Persuasion in Ancient Greece

Andrew Scholtz, Instructor

Study Guides. . .

Oresteia, Agamemnon

Aeschylus' Oresteia trilogy

• Agamemnon
• Libation Bearers
• Eumenides

Click here for map of localities that figure in the trilogy.

Readings Journal Entries

Based on the red-carpet scene, with the Agamemnon-Clytaemnestra agon (debate-like dialogue).

1. Assume the persona of either. . .
   • A "don't tread!" anti-Clytmnestra citizen of Argos
   • A "do tread!" pro-Clytmnestra citizen of Argos
2. In the persona of that person, talk to Agamemnon advisers. . .
   • Convince them that Clytemnestra is right/wrong

Record this in your Reader-Response Journal. In class, we're going to stage a debate:

• Board of advisers to Agamemnon, easily swayed one way or the other
• Team "Do Tread"
• Team "Don't Tread"

Oresteia Trilogy

Production Facts

• Author: Aeschylus, Athenian tragic playwright (525/4-456 BCE)
• Three tragedies plus a lost satyr drama (Menelaus)
• Produced: Athens, 458 BCE
• Setting
  • Agamemnon, Libation Bearers in Argos
  • Eumenides at Delphi, then at Athens
• Time: aftermath of the Trojan War
• Story
  • Agamemnon
    • Agamemnon's return from Troy
    • his and Cassandra's murder by Clytemnestra
  • Libation Bearers
    • Orestes and Electra (children of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra) kill
      • Clytemnestra
      • Aegisthus (Cl's lover) in revenge
  • Eumenides
    • Orestes is put on trial at Athens for the murder of his mother

Larger Questions

• What connections between dike (justice), kratos (power), peitho (persuasion) in Aeschylus' Oresteia?
• What role does peitho play in both the smaller and the larger movements of the trilogy?
• How does peitho affect events in the three plays?
• Does the action on stage bear any relation to events in mid fifth-century BCE Athens? Does the Oresteia say anything about peitho in the Athenian polis?

The Agamemnon

Difficulties

This is a very difficult play. You will need to read it carefully and slowly. Pay special attention to the choruses: most of the play is choral reflection - a bit like the playwright (Aeschylus) thinking out loud.

HOWEVER: the chorus has a habit of switching topic without warning. That is because the main mythological events (both plot and "prequel") addressed by the play . . .

• the "Feast of Thyestes"
• the Abduction of Helen
• the sacrifice of Iphigenia
• the Sack of Troy and Return of Agamemnon

. . . are, as it were, layered one on top of the other to bring out their parallelisms. Imagery, too (fire signals, carpet scene, etc.), is likewise laid out in parallel.

Plot

Since this is a more-than-usually difficult text, here's the story (quite simple, really):

• Fire signals bring news that Troy has been captured and destroyed, and that king Agamemnon will be returning soon to Argos
• Agamemnon arrives
• He is greeted by the chorus and by his wife, queen Clytemnestra
• He brings with him as a prize of war Cassandra, princess of Troy and prophetess
• Clytemnestra induces Agamemnon to tread on the red carpet
• Clytemnestra stabs Agamemnon in his bath
• Cassandra enters palace knowing full well that Clytemnestra intends to kill her (which Clytemnestra does)
• Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, savor their victory

Larger Themes

Keep a log of references or allusions to the following themes and concerns:

• dike ("justice")
• kratos ("power")
  • Who exercises kratos (power) in the Agamemnon? How?
• peitho/bia
  • What forms
  • What means?
  • What ends?
  • By whom?
  • What efficacy?
  • What ethical resonances?
  • peitho-bia interrelationship . . .
    • antithetical?
    • complementary?

Special Lecture/Discussion Topics

Peitho/peitho and . . .

• "Mystery passage" . . .
  • "Persuasion the persistent overwhelms him, | she, strong daughter of designing ruin" (Chorus, lines 385-386)
    • Who and what does the chorus refer to?
    • What is the larger meaning of the passage?
• Clytemnestra and gender issues
  • feminine/masculine qualities
• Clytemnestra's
  • peitho
  • bia

Red-Carpet Scene

• Why does Clytemnestra want/need Agamemnon to tread on red carpet?
• How does she get him to?

Cassandra Scene (Chicago edition lines 1055-1342)

Cassandra possesses the power to read the future . . .

• Do people believe her?

Oresteia: Mythological Background

Genealogy: Pelops and his Descendants

"Prequel" Events

"Feast of Thyestes"

• The brothers Atreus and Thyestes, sons of Pelops, quarrel over the kingship at Argos
• Atreus seizes kingship; banishes Thyestes
• Atreus pretends reconciliation with Thyestes; invites him back to Argos
• At banquet, Atreus serves to Thyestes latter's own children (though not Aegisthus)

The Next Generation

• Atreus has two sons
  • Menelaus
  • Agamemnon
• Aegisthus = surviving son of Thyestes
• Agamemnon marries Clytemnestra, becomes king of Argos
• Menelaus marries Helen, becomes king of Sparta
• Aegisthus without kingdom

Abduction of Helen, Trojan War

• Paris and Helen (Menelaus' wife) elope to Troy
• Agamemnon organizes an expedition to Troy to retrieve Helen
  • Infant Orestes sent to live at court of Strophius in Phocis
  • Adverse winds detain Greek fleet at Aulis
  • Artemis demands that Agamemnon sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, before she will allow the fleet to sail
  • Agamemnon complies
• Agamemnon gone, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus become lovers
• Clytemnestra and Aegisthus intend to kill Agamemnon on his return from Troy
• Agamemnon, victor at Troy, returns to Argos with Cassandra, Priam's daughter, among the spoils

 

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