Euripides Influence

The Euthyphro is an example of early dialogue of Plato's: it is brief, deals with a question in ethics, this is a dialogue which took place between Socrates and Euthyphro who claims to be an expert in a certain field of ethics, which ended prematurely. It is also puzzled with Socratic irony, the irony is present because Socrates is reckoning Euthyphro as the teacher when in fact Socrates is teaching Euthyphro. Socrates poses as the ignorant student wishing to learn from a supposed expert, when in fact he shows Euthyphro to be the ignorant one who knows nothing about the subject on which they are discussing, which is piety and impiety. This setup is necessary in order to encourage Euthyphro to bring forth and evaluate the arguments being formed by him, and thus to lead him to see their faults for himself.

Euripides’s plays often featured uncanny insight into the human condition and the struggle that his characters bore due to their expected roles within society.

Socrates and Euthyphro cross paths one day at the courts of Athens. At the time, Euthyphro was there to prosecute his father for murder. Socrates takes the opportunity to ask Euthyphro what the meaning of piety is. In this paper, I exam the issue at hand, how Socrates uses his question to doubt Euthyphro’s thesis, and give an explanation as to what this question means for someone who maintains that God is the origin or foundation of morality.

During the time of Euripides, approximately the second half of the fifth century B.C., it was a period of immense cultural crisis and political convulsion (Arrowsmith 350). Euripides, like many other of his contemporaries, used the whole machinery of the theater as a way of thinking about their world (Arrowsmith 349). His interest in particular was the analysis of culture and relationship between culture and the individual. Euripides used his characters as a function to shape the ideas of the play (Arrowsmith 359).

Euripides’ play, The Bacchae, brings into perspective the Greek god, Dionysus. The play focuses on Dionysus wanting to establish his divinity in the city of Thebes, “Therefore I shall prove to him [Pentheus] and everyone in Thebes that I am god indeed” (47-49). As it can be seen here, Dionysus seeks to substantiate his divinity in the city that originally rejected him right from the get-go. He demonstrates this divinity through a very unique pathway, that pathway being vengeance. This course of vengeance leads him to manipulate various character's repressed desires. Dionysus uses these repressed desires in Thebes to enact his revenge on the city, but more specifically his own family. Albeit, repressed desires are not an actually character in The Bacchae, they arguably play one of the most important roles in the play. Dionysus brings out the repressed desires within Agave and Pentheus, and this ultimately shows their true character. He manipulates the two character’s repressed desires to fit his own agenda, which was mentioned earlier, and this is ultimately why he succeeds in his conquest for vengeance and the manifestation of his divinity to the city of Thebes. It also provides an explanation for why the two character’s behave the way that they do. It’s important to know your own desires so you cannot be easily manipulated and tricked like Agave and Pentheus were by Dionysus. If the two character’s would have known their own repressed desires, then arguably they would have

One of the most famous pieces of Roman portraiture would be the marble sculpture of Commodus as the god/hero Hercules. It is dated to be around 180- 193 AD. He was given the attributes of Hercules: the lion’s skin over his head, the club in his right hand, and the golden apples of Hesperides in his left. The bust itself is placed on two kneeling Amazonians—one of which has been destroyed. The statue attempts to stress the emperor’s divinity without breaking away altogether from the imperial image of him. The usual features of the emperor are recognizable: thin face, and over-barbered hair, however, the sculptor managed to show his weakness through small arms and delicate hands. Marcus Aurelius was the first emperor after Vespasian (AD 79) to

The first role of women that is displayed through the plays of Euripides is their submissiveness. This most often occurs in the plays of Hecabe and Trojan Women. The women depicted seem week and unable to fend for themselves. More specifically, the women in these plays seem more accepting of their fates.

In two distinct works of Plato, he attempts to determine the good and explaining it so others can also understand it the way he does. The Euthyphro aims at determining the definition of piety through a dialogue between Euthyphro and Socrates in order to come to a clear understanding through a thought out conversation. Similarly in the Republic, Plato utilizes three specific analogies to best convey the likeness, the levels, and the journey to reaching the highest good. The sun analogy, the divided line, and the cave analogy all help in demonstrating what the good is to Plato and how it relates to human knowledge, wisdom, and reality.

This influence would extend beyond its dramatic and tragic form in the Athenian period, and influence large portions of the greater Western literary tradition which would follow it for over two millennia. All three of the major Athenian tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, were affected by the myth of Prometheus. The surviving plays and fragments of Aeschylus regarding Prometheus retain a special place of prominence within modern scholarship for their having survived the ravages of time. The majority of plays written by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides have been lost to literary antiquity, including many of their writings on

The Hymn to Dionysus gives readers a general idea of who Dionysus is and what he is capable of, but a further dimension is added to his character after reading the Bacchae. The Bacchae shows readers that Dionysus is a force of nature and determined to establish himself. Euripides only adds to the intensity of Dionysus and the play in general by making him completely unrepentant for what he’s done and giving the mortals particularly harsh punishments for committing relatively insignificant acts. In the Hymn to Dionysus, he is kidnapped by pirates and uses his capture to reveal his divinity to the pirates, who are mortals.

Sophocles, a famous and renowned Greek dramatist, is the playwright to both the play Oedipus the King and Antigone. Along with Antigone and Oedipus Sophocles had also wrote Electra and Fete. Sophocles wrote many Greek tragedies which are plays in which the main character in the play suffers a tragedy due to some flaw of theirs. An example would be how Oedipus (thinking he is defying a prophecy) murders his father and weds his mother. His flaw was him trying to defy fate if he had not just stayed where he was he would’ve been fine. His works are referred to and taught all over the world in many schools along with colleges; this should give light to how will written his plays are and how

Medea is an ancient Greek misfortune Witten by Euripides. The play is based on the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced in 431 BCE. Euripides was the first Greek poet to suffer the fate of so many of the great modern writers: rejected by most of his contemporaries. Euripides was the son of Mnesarchus. The family owned property on the island of Salamis, and Euripides was twice married and had three sons.

one of the three great tragedians. The other two were Aeschylus, and Sophocles. According to the Encyclopedia, “Euripides was a Greek playwright whom Aristotle called the most tragic of the Greek poets. He is certainly the most revolutionary Greek tragedian known in modern times” (“Euripides”). He is well- known for transforming traditional Greek tragedies by using strong female characters and brilliant slaves. From the ninety- two plays Euripides wrote, only nineteen were saved in complete form. Euripides was a brilliant Greek playwright who was one of the most revolutionary tragedians known to this day,

“No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow.” This is a famous quote from Euripides. Euripides was born in 480 BC and died in 406 BC. His work was quite favored in his own time, he had a large impact on Roman drama. Euripides was one of the 3 great tragedians of classical Athens. His plays iconoclastic, attitude to both religious belief and the ancient legends and myths that formed the traditional subject matter for Greek drama. He was famous for his writing, he wrote about mythological themes. Euripides left an impact on the world he enhanced the intisfy of intrigue in tragedy.

The Bacchae and Medea are two tragedies written by Euripides, an ancient Greek dramatist. Both plays are worthy of remaining on the summer reading list of a Christian school, since the messages they carry out correspond with the Christian moral values. For example, the unquestionable faith in God (or one of them, from the ancient Greeks’ perspective) that The Bacchae inspires in the audience, or fidelity in marriage and forgiveness that Medea encourages its readers to practice.