seven against - aeschylus

seven against thebes - aeschylus - numbers in text mean line in greek original

I. people in the play

eteokles (son of oidipus)
watchmen as messenger
choir o parthenon
ismene (sister of polyneikes and eteokles)
antigone (sister of polyneikes and eteokles)
one herold

II. brief description

laios curse fullfilles itself
eteokles and polyneikes son of oidipus die both speered by sword on their left side
one defends theben the other comes to conquer
eteokles and polyneikes names carry a symbol eteokles means truthfull polyneikes means full-o-trouble-seeking
instead of a full army invasion against every gate one hero walks in and invites one from thebes to match him
they swear by the god of ares to tear down the city that has ares as it´s protective god
description of the shields and their meaning symbolic important every person stands for something that is described in the shield
thebes city of ares with seven gates
antigone wants to bury her dead brother despite the city council´s wish to left him unburried

III. storyline

eteokles monologue 0-38 mentions the rumor of an achaia army marching towards theben
watchman arrives talks to eteokles 39- mentions how seven heros swear by the god ares to tear down the city or drown i their own blood 39-48 mentions they choose by draw who gets wich gate to conquer already marching into that city 58 eteokles praying to all gods above and under the earth to protect the city mentions a city that lives well only prayes to the gods 69
choir cry of incoming army 78
choir cry to zeus and ares for to help kadmos city against the army of argos 115
pray to poseidon aphrodithe pallas athene artemis apollon hera 130 mentioning of ancestory to kypris aphrodithe
mention the assaulting force have foreign language 170
eteokles 181 blames the choir to cheer down the mood of the troops her crying and whining descurages the soldiers
mentions 199 stoning as punishment who does not obey his commands be it woman or man
203 choir mention eteokles son of oidipus child of connection between oidipus and his mother
eteokles says men on the field 230 has to obey for sacrifice to gods women should stay in their house quite and wait
244 don´t blame the murder and pain of battlefield it is ares playing ground eteokles says
245 eteokles quarrel with the female choir continues blames her fear and crying lowers the mood of the troops
265 mentions his promis to the gods i case of a glory
283 says it will look for six others to protect the seven gates of the city himself as the seventh
287 cry of choir blame of battle
375 messenger arrives reports to eteokles what he saw dialogue between messenger and eteokles who will be at wich gate and their shields with their symbols and eteokles reply to the symbols and who he will he place against the assaulting soldiers seven chosend by draw - mention tydeus at proitos gate asks eteokles who he will display against him
397 reply of eteokles astakos son he will put against him called melanippos called countries child protector of his mother eteokles is not impressed with the images and the cloth you need a spear he replies and the sky and night might be double symbol doom for him instead the enemy
422 kapaneus took electra gate tells messenger describes his shield tells his blashemic attitude against zeus 430 even zeus thunder and bolt could not stop him as always increase of dramaturgy with who could stop him
437 reply of eteokles says he is great in words and in blaspheming god zeus it would be turned against him polyphontes and his fierey temperament would smack him down artemis´ beloved person
457 choire names third eteoklos at neistic gate describes how he will storm the gate with his masses description of the shield
472 eteokles replies megareus kreon´s son never afraid of horses sounds would counter him courage will counter him
486 Hippomedon a giant in height on the fourth gate
502 hyperbios oinop´s son will counter hippomedon has zeus on his shield as zeus was always superior to any god in battle believe in god will counter fear of battle
526 parthenopaios at the fith gate young arcadian wild full of great words
550 a man will counter him not talking but doing aktor
568 amphiaraos at homoloic gate querrelseeker thyname translated from greek has no painting on his shield considered as a bright strategist will not appear one way but be
620 lasthenes will counter him young in age but aged in wisdom
631 polyneikes at the seventh gate with dike on his shield will counter his brother defender of the city eteokles
653-676 mourning of eteokles classic tradegy whining of a character oh my parents curse oidipus curse fullfills today he sings
677 choir leader sings every blood spill can forgiven after worship to gods but bloodspill among brother neither time nor worship will heal dissolve
695 oidipus curse tells me says eteokles soon death is better than late one
709 full of anger is oidipus curse demanding his death saw in his dream the dissolvement of his fathers country legacy says eteokles to choir leader in dialogue
714 choir leader urges please master don´t go to the seventh gate
720 choir alone sings 742 choir mentions old curse in third generation made by laios loxias told at pythos temple save he will the city if he remains childless laios ignores the speach 750 but lust lead him to make a child oidipus was his name 755 mentions marriage of oedipus with his mother and him killing his father laios 784 mentions he put out his eyes which was more beloved to him then his sons after he saw what he did to his mother and father 785 curse of oidipus that his sons will share his country with steel in their fists
792 messenger arrives brings message saved is the city
792-820 messenger and choir in exchange tell that the brothers children of oidipus are no more
830 choir leader asks himself should i be glad for the saving of the city or mourn the dead of the brothers named in translation weapon - armed famous and querrellseeker eteokles and polyneikes
875 hemi-choir singing in exchange A + B rephrasing the curse and development
962 antigone and ismene sing in exchange mourn of brothers mentioning the double murder
1005 messenger arrives to announce decisions of the city counsil eteokles weapon famous should be burried inside the city polyneikes trouble querrell seeker should be left outside the city borders without burrial food for the dogs
1026 antigone defiant as father tells messenger she will despite decision of the counsil burry him
1055 destiny erinnys have now judged the oidipus family sings choir
1066 antigone choir A and polyneikes leave in one direction ismene choir B and eteokles in the other direction

IV. seven heros at seven gates and their shields symbols

tydeus at proitos gate - the sky flamed with stars full moon moon most beautiful star eye of the night - the night symbol of death
kapaneus at electra gate - shield shows a nude fire carrier image carrying a torch burning golden writing tells i burn the city
eteoklos at neistic gate - armed man steps ahead a ladder to a tower his shield says not ares would throw him down from this tower
hippomedon at onka pallas gate - typhon blows smoke brother of burning snakes winding on the ground symbol of fear
parthenopaios at borraic gate - bloody red sphinx on his shield
amphiaraos at homoloic gate - has no painting on his shield considered as a seer wise thinker
polyneikes at seventh gate - has a golden shield with dike leading a golden boy armed writing bring back will him i to parents town and parents house

persians

the numbers within the text mean the line of the original greek text as reference

1

he decides to invade greece after his friends in the palace mocked him that he did nothing to enhance the rule over the others and remains with what his father left to him

he shows boldness degrading a god while crossing the bosporos

he thinks with overwhelming force regarding numbers he can beat the counterpart the counterpart beats him through tactic and whit despite being outnumbered

once a mighty emperor with the emperors clothes he returns from the battle with the clothes of an beggar

his mother speaks with his dead father his father gives comments why he lost the battle

the author describes the battle scenes and names the royal who lost their lifes on the battle

the author uses the usual dramatic rhetoric to enhance the dramaturgy of the play

there is no barbarian greek issue in this play no liberty of the greeks against the despotic persian the story concentrates itself on the tragic character of xerxes who allows that the people of the palace hit his vanity and proud and make him invade another country he does not respects the gods crossing the bosporos and thinks whith overwhelimg military might alone he can enforce his victory

as usual with the author there are only a few characters playing the play choir of the older atossa messenger ghost of dareios and xerxes as the main character

2

people in the drama choir of the elder atossa messenger ghost of dareios xerxes

3

the play starts with an description of the event who went out with xerxes to invade the foreign country 15-60 here he lists the participants sung by the choir here he describes the cloth of the emperor as golden 5-10 he describes that he came with see and land forces 75-80 he describes that no one can hold out these military might huge in numbers huge in self confidence 85-100 he mentions that he felt in an entrapment of a god comes in sweet voices no one can avoid 93-100

his mother appears 159 choir talks to her she tells of her dreams 175-200 asks for its meaning the choir replies neither to good nor bad pray to the gods and ask for help call for your dead husband and ask him they said 215-220 she replies she will do as the dream reader demanded furhter asks where her son is going why he is going who is going with him

messenger comes to the choir to tell the news 249-255

choir mourning whining about the lost 260-300

messenger asked who survived the battle still he replies the important dead rulers 300-330 choir asked the messenger who is not dead 295 negative reference as too many are dead better to ask who survived instead of who is dead to show the huge amount of dead dramatisation of the devastating results of the battle

messenger tells how many ships where on each side according to the numbers the persians had to win replies a daimon prevented them to win 337

messenger tells how the battle started can´t explain wether it was a daimon or greek whit who started 353 but let a greek start the event

he follows with a description of the battle how it went and lost and what followed after the battle and how the fleeing soldiers died in greece and macedonia till 515

usual mourning of the choir till 597

atossa monologue 598 she says when some one life went well he thinks it will remain this way all along as soon as a desaster hit him he thinks it will all remain this way

she asks the choir to join her to ask the spirit of dareios from the dead to speak to her 620

choir sings mourns and begs the spirits of the aidos and dareios spirit to appear 623-680

dareios spirit apears 681

after choir refuses due to respect of the old emperor to speak out the catastrophy atossa takes the word and explains the events dareios replies and old zeus foreseeing is realized xerxes disrespected a god due trying to tame the bosporos and put chains on the river to make a transition of the troops possible the defeat is a vengeance of the god for disprespect of deity 740-752 gives not full responsiblity to xerxes unreason in youth proud as cause for his action disrespect of deity

atossa reduces his responsibility due to influence of bad friends in the palace causing him pain saying his father increased the realm he only uses the spear in the palace 753-758

dareios speech disrespect of deity plundering and destroying the temples and feel of superiority brought son to fall zeus is sending penalty to arrogance of everyone so tame yourselfs respect the gods moral appeal 800-842

atosse hears that her son went out in royal clothing full of glory now turns with devastated and beggar like clothing home with no glory and shimmer 845-852

choir dramatization sings of the former glory of the persian empire what countries felt under their rule names them all and returns to the unglory defeat of xerxes to enhance the dramatic description of the event 852-906

xerxes apears mourns his defeat mourns his destiny 908

choir joins xerxes mourning dramatization asks xerxes where his friends and loyals remain xerxes replies left all dead on hellas coasts on hellas grounds 918-1021

choir and xerxes remain mourning and crying and singing about their destiny and tragedy 1021-1077