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The Bacchae

Pentheus being torn apart by Agave and Ino, Attic red-figure vase.
Written by Euripides
Chorus Bacchae, female followers of Dionysus
Characters Dionysus
Teiresias
Cadmus
Pentheus
Servant
Messenger
Second Messenger
Agave
Setting Thebes
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The Bacchae (also known as The Bacchantes) is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. Euripides ( Ancient Greek:) (ca 480 BC–406 BC was the last of the three great tragedians of classical Athens (the other two being Aeschylus In Classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos (in Greek, Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; associated with Roman Everes redirects here For the Butterfly Genus, see Everes (genus. Cadmus, or Kadmos (Κάδμος in Greek mythology, was a Phoenician prince son of Agenor and the brother of Phoenix, Cilix In Greek mythology, Pentheus was a king of Thebes, son of the strongest of the Spartes, Echion, and of Agave, daughter of In Greek mythology, Agave (or Agaue, English translation: "illustrious" was the daughter of Cadmus, the king and founder of the city Thebes ( Classic Greek Θῆβαι, Mod Θήβα) is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range which divides The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or Drama. Euripides ( Ancient Greek:) (ca 480 BC–406 BC was the last of the three great tragedians of classical Athens (the other two being Aeschylus It premiered posthumously at the Dionysia in 403 BC, where it won first prize. The Dionysia was a large religious festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus, the central event of which was the performance of tragedies Events By place Greece Thrasybulus leads the democratic resistance to the new oligarchic government known as the Thirty

Contents

Background

The Dionysus in Euripides' tale is a young god, angry that his mortal family, the royal house of Cadmus, has denied him a place of honor as a deity. In Classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos (in Greek, Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; associated with Roman Cadmus, or Kadmos (Κάδμος in Greek mythology, was a Phoenician prince son of Agenor and the brother of Phoenix, Cilix His mother, Semele, was a mistress of Zeus, and while pregnant, she was killed because she looked upon Zeus in his divine form. Stimula redirects here For the Genus of Grass skipper Butterflies, see Stimula (butterfly. Zeus (zjuːs in Greek: nominative: Zeús /zdeús/ genitive: Diós; Modern Greek /'zefs/ in Greek mythology Most of Semele's family, however, including her sister Agave, refuse to believe that Dionysus is the son of Zeus, and the young god is spurned in his home. In Greek mythology, Agave (or Agaue, English translation: "illustrious" was the daughter of Cadmus, the king and founder of the city He has traveled throughout Asia and other foreign lands, gathering a cult of female worshippers (Bacchantes), and at the start of the play has returned to take revenge on the house of Cadmus, disguised as a blonde stranger. He has driven the women of Thebes, including his aunts, into an ecstatic frenzy, sending them dancing and hunting on Mount Cithaeron, much to the horror of their families. Cithaeron is also a spider genus ( Cithaeronidae) Kithairon (Κιθαιρών -ῶνος is a mountain range ("No corner of Complicating matters, his cousin, the young king Pentheus, has declared a ban on the worship of Dionysus throughout Thebes. In Greek mythology, Pentheus was a king of Thebes, son of the strongest of the Spartes, Echion, and of Agave, daughter of

Plot

Dionysus first comes on stage to tell the audience who he is and why he decided to come to Thebes. He explains the story of his birth, how his mother Semele had enamoured the god Zeus, who had come down from Mount Olympus to lie with her. Mount Olympus (Όλυμπος also transliterated as Ólympos, and on Greek maps Óros Ólimbos) is the highest Mountain in Greece She becomes pregnant with a divine son; however none of her family believe her, thinking the illicit pregnancy of the more usual sort. Hera, angry at her husband Zeus' betrayal, convinces Semele to ask Zeus to appear to her in his true form. In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hera (ˈhɪərə or /ˈhɛrə/ Greek) or Here ( in Ionic and Homer Zeus appears to Semele as a lightning bolt and kills her instantly. At the moment of her death however, Hermes swoops down and saves the unborn Dionysus. Hermes ( Greek,, ˈhɝmiːz in Greek mythology, is the Olympian god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them of Shepherds and To hide the baby from Hera, Zeus has the fetus sewn up in his thigh until the baby is grown. However, Semele's family—her sisters Agave, Autonoe, and Ino, and her father, Cadmus—still believe that Semele blasphemously lied about the identity of the baby's father and that she died as a result. In Greek mythology, Autonoë ( Ancient Greek:) was a daughter of Cadmus, founder of Thebes Greece, and the goddess Harmonia. In Greek mythology Ino was a mortal queen of Thebes, the second wife of Athamas, the mother of Learches and Melicertes, daughter of Dionysus comes to Thebes to vindicate his mother Semele.

The old men Cadmus and Tiresias, though not under the same spell as the Theban women (who include Cadmus' daughters Ino, Autonoe and Agave, Pentheus' mother), have become enamored of the Bacchic rituals and are about to go out celebrating when Pentheus returns to the city and finds them dressed in festive garb. Everes redirects here For the Butterfly Genus, see Everes (genus. He scolds them harshly and orders his soldiers to arrest anyone else engaging in Dionysian worship.

The guards return with Dionysus himself, disguised as his priest and the leader of the Asian maenads. Pentheus questions him, still not believing that Dionysus is a god. However, his questions reveal that he is deeply interested in the Dionysiac rites, which the stranger refuses to reveal fully to him. This greatly angers Pentheus, who has Dionysus locked up. However, being a god, he is quickly able to break free and creates more havoc, razing the palace of Pentheus to the ground in a giant earthquake and fire. Word arrives via a herdsman that the Bacchae on Cithaeron are behaving especially strangely and performing incredible feats, putting snakes in their hair in reverie of their god, suckling wild wolves and gazelle, and making wine, milk, honey and water spring up from the ground. He tells that when they tried to capture the women, the women descended on a herd of cows, ripping them to shreds with their bare hands (Sparagmos). Sparagmos ( Greek: σπαραγμός refers to an ancient Dionysian ritual in which a living animal or sometimes even a human being would be sacrificed by being Those guards who attacked the women were unable to harm them with their weapons, while the women could defeat them with only sticks. Dionysus wishes to punish Pentheus for not worshipping him or paying him libations. A libation (spondee in Greek) is a Ritual pouring of a drink as an offering to a god. He uses Pentheus' clear desire to see the ecstatic women to convince the king to dress as a female Maenad to avoid detection and go to the rites, as is shown in the dialogue:

Stranger: Ah! Would you like to see them in their gatherings upon the mountain?
Pentheus: Very much. Ay, and pay uncounted gold for the pleasure.
Stranger: Why have you conceived so strong a desire?
Pentheus: Though it would pain me to see them drunk with wine-
Stranger: Yet you would like to see them, pain and all. [1]

Dionysus dresses Pentheus as a woman and gives him a thyrsus and fawn skins, then leads him out of the house. In Greek mythology, a thyrsus ( thyrsos) was a staff of giant fennel ( Ferula communis) covered with Ivy vines and leaves sometimes Pentheus begins to see double, perceiving two Thebes and two bulls (Dionysus often took the form of a bull) leading him.

The god's vengeance soon turns from mere humiliation to murder. A messenger arrives at the palace to report that once they reached Cithaeron, Pentheus wanted to climb up an evergreen tree to get a better view of the Bacchants. The blonde stranger used magic to bend the tall tree and place the king at its highest branches. However, once he was safely at the top, Dionysus called out to his followers and showed the man sitting atop the tree. This, of course, drove the Bacchants wild, and they tore the trapped Pentheus down and ripped his body apart piece by piece.

After the messenger has relayed this news, Pentheus' mother, Agave, arrives carrying the head of her son which she herself had pulled off. In her possessed state she believed it was the head of a mountain lion; she proudly displays it to her father, eager to show off her successful hunt, and how brave she had been. She is confused when Cadmus does not delight in her trophy, his face contorting in horror. By that time, however, Dionysus' possession is beginning to wear off, and as Cadmus reels from the horror of his grandson's death, Agave slowly realizes what she has done. The family is destroyed, with Agave and her sisters sent into exile. Dionysus, in a final act of revenge, returns briefly to excoriate his family one more time for their impiety. Cadmus and his wife Harmonia are turned into snakes. In Greek mythology, Harmonia is the immortal Goddess of harmony and concord Tiresias, the old, blind Theban prophet, is the only one not to suffer.

Modern interpretations

Dramatic versions

Joe Orton's play The Erpingham Camp (television broadcast 27th June 1966; opened at the Royal Court Theatre on 6th June 1967) relocates The Bacchae to a British Butlin's-style holiday camp. Joe Orton ( 1 January, 1933, Leicester, England - 9 August, 1967, Islington, London) born John Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Butlin's Holiday Camps, presently known by the (non-possessive trademark Butlins, were founded by (later Sir Billy Butlin to provide economical holidays ( North Holiday Camp is a 1947 British film directed by Ken Annakin, starring Jack Warner, Jimmy Hanley, Kathleen Harrison and Dennis An author's note at the beginning of the text of the play states that: "[n]o attempt must be made to reproduce the various locales in a naturalistic manner. Naturalism is a movement in Theatre, film, and Literature that seeks to replicate a believable everyday reality, as opposed to such A small, permanent set of Erpingham's office is set on a high level. The rest of the stage is an unlocalised area. Changes of scene are suggested by lighting and banners after the manner of the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of Shakespeare's histories. The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC is a British Theatre company William Shakespeare ( baptised Traditionally the plays of William Shakespeare have been grouped into three categories tragedies, comedies, and histories. "[2]

In 1970 Brian de Palma filmed Richard Schechner's dramatic re-envisioning of the work, Dionysus in '69, in a converted garage. Brian De Palma (born Brian Russell DePalma on September 11 1940 in Newark New Jersey) is an American Film director. Richard Schechner (born August 23, 1934) is a University Professor/Professor of Performance Studies at the Tisch School of the Arts New York University

Wole Soyinka adapted the play as The Bacchae of Euripides: A Communion Rite with the British National Theatre in London in 1972, incorporating a second chorus of slaves to mirror the civil unrest in his native Nigeria. The Royal National Theatre, located on the South Bank in the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal Constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal

In 2000, writer/director Brad Mays filmed a feature length adaptation of the play, based on his critically acclaimed stage production which featured Pentheus' transformation into a woman on stage, the ensuing orgy and Pentheus' death at the hands of his mother.

Caryl Churchill and David Lan used the play as the basis of their 1986 dance-theatre hybrid A Mouthful of Birds. Caryl Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is an English Dramatist known for her use of non- naturalistic techniques and Feminist David Lan is an English playwright filmmaker theatre director and social anthropologist Concert dance (also known as performance dance and theatre dance (particularly in the United Kingdom) is a category of Dances which is performed A Mouthful of Birds is a 1986 play with dance by Caryl Churchill and David Lan, with choreography by Ian Spink.

The Bacchae 2.1, a theatrical adaptation set in modern times, was written by Charles Mee and first performed in 1993. Charles L Mee is an American Playwright and Author. He was born in Barrington Illinois in 1938

Operatic versions

Harry Partch composed an opera based on The Bacchae titled Revelation in the Courthouse Park. Harry Partch ( June 24, 1901 &ndash September 3, 1974) was an American Composer and instrument creator It was first performed in 1960, and a recording was released in 1987.

Another opera based on The Bacchae, called The Bassarids, was composed in 1965 by Hans Werner Henze. The Bassarids (in German, Die Bassariden) is an Opera in one act and an Intermezzo, with music Hans Werner Henze to an Hans Werner Henze (born July 1 1926 Gütersloh, Germany is a German composer well known for his left-wing political convictions The libretto was by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman. Wystan Hugh Auden (21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973 ˈwɪstən ˈhjuː ˈɔːdən who signed his works W Chester Simon Kallman ( 7 January 1921 &ndash 18 January 1975) was an American Poet, librettist and translator best known

Musical versions

Peter Mills created the musical "The Rockae" using the "The Bacchae" as its foundation. Dionysus, a glamorous rock star in every sense of the word, seeks revenge on those who denied him as a babe. The performance is complete with a swarm of groupie dancers dancing wildly to the electric guitar numbers.

Significant quotations

Dionysus: "It's a wise man's part to practise a smooth-tempered self-control. "
Dionysus: "Your [Pentheus'] name points to calamity. It fits you well. "
Messenger: "Dionysus' powers are manifold; he gave to men the vine to cure their sorrows. "
Dionysus: "Can you, a mortal, measure your strength against a god?"

Translations

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Euripides. Philip Humphrey Vellacott ( 16 January 1907 – 24 August 1997) was an English Classical scholar, known for his numerous translations William Ayers Arrowsmith (1924–1992 was an American classicist Moses Hadas (1900–1966 was an American teacher one of the leading classical scholars of the twentieth century, and a translator of numerous works John McLean (1785&ndash1861 was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Geoffrey Stephen Kirk ( 3 December 1921 – 10 March 2003) was a British classical scholar Robert Bagg (born 1935 New Jersey) is an American poet and translator Michael Cacoyannis (born June 11, 1922) is a prominent Greek Cypriot filmmaker best-known for his 1964 film Zorba the Greek. Colin Teevan (born 1968 in Dublin is an Irish playwright radio dramatist translator and academic Father Michael Scanlan (b December 1, 1931) is a Catholic Priest, author and Chancellor of the Franciscan University of Steubenville Ten Plays by Euripides. Trans. Moses Hadas and John Mclean. New York: Bantam Books, 1981, p. 299
  2. ^ Orton, Joe. 1976. The Complete Plays. Methuen. ISBN 0 413 34610 2. p. 278.

References

Plays by Euripides

Euripides ( Ancient Greek:) (ca 480 BC–406 BC was the last of the three great tragedians of classical Athens (the other two being Aeschylus The Cyclops (Κύκλωψ, Kyklōps) is an Ancient Greek Satyr play by Euripides, the only complete satyr play that has survived Alcestis (Άλκηστις / Alkēstis) is an Athenian Tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. Medea (Μήδεια / Mēdeia) is a tragedy play written by Euripides, based upon the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced Heracleidae (Ηρακλείδαι / Hērakleidai) is a play by Euripides c Hippolytus (Ιππόλυτος / Hippolytos) is an Ancient Greek Tragedy by Euripides, based on the myth of Hippolytus Andromache (Ανδρομάχη / Andromachē) (c 425 BC) is a play by Euripides. Hecuba (Εκάβη / Hēkabē) is a Tragedy by Euripides written c The Suppliants (also known as The Suppliant Women 423 BC, is an ancient Greek play by Euripides. Euripides ' Electra was probably written in the mid 410s BC likely after 413 BC. Heracles or Hercules Furens (Ηρακλής μαινόμενος / Hēraklēs Mainomenos) is a play by Euripides (c The Trojan Women (in Τρωάδες Trōades) is a Tragedy by the Greek Playwright Euripides. Iphigeneia in Tauris (Ιφιγένεια εν Ταύροις Iphigeneia en Taurois) is a drama by the playwright Euripides, written sometime between Ion (Ίων / Iōn)is an ancient Greek play by Euripides, thought to be written between 414 and 412 BC Helen (Ελένη / Elenē) is a drama by Euripides, probably first produced in 412 BC for the Dionysia. The Phoenician Women (Φοίνισσαι / Phoinissai) is a Tragedy by Euripides based on the same story as Aeschylus ' play Orestes (Ορέστης / Orestēs) ( 408 BCE) is an Ancient Greek play by Euripides that follows the events of Orestes Iphigenia at Aulis (Ιφιγένεια εν Αυλίδι / Iphigeneia en Aulidi) is the last extant work of the playwright Euripides. Rhesus (Ρήσος Rēsos) possibly 350 BC, is transmitted among the plays of Euripides, and was indeed believed to be genuinely Euripidean in the
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