contradictory, and high feelings, passions, thoughts are closely intertwined with base ones. This gave the tragic characters of Euripides versatility, evoking in the audience a complex range of feelings - from empathy to horror. So, the unbearable suffering of Medea from tragedy of the same name lead her to a bloody atrocity; Moreover, having killed her own children, Medea does not feel the slightest remorse. Phaedra (Hippolytus), who has a truly noble character and prefers death to the consciousness of her own fall, commits a low and cruel deed, leaving suicide letter with a false accusation of Hippolytus. Iphigenia (Iphigenia in Aulis) goes through the most difficult psychological path from a naive teenage girl to conscious sacrifice for the good of the motherland.

Expanding the palette of theatrical and visual means, he widely used everyday vocabulary; along with the choir, increased the volume of the so-called. monodium ( solo singing actor in tragedy). Monodia was introduced into the theatrical use by Sophocles, but the widespread use of this technique is associated with the name of Euripides. The clash of opposite positions of characters in the so-called. agonakh (verbal competitions of characters) Euripides exacerbated through the use of the technique of stichomythia, i.e. exchange of poems of the participants in the dialogue. In the later tragedies of Euripides, domestic and comic elements, as well as elements of melodrama (Orest, Elektra, etc.).

Shortly before his death, Euripides (according to some evidence - due to the lack of recognition of his compatriots) left Athens and moved to the court of the Macedonian king Archelaus.

In the Middle Ages, the work of Euripides, as well as all the art of antiquity, was forgotten. New wave interest in his drama arose in the Renaissance, primarily in Italy, and had a serious influence on the formation of the drama of the 16th century. Later, in the era of classicism, Racine repeatedly turned to the plots of Euripides. The influence of the dramaturgy of Euripides is clearly visible in the work of many European artists more late period- Voltaire, Goethe, Schiller, Grillparzer, Verharn, Wyspiansky and many others.

Of the 92 plays attributed to Euripides in antiquity, the names of 80 can be restored. Of these, 18 tragedies have come down to us, of which "Res" is believed to have been written by a later poet, and the satirical drama "Cyclops" is the only surviving example of this genre. The best ancient dramas by Euripides are lost to us; of the survivors, only Hippolyte was crowned. Among the surviving plays, the earliest is Alcesta, and the later ones include Iphigenia in Aulis and The Bacchae.

Preferred Development female roles in tragedy was an innovation of Euripides. Hecuba, Polyxena, Cassandra, Andromache, Macarius, Iphigenia, Helen, Electra, Medea, Phaedra, Creusa, Andromeda, Agave and many other heroines of the legends of Hellas are complete and vital types. The motifs of conjugal and maternal love, tender devotion, violent passion, female vindictiveness, combined with cunning, deceit and cruelty, occupy a very prominent place in Euripides' dramas. The women of Euripides surpass his men with willpower and brightness of feelings. Also, the slaves in his plays are not soulless extras, but have characters, human traits and show feelings like free citizens, forcing the audience to empathize. Only a few of the surviving tragedies satisfy the requirement of completeness and unity of action. The strength of the author is primarily in psychologism and deep elaboration of individual scenes and monologues. In a diligent image mental states, usually tense to the extreme, is the main interest of the tragedies of Euripides.

Medea- a play by Euripides, staged on the Great Dionysia in 431 BC. According to the results of the competition of playwrights, Euripides then took the last, third place (the first award was won by Euphorion, the second by Sophocles). "Medea" was part of a tetralogy, which also included the tragedies "Philoctetes", "Dictis" and the satyr drama "The Reapers".

The story of Medea is part of the myth of the march of the Argonauts. When Jason entered into battle with the fire-breathing bulls and the dragon guarding the golden fleece, Medea, who fell in love with him, helped him tame the bulls and the dragon, and she herself decided to follow him to Greece. In order to detain her relatives who were pursuing the Argonauts, Medea, when sailing from Colchis, killed her brother, who had been captured by her, and scattered pieces of his body along the shore; while the shocked relatives collected the torn limbs of the young man, the Argonauts managed to set sail. Arriving in Iolk already as the wife of Jason, Medea persuaded the daughters of Pelias to perform a magical rite that was supposed to restore his youth, but insidiously deceived them, and the old king died a painful death, after which Jason and his wife and sons had to seek shelter in Corinth, where Jason decided to marry the daughter of the local king Creon. Medea, deciding to take revenge on her rival, sent her a poisoned outfit through her children and, when it became known about the death of the princess, fled from Corinth, leaving her sons under the protection of the temple of Hera. However, the Corinthians did not reckon with the inviolability of the temple and in anger killed the children, for which they subsequently had to make an atoning sacrifice every year.

Euripides modified the traditional legend, making Medea herself responsible for the death of the children.

"Hippolytus"- one of the tragedies of Euripides. It was written in 428 BC. e. The work is built on ancient story stepmother's love for her stepson.

The first edition of the tragedy caused a storm of public indignation and was declared immoral. One of the main characters - Phaedra - herself opens up to her stepson Hippolyte in love. The failure was also facilitated by the fact that at that time no attention was paid to the individual experiences of the individual.

Today we have the opportunity to get acquainted only with the second version of the tragedy, where Phaedra does not confess to Hippolytus, but takes her own life, knowingly leaving her husband a note slandering her stepson.

One of the innovations of Euripides is that the female image occupies an important place in the tragedy. And it is far from ideal.

It is also important that the gods of Euripides are endowed with human features. So, in this tragedy, Artemis and Aphrodite are two eccentric goddesses, the subject of which is Hippolytus.

The protagonist of the tragedy is ruined by his commitment to Artemis and complete disregard for Aphrodite. Thus, for the first time in history ancient theater Euripides raised the question of whether all the actions of the gods can be considered justified and just.

Iphigenia (aka Ifimeda, saved by Artemis) is the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra (according to Stesichorus and others, their adopted daughter and own daughter of Theseus and Helena). She was born in the year when Agamemnon promised Artemis the most beautiful gift of those born.

When the Greeks set off for Troy, they were already ready to set off from the Boeotian harbor of Aulis, Agamemnon (or Menelaus) offended Artemis by killing a doe dedicated to her while hunting. Artemis was angry with Agamemnon for this, and also for the fact that Atreine sacrificed a golden lamb to her. The goddess sent a calm and the Greek fleet could not move. The soothsayer Kalhant declared that the goddess could only be appeased by sacrificing Iphigenia, the most beautiful of Agamemnon's daughters, as a sacrifice to her. Agamemnon, at the insistence of Menelaus and the troops, had to agree to this. Odysseus and Diomed went to Clytemnestra for Iphigenia, and Odysseus lied that she was being given as wife to Achilles. She was sacrificed by Kalhant.

When she arrived there and everything was ready for the sacrifice, Artemis took pity and at the very moment of the slaughter replaced Iphigenia with a goat, and she was kidnapped on a cloud and taken to Taurida, instead of her a calf was placed on the altar.

And he(΄Ίων) - the mythical ancestor of the ionyans.

An older tradition (in Hesiod) recognizes Ion as the son of Xuthus, one of the three sons of Hellenes. Expelled from Thessaly by the brothers, Xuthus, according to a later processing of the same legend, moved to Attica, where he married the daughter of Erechtheus Creusa and had sons Ion and Achaea from her. According to Euripides, Ion, the son of Apollo and Creusa, grew up in Delphi, according to the oracle of Apollo, Xuthus recognized him as a son. From him the Ionians.

To explain the legendary sojourn of the Ionians on the northern coast of the Peloponnesai historical name this coast - Achaia, a tradition was compiled that Xuthus was expelled from Attica by the sons of Erechtheus and moved with his sons to the mentioned land, formerly called Aegialea. Ion began to recruit an army against the Aegialeans. Then their king Selinunt (Selin) offered him his daughter Gelika as a wife, and adopted him himself. After the death of Selinunte, Ion built the city of Helika, and called the people Ions. Ion becomes king of Aegialea, whose inhabitants are called, after his name, Ionians. The descendants of Ion held power until they were expelled by the Achaeans.

Ion comes to the aid of the Athenians and, according to one version, becomes king. According to Herodotus, commander (stratarch). He was elected general by the Athenians in the war against the Eleusinians and expelled Disaul from there. Either he defeated the Eleusinian king in single combat, and was elected king by the Athenians. He defeated the Thracians, subject to Eumolpus. According to Pausanias, the war ended with a peace treaty, and Eumolpus himself remained in Eleusis.

In Athens, his sons Goplet, Geleont, Egikorei and Argad were born, eponyms ancient four Attic Phil. Four phyla were produced from the four sons of Ion: Geleonts, Goplets, Argads, Egikors. Ion divided the people into 4 phyla and into 4 estates: farmers, artisans, clergy and guards. According to others, the phyla are not from the sons of Ion, but from a different way of life: warriors - Hoplites, artisans - Ergads, farmers - Geleonts, Egikorei - grazed and bred small livestock. These four phyla were abolished under Cleisthenes.

Grave in the Deme of Potama (Attica). Sanctuary in Sparta. According to the version, the leader of the Ionian colonization.

A special Attic tradition, processed by Euripides in his tragedy Ion, tries to make Ion not a foreigner, but a local hero, the son of Kreusyn, not from Xuthus, but from Apollo. It is believed that Xuthus was originally only a nickname for Apollo (fair-haired).

The protagonist of the tragedy of Sophocles "Ion" (fr.319-320 Radt) and the tragedy of Euripides "Ion". The protagonist of Leconte de Lisle's tragedy "Apollonides".

The three greatest tragedians of Greece - Aeschylus, Sophocles Euripides - consistently displayed in their tragedies the psycho-ideology of the landowning aristocracy and merchant capital at various stages of their development. The main motive of the tragedy of Aeschylus is the idea of omnipotence and the doom of the struggle with it. The social order was conceived as certain superhuman forces, established once and for all. Even the rebellious titans cannot shake him (the tragedy "Chained Prometheus").

These views expressed the protective tendencies of the ruling class - the aristocracy, whose ideology was determined by the consciousness of the need for unquestioning obedience to this social order. The tragedies of Sophocles depict the era of the victorious war between the Greeks and the Persians, which opened up great opportunities for commercial capital.

In this regard, the authority of the aristocracy in the country fluctuates, and this accordingly affects the works of Sophocles. At the center of his tragedy is the conflict between tribal tradition and state authority. Sophocles considered reconciliation possible social contradictions- a compromise between the trading elite and the aristocracy.

And, finally, Euripides - a supporter of the victory of the trading stratum over the landowning aristocracy - already denies religion. His "Bellerophon" depicts a fighter who raised a rebellion against the gods because they patronize treacherous rulers from the aristocracy. "They (the gods) are not there (in heaven)," he says, "unless people want to madly believe the old tales." In the works of the atheistic Euripides, the actors in the drama are exclusively people. If he introduces the gods, then only in those cases when it is necessary to resolve some complex intrigue. His dramatic action is motivated by the real properties of the human psyche. The majestic, but sincerely simplified heroes of Aeschylus and Sophocles are replaced in the works of the younger tragedian, if more prosaic, then complicated characters. Sophocles spoke of Euripides as follows: “I portrayed people as they should be; Euripides depicts them as they really are.

By the time of the Greco-Persian wars, it had become customary to stage three tragedies (trilogy) on the feast of Dionysius, developing one plot, and one satyr drama, repeating the plot of tragedies in a cheerful, mocking tone, with pantomime dances. Sophocles had already departed from this trilogical principle. True, at drama competitions he also performed with three tragedies, but each of them had its own plot. The tragedy of Sophocles is recognized as a canonical form Greek tragedy. He introduces peripety for the first time. He slows down the swiftness of action that characterizes the tragedy of his predecessor Aeschylus.

The action in Sophocles, as it were, is growing, approaching a catastrophe, followed by a denouement. This was facilitated by the introduction of a third actor. The tragedy of Sophocles is structured like this: it begins with an introduction (prologue), followed by the exit of the choir with a song (parod), then - episodies (episodes), which are interrupted by songs of the choir (stasims), and the last part- the final stasim and the departure of the actors and the choir - exodus. Choral songs divided the tragedy in this way into parts, which in modern drama are called acts. The number of parts varied even with the same author.

The choir (at the time of Aeschylus, 12 people, later 15) did not leave its place during the entire performance, as it constantly intervened in the action: it assisted the author in clarifying the meaning of the tragedy, revealed the emotional experiences of his heroes, and assessed their actions from the point of view of the prevailing morality. The presence of the choir, as well as the lack of scenery in the theater, made it impossible to move the action from one place to another. We must add the absence of Greek theater the ability to depict the change of day and night - the state of technology did not allow the use of lighting effects.

From here come the three unities of Greek tragedy: place, action and time (the action could only take place from sunrise to sunset), which were supposed to reinforce the illusion of the reality of the action. The unity of time and place to a large extent limited the development of dramatic elements characteristic of the evolution of the genus at the expense of the epic. A number of events necessary in the drama, the depiction of which would break unity, could only be reported to the viewer. The so-called "messengers" told about what was happening outside the stage.

Euripides introduces an intrigue into the tragedy, which, however, he resolves artificially, mostly with the help of a special technique - deus ex machina. By this time more or less theatrical machinery had already developed. The role of the choir is gradually reduced to the musical accompaniment of the performance.

Greek tragedy was greatly influenced by the Homeric epic. The tragedians borrowed a lot of stories from him. The characters often used expressions borrowed from the Iliad. For the dialogues and songs of the choir, the playwrights (they are also melurgists, because the same person, the author of the tragedy, wrote poetry and music) used the three-foot iambic as a form close to living speech (for differences in dialects in certain parts of the tragedy, see the ancient Greek language).

In Hellenistic times, tragedy follows the tradition of Euripides. The traditions of ancient Greek tragedy are picked up by the playwrights of ancient Rome.

Works in the tradition of ancient Greek tragedy were created in Greece until the late Roman and Byzantine times (the surviving tragedies of Apollinaris of Laodicea, the Byzantine compilation tragedy "The Suffering Christ").

Ancient Greek comedy was born on the same festivities of Dionysus as tragedy, only in a different setting. If tragedy in its infancy is a ritual service, then comedy is a product of amusements that began when the liturgical part of the Dionysia, gloomy and serious, ended. In ancient Greece, they staged then marches (komos, hence the name itself may have comedy) with rampant songs and dances, put on fantastic costumes, entered into disputes, fights, threw witticisms, jokes, often obscene, which, according to the ancient Greeks, was encouraged by Dionysus (about the connection of these primitive erotic actions with animistic ones - Comedy and Ritual Songs). During these amusements, the main elements of the comic genre arose: the Doric everyday scene (mime) and the Attic accusatory choral song.

The youth of Attica formed two choirs, which entered into a song duel with each other. The choir improvised their songs. Over time, professional actors began to take an active part in these amusements, who introduced their permanent masks and tricks into them. Poets processed mythical subjects for them, refracting them satirically. The first comedian poet-philosopher Epicharm is a representative of the so-called Doric comedy, which developed from mime.

His gods played buffoonish roles. This coincided with the era of the beginning of the democratic movement, which shook the foundations of the ancient Greek religion. Attic comedy synthesized elements of mime and accusatory choral song. In the years of the Periclacomediographers, already in their comedies, they depicted the social struggle, directing their satirical arrows against individual political figures.

Comedies, which at that time were staged on the theater stage, dealt with topical political issues. Often there were cases when the archons forbade the staging of certain comedies because of their disrespectful attitude towards certain rulers and the caricature display of certain aspects of state life.

Of the three famous representatives of Attic political comedy - Cratinus, Eupolida and Aristophanes - the last was the largest. In his comedies, he waged a fierce struggle with the democracy that was in power during the Peloponnesian War. Aristophanes was a supporter of peace at all costs, since the war had a detrimental effect on the landowning aristocracy, whose ideology he expressed. This also determined the reactionary nature of his philosophical and moral views. So he portrayed Socrates in a caricature, did not spare his contemporary Euripides, the spokesman for democratic sentiments. He often parodies it. Most of his comedies were vicious satires on representatives of democracy, including Cleon and Pericles. The role of Cleon in the comedy "Babylonians" was played by him himself, since the actors did not dare to do this, fearing the revenge of the ruler.

Among other poets of the ancient Attic comedy are Crates, who was at first an actor in Crates; Hermippus, who attacked Periklai Aspasia; Phrynichus, the unsuccessful rival of Aristophanes;

Comedy did not require special adaptations on stage. The number of actors did not exceed three, although each of them played more roles than in the tragedy. And the choir played a huge role in the comedy. The peculiarity of the latter was that the coryphaeus of the choir spoke on behalf of the author himself, outlining his main thoughts, which he carried out in the comedy. This speech of the luminary (from the author) was called "parabaza". The incriminating part that followed the performance of the choir - the central part of the comedy - was sprinkled with buffoonery, pantomime and dances (kordak), which, unlike the solemn dances of the tragedy, were erotic in nature.

The costumes of the comic choir were also different from the costumes of the tragedy choir. They were distinguished by their fantastic nature (depicted, for example, birds, wasps, clouds, etc.) and had an allegorical meaning. The masks of the actors were supposed to emphasize the funny and ugly in the hero being exposed (they were with bulging eyes, with a mouth to the ears, etc.). The figures of the actors were given a no less ugly look. Actors did not wear Koturnov. There was no need for this, since the images they portrayed were not idealized, were not majestic, etc. The actors, on the contrary, had to show their images in an exaggerated form, exposing everything vile in them.

At the beginning of the 4th century, during the period of the so-called Middle Attic comedy (its representatives are Antifan, Anaxandridi Alexis), this genre primarily satisfies the tastes of the wealthy stratum of society. Without touching on political issues, comedy becomes caricature-domestic. This was facilitated by the prohibition to bring political leaders on stage and generally touch upon issues of political struggle.

Depicting real life household comedy Menander refused to dance and sing. The theoretical foundation for ancient Greek drama is provided by Aristotle's Poetics. Even before him, there are separate scattered attempts to partially substantiate the theory of dramatic writing, but as a complete system it was given only by Aristotle. Sophocles wrote a treatise on the choir that has not come down to us, but, like his disputes with Euripides, he was more polemical in nature.

In Plato's "Republic" there are arguments about the drama, but mainly from the socio-political side. For his ideal republic, Plato considers both tragedy and comedy harmful. Tragedy gives a man in misfortune, a cause for regret, and this develops an unnecessary sensitivity in the spectator; comedy encourages that penchant for ridicule and light joking, which then becomes a social habit.

In agreement with Plato, Aristotle defines art as the imitation of nature. But Plato concludes from this that art is below reality, while Aristotle, on the contrary, ascribes to art a high purifying role. Dramatic poetry is an imitation of the action of people, and people can be portrayed either better in comparison with existing ones, or worse than them. Tragedy depicts the first, that is, the best, in comedy the second - the worst.

Tragedy is “imitation of an important and complete action, having a certain volume, with the help of speech, differently decorated in each of its parts, through action, and not a story, which, thanks to compassion and fear, purifies such affects” (“catharsis”). The main motive of Greek tragedy - fear of fate, fate - according to Aristotle, should result not just in fear of falling into the same position, but in moral purification from those feelings that can cause it. Thus, tragic catharsis is not fear of imminent real danger, but the aesthetic joy of moral relief, purification of passions, awareness of the possibility to rise above them.

"Decorated speech" Aristotle calls the poetic size, singing and musical accompaniment. For different parts tragedy, this "decoration" can be different. Aristotle lists six components of tragedy: idea, plot, characters, setting, verbal expression and musical accompaniment. Aristotle considers unity in diversity to be one of the basic principles of art: all parts of a work must form one organic and logical whole. Tragedy should produce one completed event, but in such a way that not a single moment of the action could be omitted or changed without violating the unity of the whole. Characters must satisfy four requirements: they must be noble, suitable for this person and his actions, believable and consistent. The denouement must follow sequentially from the development of the action.

The chapter of Aristotle's Poetics on comedy has not survived, so we don't know as much about comedy as we do about tragedy.

ARISTOPHANES (lat. Aristophanes, Greek Aristofanis) (c. 445 - c. 385 BC, Athens), ancient Greek comedian poet. The views of Aristophanes on the topical problems of the era met the interests of the peasantry of that time; he was distrustful of the radical demagogy that carried away the urban lower classes (“Horsemen”), and the individualistic philosophy of the sophists (“Clouds”), rightly seeing in both symptoms of the crisis of Athenian democracy. The comedies of Aristophanes reflected the current events of that time, speeches against military policy ("Lysistratus"), reproach real personalities(Socrates - in "Clouds"), fantastic situations ("Aharnians", "Birds"). In ancient times, Aristophanes was nicknamed the "father of comedy", out of the forty comedies he wrote, eleven whole plays and several dozen excerpts survived.

Aristophanes was born in Attica into a wealthy family. Philip, the father of Aristophanes, owned a piece of land on the island of Aegina, which gave contemporaries a reason to believe that Aristophanes was not of the Athenian family, although he was an Athenian citizen, he came from the Athenian deme Kidafin. He could not exhibit his first plays under own name, as he was unknown and could not pay for the choir. Most of the comedies of Aristophanes were first presented during the years of the Peleponnesian War (431-404) and were distinguished by the political sharpness inherent in the school ancient comedy reflected the crisis Athenian democracy.

Under a false name, the first comedy of Aristophanes "Feasting" (427) was also presented, judging by the surviving fragments - a satire on sophistic education and "fashionable" philosophy. In 426, at the Great Dionysia, he staged the comedy The Babylonians, dedicated to the relationship between the Athenians and their allies. For this play, Aristophanes was brought to trial by the leader of the Athenian demos, the bribe taker and demagogue Cleon, who was ridiculed in a comedy, for insulting the people and their representatives before the allies. The details of the trial are unknown, apparently, Aristophanes got off the charges quite easily.

The comedies of Aristophanes in the first years of his work (Aharnians, 425; Horsemen, 424; Wasps, 422; Peace, 421) reflect the views of the Attic peasantry, which suffered especially from the hostilities. The comedian's protest against the war is combined with criticism of the Athenian rulers. Largely thanks to Aristophanes, the ancient Greek word "demagogue", meaning "leader of the people", acquired a modern odious meaning.

The plays of Aristophanes are distinguished by boldness of fantasy, frivolous humor, ruthlessness of denunciations, and freedom of political criticism. The objects of his satire were contemporary Athenian society, fashionable philosophy and literature, as well as the aggressive policy of Athens, the hardships of the Peloponnesian War, which accounted for most of the life of Aristophanes. His hints and specific attacks, the nuances of characteristics, sometimes eluding us, were understandable to his contemporaries, found a lively response from them. The comedies of Aristophanes are always relevant and have an almost journalistic effect.

The theme of "war and peace" - the main one in the discussions of political parties in Athens at that time - is devoted to the plays of Aristophanes "Acharnians" (425; staged on behalf of the poet and actor Callistratus) and "Peace" (421). The plot of the comedy "Lysistratus" (411), staged after the catastrophic defeat of the Sicilian expedition in 413 for Athens, is exceptional in all world literature. The women of Hellas, seeking to end the war, under the leadership of the Athenian Lysistrata (Greek. Destroying the army) capture the Acropolis in Athens and take an oath until the end of the war to deny men love. The war of the Athenians with the Spartans, thus turned into a war of women and men, ends with an alliance and universal peace. The comedy is full of humor, farce, rude jokes, obscene but colorful scenes.

In his comedies, Aristophanes ridicules both upstarts, screamers and ignoramuses from the bottom, as well as aristocrats and "golden" youth. In almost every of his comedies, Aristophanes ridicules the leader of Athens, Cleon, whom in The Horsemen (424; the first comedy of Aristophanes under his own name) brings out a screamer and an ignoramus, a flattering and cunning slave of the elderly and stupid Demos (People).

The main characters of the comedy "Wasps" (422; set on behalf of Philonides) received names characterizing their relationship to Cleon: Philokleon (Cleon-lover) and Bdilekleon (Cleon-hater). The subject of ridicule is the passion of the Athenians for litigation and, specifically, the law to increase the pay of judges, promoted in people's assembly Cleon. The choir in "Wasps" are old judges who are looking for prey and are presented in the form of wasps with stings that pounce on the enemy of the courts, the "enemy of democracy" and the "supporter of tyranny" Bdilekleon.

Aristophanes sees the reasons for the vices of society in the war and representatives of the new philosophy (sophists) and literature (the comedies of Euripides), which shake the traditional foundations of society. In the form of a charlatan, a false sage and a mentor in vices in Clouds (423), he brings out Socrates. Clouds - a choir of 24 girls - a symbol of the ambiguity and vagueness of the language of the representatives of the new philosophy.

On the Great Dionysia of 411, Aristophanes staged "Women at the Feast of Thesmophoria", where he ridicules Euripides and his younger contemporary, the playwright Agathon. There are no political attacks in the comedy; in general, it is a parody of the tragedies of Euripides "Helen" and "Andromeda". The choir consists of women who have gathered to condemn Euripides, who denigrates them. The latter's friend, dressed in a woman's dress, must protect him, but the deceit is revealed, and the hero, fleeing at the altar, tries to find a way out and recalls the plot moves of Euripides' tragedies for this.

In 405, the comedy "The Frogs" was staged on Lenay, which not only received the first award, but was even presented twice, which happened extremely rarely. The theme of this comedy, written after the death in 406 of Sophocles and Euripides, is the fate of tragic poetry. God of the theater Dionysus goes to underworld to bring Euripides out of there, since tragic poets have died out on earth. However, after the competition between Euripides and Aeschylus, during which the playwrights explain the merits of their works and even weigh phrases, Dionysus takes Aeschylus to earth, whose heroes are noble, and whose tragedies bring up valor and lofty civic feelings. The comic effect of Dionysus' journey through Hades and the competition is further enhanced by the fact that the choir in the comedy is presented in the form of frogs.

The comedies of Aristophanes "Birds" (414), "Women in the National Assembly" (392), "Wealth" ("Plutus") (388) belong to the utopian genre. In "Birds", written in the form of a fairy tale, along with people, there are also birds (chorus), which between heaven and earth create their own kingdom, the city of Tuchekukuevsk; the reign of the gods is overthrown, the world is ruled by birds. In “Women in the National Assembly”, the Athenians, led by Praxagora (she resembles Lysistrata), begin to rule the state, which leads to prosperity, men are idle, life is full of feasts and pleasures. The plays "Wealth" and "Women in the Assembly" are very different from those written during the Peloponnesian War. The satire in them is softened, there are no attacks on individual political figures; the role of the choir was reduced, many parts were replaced by musical interludes. The last comedies of Aristophanes "Aeolosikon" and "Kokal" were presented after the death of the playwright by his son Arar.

The compositional structure of Aristophanes' comedies is notable for its constancy: the expositional prologue completes the performance of the choir, then the action develops in the alternation of speech parties (episodes) and choral ones, from which the parabasa stands out - the part of the choir, usually speaking on behalf of the author. A special place is occupied by the agon, where the positions of the disputing parties collide. Further episodes should either confirm the correctness of the winner in the dispute, or show the illusory nature of his views when applied to real life. In later comedies, Aristophanes departs from the traditional structure: the parabasa loses its independent meaning, the role of the choir in the development of the plot is greatly reduced. The work of Aristophanes was distinguished by a sense of personal responsibility for solving the political and moral problems of his time, as well as a vivid and expressive language. In world dramaturgy, he is considered the father of comedy.

Riders are not just horsemen: this was the name of the whole estate in Athens - those who had enough money to keep a war horse. These were wealthy people who had small estates outside the city, lived on their income and wanted Athens to be a peaceful, closed agricultural state. The poet Aristophanes wanted peace; that is why he made the riders the chorus of his comedy. They performed in two hemichoirs and, to make it funnier, rode on toy wooden horses. And in front of them, the actors played a buffoonish parody of Athenian political life. The owner of the state is the old People, decrepit, lazy and out of his mind, and he is courted and flattered by cunning politicians-demagogues: whoever is more obsequious is stronger. There are four of them on the stage: two are called by their real names, Nikias and Demosthenes, the third is called the Kozhevnik (his real name is Cleon), and the fourth is called the Sausage Man (Aristophanes invented this main character himself). It was a difficult time for peaceful agitation. Nicias and Demosthenes (not comedic, but real Athenian generals; do not confuse this Demosthenes with the famous orator of the same name who lived a hundred years later) had just surrounded a large Spartan army near the city of Pylos, but they could not defeat and capture him. They offered to use this to conclude a profitable peace. And their opponent Cleon (he really was a leather craftsman) demanded to finish off the enemy and continue the war until victory. Then the enemies of Cleon offered him to take command himself - in the hope that he, who had never fought, would be defeated and leave the stage. But a surprise happened: Cleon won a victory at Pylos, brought the Spartan captives to Athens, and after that there was no way out of him in politics at all: whoever tried to argue with Cleon and denounce him was immediately reminded: “And Pylos? and Pylos? - and had to shut up. And so Aristophanes took upon himself the unthinkable task: to make fun of this "Pylos", so that at any mention of this word the Athenians would remember not Cleon's victory, but Aristophanes' jokes and would not be proud, but would laugh. So, on the stage is the house of the owner of the People, and in front of the house two of his servant-servants, Nicias and Demosthenes, are sitting and grieving: they were with the owner in mercy, and now they have been wiped away by a new slave, a scoundrel tanner. The two of them made a nice porridge in Pylos, and he snatched it from under their noses and offered it to the People. He slurps, and the tanner throws all the tidbits. What to do? Let's look at the ancient predictions! War is a disturbing, superstitious time, people recalled (or invented) ancient dark prophecies and interpreted them in relation to current circumstances. While the tanner is sleeping, let's steal the most important prophecy from under his pillow! Stole; it says: “The worst is defeated only by the worst: there will be a rope-maker in Athens, and his cattle breeder will be worse, and his tanner will be worse, and his sausage-maker will be worse.” The tightrope politician and the cattle breeder politician have already been in power; now there is a tanner; I need to find a sausage maker. Here is a sausage maker with a meat tray. "Are you a scientist?" - "Only beaters." - "What did you study?" - "Steal and unlock." - "What do you live for?" - "And in front, and behind, and sausages." “Oh, our savior! Do you see these people in the theater? Do you want to rule over them all? Twirling the Council, yelling in the assembly, drinking and fornication at public expense? One foot on Asia, the other on Africa? - “Yes, I am of a low kind!” - "All the better!" - "Yes, I'm almost illiterate!" - "That's good!" - "And what to do?" - “The same as with sausages: knead more abruptly, add salt more strongly, sweeten more flatteringly, call out louder.” - "And who will help?" - "Riders!" On wooden horses, riders enter the stage, chasing Cleon the tanner. “Here is your enemy: surpass him with bragging, and the fatherland is yours!” A bragging contest ensues, interspersed with fights. "You are a tanner, you are a swindler, all your soles are rot!" - "But I swallowed the whole Pylos in one gulp!" - “But first he filled the womb with the entire Athenian treasury!” - “The sausage maker himself, the intestine himself, he himself stole the leftovers!” - “No matter how hard you try, no matter how you pout, I’ll still shout it out!” The choir comments, incites, remembers the good morals of the fathers and praises the citizens for the best intentions of the poet Aristophanes: there were good writers of comedies before, but one is old, the other is drunk, but this one is worth listening to. So it was supposed to be in all the old comedies. But this is a saying, the main thing is ahead. At the noise from the house, the old People staggeringly comes out: which of the rivals loves him more? “If I don’t love you, let them cut me into belts!” the tanner shouts. “And let them chop me into minced meat!” - shouts the sausage man. "I want your Athens to rule over all of Greece!" - “So that you, the People, suffer on campaigns, and he profits from every prey!” - "Remember, People, how many conspiracies I saved you from!" - "Do not believe him, it was he himself who muddied the water in order to catch a fish!" - "Here's my sheepskin to warm the old bones!" - “And here is a pillow under your ass, which you rubbed while rowing at Salamis! - "I have a whole chest of good prophecies for you!" - “And I have a whole shed!” One by one these prophecies are read - a grandiloquent set of meaningless words - and one by one they are interpreted in the most fantastic way: each for his own benefit and for the evil of the enemy. Of course, it turns out much more interesting for a sausage maker. When the prophecies end, well-known sayings come into play - and also with the most unexpected interpretations on the topic of the day. Finally, it comes to the proverb: “There is, besides Pylos, Pylos, but there is also Pylos and a third!” (there were actually three cities in Greece with that name), there are a lot of untranslatable puns on the word "Pylos". And it's ready - the goal of Aristophanes has been achieved, not one of the spectators will remember this Cleon's "Pylos" without a cheerful laugh. "Here's a stew from me, Folk!" - “And porridge from me!” - "And from me a pie!" - “And wine from me!” - "And from me it's hot!" - “Oh, tanner, look, they’re carrying money, you can profit!” - "Where? Where?" The tanner rushes to look for money, the sausage-maker picks up his roast and brings it away from him. "Oh, you scoundrel, you bring someone else's from you!" “But isn’t that how you appropriated Pylos to yourself after Nikias and Demosthenes?” - “It doesn’t matter who fried it, - honor to the one who brought it!” - proclaims the People. The tanner is driven by the neck, the sausage-maker is proclaimed the chief adviser of the People. The choir sings along with all this in verses in praise of the People and in reproach to such and such a libertine, and such and such a coward, and such and such a embezzler, all under their own names. The twist is fabulous. There was a myth about the sorceress Medea, who threw the old man into a cauldron of potions, and the old man came out as a young man. So behind the scenes the sausage-maker throws the old Folk into a boiling cauldron, and it comes out young and flourishing. They march across the stage, and the People majestically announce how good it will be to live now. good people and how the bad ones (and so-and-so, and so-and-so, and so-and-so) will rightly pay, and the choir rejoices that the good old days are returning, when everyone lived freely, peacefully and satisfyingly.

"Clouds"(ancient Greek Νεφέλαι) - a comedy by the ancient Greek comedian Aristophanes.

Placed in 423 BC. e. on the Great Dionysia; took third place in the competition (won Kratins with the comedy "Bottle", the second award was received by Amipsia for the comedy "Conn"). Subsequently, Aristophanes began to remake the comedy for a secondary production, but did not complete the work and new production did not implement. The surviving text of "The Clouds" is a second, partially revised version.

The play is directed against the sophists, who are ridiculed in the person of Socrates, and in general against a new way of thinking and judgments, alien to the conservative Aristophanes, perceived by him as something “foggy” (catching up “clouds” of idle talk) and harmful.

The old farmer Strepsiades is in debt because of his son Pheidippides, who squanders money on horseback riding.

Strepsiades seeks help from a neighbor - the sage Socrates; having come to the "thinking room" where Socrates teaches young people, Strepsiades asks to teach him cunning speeches and evasions that would allow him not to repay debts. But Strepsiades turns out to be unfit for science, and then Phidippides goes to study instead of him.

Having been trained in the "thinking room", Pheidippides really helps his father get away from paying the debt; however, having learned "falsehood", he begins to despise the old customs dear to Strepsiad, goes out of obedience and even beats his father.

At the end of the play, Strepsiades, having later experienced repentance and something like an epiphany, curses sophistry and sets fire to the “thinking room”.

"World"(ancient Greek Εἰρήνη) is a comedy by the ancient Greek comedian Aristophanes.

Placed in 421 BC. e. on the Great Dionysia; received the second award (the first were the "Flatters" of Evpolid, the third - the "Countrymen" of Levkon). Together with "Aharnians" and "Lysistrata" refers to the "anti-war" comedies of Aristophanes. It is distinguished by an optimistic, festive spirit, which is associated with the conclusion of the Peace of Nikia in the same year (see the Peloponnesian War).

The elderly vine grower Trigaeus, tired of war and strife between Greek cities, travels to heaven on a giant dung beetle to talk to Zeus.

Arriving there, Trigeus learns from Hermes that Zeus and other gods are away, and instead of them, Polemos (War) settled in the house of the gods. Polemos threw the goddess of the world Irinuv cave and filled up with stones; together with Horrormon serving him, he is going to “pulverize” the Greek cities in a huge mortar depicting war.

Trigeus, with the help of the Greek villagers who make up the choir in this comedy, frees Irina, and with her the Harvest and the Fair (in the form of two young girls), and brings them to earth.

Like other comedies by Aristophanes, The World contains many satirical and political attacks. The recently deceased Cleon is sarcastically ridiculed, and Euripides is parodied.

The goddess Irina in the performance was not represented by a person, but by a tall statue.

"War" and "peace", appearing in comedy in a humanized form, do not have the same gender in ancient Greek as in Russian. In the original translation of AI Piotrovsky, the god of war is called Discord, the goddess of peace is Silence.

"The Frogs" (ancient Greek Βάτραχοι) is a comedy by the ancient Greek comedian Aristophanes.

Placed by the author on Leneyah in 405 BC. e. on behalf of Philonides; received the first award (the second went to the "Muses" of Frinih, the third - to "Cleophon" of Plato). The comedy was a resounding success and was soon staged a second time - probably at the Great Dionysia in the same year.

The god of the theater Dionysus, lamenting that there were no good tragedians left in Athens - shortly before writing the comedy, Euripides Sophocles died one after another - goes to the afterlife to bring Euripides out.

Compositionally, the play can be divided into three parts.

The first is a journey to HadesDionysus and his slave Xanthius, who often turns out to be smarter and bolder than his master. Dionysus dresses up as Hercules (who has already been to Hades, performing the 12th feat); asks the real Hercules for directions; crosses the lake on the shuttle of Charon (during the crossing, the song of frogs that gave the name of the comedy sounds with the refrain “Brekekeks, coax, coax” (ancient Greek Βρεκεκεκέξ κοάξ κοάξ), imitating croaking); frightened by empousa; talks with horommists (souls initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries); meets a warm welcome from the maid Persephone and a hostile one from Eakai and two merchants.

The second part is a parabase containing statements on topical issues. According to legend, Aristophanes received an olive wreath for the political advice he gave to the city here.

The third part is a contest between two tragedians; she represents special interest because it is an example of ancient literary criticism. Arriving in Hades, Dionysus discovers that among the dead there is a dispute about who is considered the greatest master of tragedy - Aeschylus or Euripides (Sophocles gave way to Aeschylus out of modesty). Dionysus takes on the role of judge. A long scene follows, during which Aeschylus and Euripides parse, quote, and parody each other's writings. At the end, Dionysus awards the victory to Aeschylus and brings him to the ground instead of Euripides.

Adaptations. Composer Stephen Sondheim wrote a musical of the same name based on "The Frogs", replacing the ancient Greek playwrights with English ones: the "old", Aeschylus, with William Shakespeare, the "new", Euripides, with Bernard Shaw. The role of Dionysus in the 2004 production was played by Nathan Lane

Poetics(other Greek Περὶ ποιητικῆς, lat. Ars Poetica), 335 BC. e. - Aristotle's treatise on the theory of drama. According to ancient catalogs, it consisted of two parts, of which only the first has come down to us. The second part was supposedly devoted to the analysis of comedy; about its content, probably, gives an idea of the Coalen treatise. The earliest known list is dated 1100 AD. A total of five manuscripts have survived.