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Monthly Archives: November 2010
Sophocles
Sophocles (ca. 496 B.C.–406 B.C.) A noted Athenian dramatist who wrote Oedipus the King, widely viewed as one of the greatest tragedies ever written. He was born in the small Athenian village of Colonus. Ancient writers claim that Sophocles wrote … Continue reading
Posted in Greek authors
Tagged Ajax, Antigone, Electra, Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus the King, Philoctetes, Sophocles, TheWomen of Trachis
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Aeschylus
Aeschylus(ca. 525 B.C.–456 B.C.) An Athenian playwriter who has come to be seen as the world’s first great dramatist.Born at Eleusis (site of the goddess Demeter’s temple and mystery cult), Aeschylus fought in the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., … Continue reading
Pindar
Pindar(ca. 518 B.C.–ca. 438 B.C.) The most famous and accomplished of Greece’s choral poets, best known for his victory odes (epinikia) written to honor the victors of athletic events. Not much is known about Pindar’s life. It seems that he … Continue reading
Sappho
Sappho flourished in the late seventh century B.C. The most famous of the few female poets of ancient Greece. Sappho, who hailed from Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, belonged to a local cult of Aphrodite, goddess of love. Sappho’s … Continue reading
Homer
The most respected and revered of the ancient Greek poets, and according to tradition, the author of the greatest epic poems ever written—the Iliad and the Odyssey.The Iliad describes a series of incidents in the tenth and final year of … Continue reading
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Demosthenes
Demosthenes (384 B.C.–322 B.C.) The finest of the Athenian orators and, along with the Roman senator Cicero, one of the two greatest orators of ancient times. Demosthenes, the son of a furniture maker, was early in life drawn to the … Continue reading
Aeschines
Aeschines (ca. 390 B.C.–ca. 322 B.C.) A leading Athenian orator, one of the ten Attic orators, who was noted for his bitter rivalry with Demosthenes, the greatest orator the Greeks ever produced. In 346 B.C. the Athenian government sent Aeschines … Continue reading
Alcibiades
Athens’ statesman and general. From the family of Alcmaeonidae, he was the ward of Pericles, and for many years a sincere companion of Socrates. After the Peace of Nicias (421 BC), he turn to politics. During the war he led … Continue reading
Posted in Greek Politicians
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Pericles
Pericles / Perikles (c. 490-429 BC), Athenian politician. Son of General Xantip (winner of Mycale) and Agarista (Clistene’s niece) After the assassination of Efialte (461), Pericles becomes for three decades, radical democracy leader, making its entire political program, thus Athens’ democracy reaches it’s peak. Pericles initiated the construction of long walls of Athens and Piraeus and Faleron (462-445), the fight against Sparta and Persia (supported by a body of Athenian expedition,trying to step out of Egypt under the domination ahemenida), participate as a strateg in the battle from Tanagra (457) gradually transforming it into an Athenian empire. Pericles is often referred to as the founder … Continue reading
Themistocles
Themistocles(ca. 524 B.C.–459 B.C.) A noted Athenian statesman-general and the so-called Father of Athenian Naval Supremacy. Throughout his long political career, Themistocles, who came from a well-to-do Athenian family, proved himself a farsighted individual and a controversial public figure. When … Continue reading
