Achilles in Greek Tragedy [Paperback]

Examines how the tragic dramatists persistently appropriated Achilles to address the concerns of their time.In contrast to earlier scholarly work, which has focused on the Achilles of the Homeric epics, this study examines how one of the most popular and glamorous figures of Greek mythology was imagined on the tragic stage of fifth-century Athens. Dr Michelakis argues that dramatists persistently appropriated Achilles to address concerns of their time, from heroism and education to individualism and gender. The book considers the whole corpus of extant Greek tragedy, with particular attention paid to Aeschylus' Myrmidons and Euripides' Hecuba and Iphigenia at Aulis.In contrast to earlier scholarly work, which has focused on the Achilles of the Homeric epics, this study examines how one of the most popular and glamorous figures of Greek mythology was imagined on the tragic stage of fifth-century Athens. Dr Michelakis argues that dramatists persistently appropriated Achilles to address concerns of their time, from heroism and education to individualism and gender. The book considers the whole corpus of extant Greek tragedy, with particular attention paid to Aeschylus' Myrmidons and Euripides' Hecuba and Iphigenia at Aulis.In contrast to earlier scholarly work on Achilles of the Homeric epics, this study examines how one of the most popular figures of Greek mythology was portrayed on the tragic stage of fifth-century Athens. Pantelis Michelakis asserts that dramatists persistently appropriated Achilles to address concerns ranging from heroism and education to individualism and gender. The book considers the complete corpus of extant Greek tragedy, with particular attention paid to Aeschylus' Myrmidons and Euripides' Hecuba and Iphigenia at Aulis.List of illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; 1. Introduction: Achilles in the fifth century; 2. The problematic hero: Aeschylus' Myrmidons; 3. The dead hero: Euripides' Hecuba; 4. The hero to be: Eurl£!