CLASSICS 2D03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Actaeon, Cyclops, Xuthus
15 Sep 2016
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Many euripidian plays do not involve character death(s). A greek tragedy is considered a tragedy when it is performed at a tragic festival. > characters: hermes, ion, creusa, xuthus (king of athens), pythia (priestess of apollo at delphi) , Apollo raped creusa & a child was birthed. Creusa left the child alone to die in a cave. => apollo ensures that his child does not die & the child is thus sent to delphi for pythia to watch over him. Hermes: tells opening scene explains to the audience that apollo is too embarrassed to show his face details the situation of what happened b/w creusa & apollo. Creusa married to xuthus the couple cannot have children. => xuthus asks pythia why can"t we have children? during this time, creusa has a long conversation w/ion. Creusa looks distraught for she"s at the oracle of apollo who"s the one who raped her. => turns to ion the servant for consolidation.
