Product Description

Aeschylus, the earliest of the great Attic tragedians, presented his Oresteia at Athens' City Dionysia festival in 458 BCE. Born in the last quarter of the sixth century, Aeschylus had fought with the victorious Greeks in one and probably both of the Persian Wars (190 and 480-79). He died around 456 at about seventy years of age in Gela, Sicily. His epitaph records his role as a soldier at Marathon, not his artistic achievements, but these were many. The author of more than seventy plays, he won his first of thirteen tragic victories in 484. Of these plays, only seven remain. The Oresteia is Aeschylus' only complete surviving trilogy; the satyr play with which it was first performed, Proteus, is lost. Peter Meineck has aimed to translate the Oresteia for the modern stage.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70299 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
I have enjoyed reading Meineck's Oresteia enormously. This is not a poet's version, but a translation for the stage by an experienced man of the theater. Its virtues are very real, and, though Meineck makes them seem easy, very hard to achieve. The idiom is contemporary without yielding to the siren song of gimmicky updating; it manages to be clear without betraying Aeschylus' complexity or sacrificing his intricate imagery. What makes it effective on stage makes it work on the page, too. With the added guidance of Helene Foley's characteristically intelligent Introduction and Meineck's own crisp annotation and full stage directions, this translation offers the most approachable and in many ways most communicative Oresteia now available. It will be the Oresteia of choice for many teachers and their students, as well as for readers interested in what makes Greek tragedy great theater. -- Peter Burian, Duke University

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Greek

About the Author
Aeschylus; Translated by Peter Meineck

Customer Reviews

The Great Greeks
The Oresteia is one of the worlds greatest dramatic works. This particular translation is one of the best for academic purposes. An A+++ on any Literary students must have list!

I love this Orestia!
Again, I compared many different Orestia's and fell in love with this one on Hackett by Meineick.

It reads beautifully and easily and the drama and intensity is unmatched. You also get a believable sense of the characters, and the setting in this one.

It is in my opinion the best modern version that can be most easily performable with no archai-sisms in the language.

I always go with Hackett now that I've found some really excellent translations!

Highly recommended.

The play within the Translation
I worked on the production of this translation at The University of South Carolina in 1998. I designed the costumes and masks. Before I began the design process, I read other translations of the script. Peter's translation was done with attention to what the characters were saying, not just the literal dictionary definition of the Ancient Greek. The pacing and flow of the play is great and I recommend it to anyone who thinks that Ancient Greek plays are dull and better left alone.