 Sacrifice of Polyxena (Giovanni Francesco Romanelli, 17th-century) | |
| Author | Lucius Annaeus Seneca |
|---|---|
| Language | Latin |
| Genre | Tragedy |
| Set in | Troy |
Publication date | mid to late 1st century |
| Publication place | Rome |
| Text | Troades at Wikisource |
Troades (lit. 'The Trojan Women') is a fabula crepidata (Roman tragedy with Greek subject) of c. 1179 lines [1] of verse written by Lucius Annaeus Seneca.
The siege of Troy is done and the city is now smouldering ruins. The victorious Greeks have gathered the rich spoils of Troy upon the shore, among these the Trojan women who await their lot to be assigned to their Greek lords and taken to the cities of their foes. But now the ghost of Achilles has risen from the tomb, and demanded that Polyxena be sacrificed to him before the Greeks shall be allowed to sail away. And Calchas, also, bids that Astyanax be slain, for only then can Greece be safe from any future Trojan war. [2]
Hecuba laments with the Chorus of Trojans the destruction of their country and the death of Hector and Priam. [3]
Talthybius relates that the Ghost of Achilles has appeared, and reproving the Greeks for their ingratitude, demanded that Polyxena, under the pretext of marriage with whom, he was slain, should be sacrificed at his tomb as an offering to the chthonic gods. Otherwise the Greeks will not have a favourable wind for their return. [3]
Agamemnon and Pyrrhus quarrel about the sacrifice. Calchas is summoned and he asserts that not only must Polyxena be slain, but Astynax must also be hurled from the tower. [3]
The Chorus denies that Achilles appeared as a spirit, and asserts that the soul dies forever with the body. [3]
Andromache having taken alarm at a vision in her dream, hides away her son in his father's tomb. Ulysses in his cleverness discovers where he is, and drags him forth to meet his death.
Andromache mingles curses and threats with her supplications entreating Ulysses, but not prevailing upon him. The Trojans, once allotted to the Greeks, are to be conveyed to various parts of Greece—some to Sparta, some to Mycenae, some to Ithaca, and to the country of Helen, Agamemnon and Ulysses. [3]
The plan is discussed as to how the sacrifices to the chthonic gods and manes of Achilles are to be conducted; and in what garments, Polyxena, who is to be sacrificed under the impression of a real marriage, is to be arrayed. Also what part shall be played by Helen, in order that she may cajole Polyxena with the vain hope of marrying Pyrrhus: she at first, keeps up the pretence, but after a time dismisses the deception, having argued with Andromache, she confesses everything and openly recommends the fulfilment of the scheme. [3]
The Chorus derives consolation from the misfortune being shared by so many; "as if for the wretched to have companions in sorrow were a solace," and then draws attention to the fact that the solace in question will lose its efficacy, as they will be separated by the allotting that has been going on. [3]
The Messenger informs the mothers, Hecuba and Andromache, that Astyanax has been hurled from the tower and Polyxena slain at the tomb of Achilles. [3]
Translator R. Scott Smith wrote that Seneca's attempt in the work to weave two episodes together "means that the play is somewhat dissociated – a 'flaw' that critics have sometimes brought to bear against it", but stated that "in the place of unity, however, there is symmetry." [4]
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Iphigenia, Iphianassa, Electra, Laodike, Orestes and Chrysothemis. Legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. Agamemnon was killed upon his return from Troy by Clytemnestra, or in an older version of the story, by Clytemnestra's lover Aegisthus.
In Greek mythology, Priam was the legendary and last king of Troy during the Trojan War. He was the son of Laomedon. His many children included notable characters such as Hector, Paris, and Cassandra.
The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the 12th or 13th century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology, and it has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably Homer's Iliad. The core of the Iliad describes a period of four days and two nights in the tenth year of the decade-long siege of Troy; the Odyssey describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the war's heroes. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, which have survived through fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid.
Hecuba was a queen in Greek mythology, the wife of King Priam of Troy during the Trojan War.
In Greek mythology, Polyxena was the youngest daughter of King Priam of Troy and his queen, Hecuba. She does not appear in Homer, but in several other classical authors, though the details of her story vary considerably. After the fall of Troy, she dies when sacrificed by the Greeks on the tomb of Achilles, to whom she had been betrothed and in whose death she was complicit in many versions.
In Greek mythology, Helenus was a gentle and clever seer. He was also a Trojan prince as the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and the twin brother of the prophetess Cassandra. He was also called Scamandrios, and was a lover of Apollo.
In Greek mythology, Neoptolemus, originally called Pyrrhus at birth, was the son of the mythical warrior Achilles and the princess Deidamia, and the brother of Oneiros. He became the progenitor of the ruling dynasty of the Molossians of ancient Epirus. In a reference to his pedigree, Neoptolemus was sometimes called Achillides or, from his grandfather's or great-grandfather's names, Pelides or Aeacides.
In Greek mythology, Andromache was the wife of Hector, daughter of Eetion, and sister to Podes. She was born and raised in the city of Cilician Thebe, over which her father ruled. The name means 'man battler' or 'fighter of men' or 'man fighter' or 'man's battle', from the Greek stem ἀνδρ- 'man' and μάχη 'battle'.
In Greek mythology, Astyanax was the son of Hector, the crown prince of Troy, and his wife, Princess Andromache of Cilician Thebe. His birth name was Scamandrius, but the people of Troy nicknamed him Astyanax, because he was the son of the city's great defender and the heir apparent's firstborn son.
Talthybius was herald and friend to Agamemnon in the Trojan War. Talthybius is a Greek soldier who serves as both a messenger and a herald during the time of the Trojan War. Only two mortal men are present in Euripides’ play The Trojan Women, and Talthybius is the one who interacts with the Trojan women the most. Although he represents a hostile nation, he surprisingly shows his vulnerable side and affection towards these women. Even though he must obey orders he does make an effort to lessen their suffering. Talthybius is a complex character who tries to be empathetic despite enabling the rape and enslavement of Troy's women.
The Trojan Women is a tragedy by the Greek playwright Euripides, produced in 415 BCE. Also translated as The Women of Troy, or as its transliterated Greek title Troades, The Trojan Women presents commentary on the costs of war through the lens of women and children. The four central women of the play are the same that appear in the final book of the Iliad, lamenting over the corpse of Hector after the Trojan War.
Hecuba is a tragedy by Euripides, written c. 424 BC. It takes place after the Trojan War but before the Greeks have departed Troy. The central figure is Hecuba, wife of King Priam, formerly queen of the now-fallen city. It depicts Hecuba's grief over the death of her daughter Polyxena and the revenge she takes for the murder of her youngest son, Polydorus.
King Priam is an opera by Michael Tippett, to his own libretto. The story is based on Homer's Iliad, except the birth and childhood of Paris, which are taken from the Fabulae of Hyginus.
Andromaque is a tragedy in five acts by the French playwright Jean Racine written in alexandrine verse. It was first performed on 17 November 1667 before the court of Louis XIV in the Louvre in the private chambers of the Queen, Marie Thérèse, by the royal company of actors, called "les Grands Comédiens", with Thérèse Du Parc in the title role. The company gave the first public performance two days later in the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris. Andromaque, the third of Racine's plays, written at the age of 27, established its author's reputation as one of the great playwrights in France.
The Posthomerica is an epic poem in Greek hexameter verse by Quintus of Smyrna. Probably written in the 3rd century AD, it tells the story of the Trojan War, between the death of Hector and the fall of Ilium (Troy). The poem is an abridgement of the events described in the epic poems Aethiopis and Iliou Persis by Arctinus of Miletus, and the Little Iliad by Lesches, all now-lost poems of the Epic Cycle.
Cassandra is a 1983 novel by the German author Christa Wolf. It has since been translated into a number of languages.
The Trojan Women is a 1971 American-British-Greek war drama film directed by Michael Cacoyannis and starring Katharine Hepburn, Vanessa Redgrave, Geneviève Bujold and Irene Papas. The film was made with the minimum of changes to Edith Hamilton's translation of Euripides' original play, save for the omission of deities, as Cacoyannis said they were "hard to film and make realistic".
The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida, often shortened to Troilus and Cressida ), is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1602.
The Destruction of Troy is a 1678 tragedy by the English writer John Banks. It was first staged by the Duke's Company at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London. It depicts the Trojan War as inspired by Homer's Iliad.
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