Bacchae by Euripides- first preformed 405B.C.E. -translated by Emily Wilson - included with The Greek plays: sixteen plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides / new translations edited by Mary Lefkowitz and James Romm. - 2016

 Bacchae by Euripides- first preformed 405B.C.E. -translated by Emily Wilson - included with The Greek plays: sixteen plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides / new translations edited by Mary Lefkowitz and James Romm. - 2016

Ancient Reads Project Work

 Euripides- 480 to 406 BCE- Athens -wrote 95 plays- 18 are extant

So far I have posted on

Medea

Trojan Women

Hippolytus 

Electra

The collection I am reading from also contains Alcestis and Helen- my long term Ancient read goal is to read all his plays

CAST OF CHARACTERS (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) DIONYSUS, a god (son of Zeus by the mortal woman Semele), in disguise as a mortal; his alternative name is Bacchus, so his followers are known as Bacchants 

PENTHEUS, king of Thebes

 AGAVE, mother of PentheusCADMUS, father of Agave;

 previous king and founder of Thebes TIRESIAS, 

old prophet SERVANT 

MESSENGER 

SECOND MESSENGER 

CHORUS of maenads, * female worshippers of Dionysus, or Bacchus, who have accompanied him from the East; also known as Bacchants or, in Latin, Bacchae— hence the play’s title

Setting: The play takes place at Thebes, in front of the palace of Cadmus, by the river Dirce. There is an ever-smoldering tomb marking the place where Dionysus’ mother, Semele, died from Zeus’ lightning bolt.

Wikipedia has a decent summery of the plot as well as historical information so I will just make a few comments on things that struck 

 me as I read.

Men dress as women in the play. I wondered if American teachers could assign Bacchae to their students without being in fear of termination should a parent complain. Could the play be legally preformed with minors in the audience in Florida, now in the grips of anti-drag hysteria?

One of my favourite series is True Blood, in several episodes the creators drew from the this play. A maenad takes over the town. People go into a frenzy of unrestrained sex, seemingly hypnotically tranced,a giant bull come heavily into play. Conventional morality is forgotten.

"At the heart of the play stands the tense, psychologically complex duel between Dionysus and Pentheus, cousins and agemates —both around twenty years old, to the extent that gods can be said to have ages— now locked in a struggle for control of Thebes. Throughout this contest, Dionysus operates in disguise, pretending to be only a priest of the newly imported cult rather than the deity it serves. He knows, and the audience knows, that he can make a mockery of all Pentheus’ blusters, threats, and armed guards. When he is finally imprisoned in the palace strongholds, an earthquake levels the walls and an unruffled Dionysus steps into freedom." From the introduction

The cult of Dionysus comes from Asia, meaning the area of the Persian Empire.

Just like in America and much of Europe, their is a deeply rooted fear of foreigners, especially Chinese. The misogynistic attitudes of "pro-life" Americans (what an absurd moniker) is seen in the reaction to the Bacchae.

Dionysus played a far different role in Greek religious practice than did Zeus and his other children. His worship had broader social reach, including especially women and the poor, in part. But this populist appeal, together with his perceived foreignness and legendary late arrival among the Hellenes, made Dionysus anomalous , perhaps even dangerous, within the hierarchies of the Greek world.

I am currently reading Appolo's Angels: A History of Ballet by Jennifer Homans. She uses the Appolian versus Dionysus dictomy in her account of the Origins of Ballet. Nietsche deals with this in his The Birth of Tradgedy.

The collection in which this work appears would be an excellent start in Greek Drama

EMILY WILSON is Associate Professor in Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her work includes Mocked with Death: Tragic Overliving from Sophocles to Milton; The Death of Socrates: Hero, Villain, Chatterbox, Saint; Seneca: A Life; Seneca: Six Tragedies; and a new translation of the Odyssey.

I have read some of her translations of Seneca's plays and hope to read her translation of the Odyssey soon.

Mel Ulm