Of the 70 tragedies said to have been written by 2Eschylus (525-456 a.c.) only seven are ex tant. In chronological order they are: 'The Suppliants,' the 'Persians,' the 'Seven against Thebes,' the 'Prometheus Bound' (q.v.), and the 'Oresteia> (q.v.), the last named being the only surviving trilogy, comprising the 'Aga memnon,' the (Chmii' and the 'Eumenides.' The 'Persians' is of special interest as it is the only extant Greek tragedy with the story taken from contemporary history. It tells of the de feat of the Persians under Xerxes and contains a stirring account of the battle of Salamis. The 'Prometheus Bound,' portraying the awful pun ishment of the benefactor of human-kind, that hero who stole fire from heaven as a boon to man, is a magnificent poetic drama. In the trilogy of the 'Oresteia,' the 'Agamemnon,' perhaps the greatest Greek tragedy in poetic merit, tells the story of the return home of the victorious hero Agamemnon from Tray and his foul murder at the hands of his wife, Clytem nestra, and her paramour, iEgisthus. /Eschylus is a tragic poet of great imagination, lofty style and profound religious feeling.
Sophocles (c. 496-406 B.c.), the second of the great tragedians of Athens, is also represented by seven extant tragedies. These are the 'Antigone' (q.v.), 'Ajax,' 'cEdipus Tyran nus (q.v.), 'Trachinise,) Electra,' 'Phi loctetes' and at Colonus.) In the impressive tragedy 'Antigone' the heroine, Antigone, suffers a martyr's death because she gives holy rites of burial to her brother Poly netces in defiancE of the edict of Creon, King of Thebes. In the 'Ajax,' the hero of that name, defeated in the contest for Achilles' armor, slays himself and is grudgingly awarded hon orable burial. The ‘CEdipus Tyrannus,' the greatest Greek tragedy in plot construction, was Aristotle's model play. The is in teresting to moderns in that it, like the An tigone, contains the theme of love. The 'Elec tra,' a drama of revenge, has the same theme as the Thoophori) of /lEschylas. It tells of the return from exile of Orestes and the slay ing of Clytemnestra and /Egisthus by Orestes, abetted by his sister, Electra. Of the three great Athenian tragedians Sophocles is perhaps most typically Greek. In plot, in delineation of character and in style he is well-nigh fault less. He is a literary artist and the embodi ment of the Hellenic ideal, the golden mean.
Of Euripides (480-406 a.c.) no less than 19 tragedies survive. Only a few of the greatest may here be mentioned: the 'Alcestis' (q.v.), a story of a wife's devotion and sacrifice; the 'Trojan Woman,' a pathetic and graphic por trayal of scenes following the fall of Troy.
The 'Iphigenia among the Taurians,' an ex cellent and appealing play with happy ending, and the 'Medea' (q.v.), a moving story of the dread revenge inflicted by the Colchian sorcer ess upon her faithless husband, Jason. Although Euripides lived in the same century as Sopho cies and lEschylus he seems to belong to a later age for he was a radical and distinctly ahead of his own generation in thought and method. In his plays we find religious scep ticism and note the influence of the new rhetoric. Euripides was a realist and, as the ancient tradition asserts, painted men as they are, while Sophocles painted them as they should be. On the technical side his innova tions were: a formal prologue, and the Jetts ex machina. While Euripides is inferior to Allay lus in creative poetic ability, and does not equal Sophocles as a literary artist, he is a playwright of first-rate ability, and as a lyricist rises at times to lofty height. Further more, of the Greek tragedians his influence has been the greatest on succeeding ages for he served as model for Roman tragedy and the French classical drama.
Comedy came to development a little later than tragedy. Like tragedy it had its origin among the Dorian and in the worship of the god, Dionysus, but the germ of it is to be found in the phallic songs and satire of the rustic festivals. In Greek comedy there are three periods : Old Comedy to c. 390 ac.; Middle Comedy, c. 390-320 ac.; and the New Comedy, after 320 B.C. Old comedy is characterized by personal and political satire and abuse. Its great representative is Aristophanes (born c. 448 a.c.) of whom 11 comedies are extant. Of especial interest is the 'Clouds,' which is de voted to a humorous, although caustic and un deserved attack upon Socrates. In the 'Frogs' (q.v.), Euripides, despised by Aristophanes, is the butt. Other comedies are: 'Knights,' 'Wasps,' (Peace? 'Birds,' (q.v.), Lysist rata,' Eccl esi azus& and 'Plums.' The Middle comedy, a period of transition, is represented only by scanty fragments. The New comedy, °mirror of human life.° is a comedy of manners, a de lineation of stock characters in society. The famous and popular master in the field of the new comedy is Menander (342-291 p.c.) who was known to us until recently only through the medium of scanty fragments, and the come dies of the Latin writers, Plautus and Terence. But in 1905, in Egypt, there were discovered large portions of four of his plays.