Aeschylus and War

Isabelle Torrance is Associate Professor and Research Fellow at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Denmark. She has published numerous articles on Greek tragedy and its reception and is author of Aeschylus: Seven Against Thebes (London, 2007), Metapoetry in Euripides (Oxford, 2013), and co-author of Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (Berlin, 2014).

Civil war, fratricide, a city under siege and women in mortal terror – these are the themes of Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, a tragedy that Aeschylus himself (or at least his persona in Aristophanes’ comedy, Frogs) boasted was "full of Ares" or martial spirit. This volume takes account of recent research on ancient warfare and of the intimate connection between war and Greek tragedy, which continues to speak to veterans’ experiences today. The chapters bring important new perspectives to this undeservedly neglected masterpiece.- David Konstan, Professor of Classics, New York University, USAAeschylus and War is a salutary reminder that Seven against Thebes must be understood in the martial context from which it draws its inspiration. Moreover, it is to be hoped that this useful and thought-provoking collection of papers will help to rekindle critical interest in a great and difficult work, which has for too long been condemned to brood sublimely in relative neglect.- N. J. Sewell-Rutter, Oxford, UK, in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review

• List of figuresAcknowledgements1 Aeschylus and War: Comparative Perspectives on Seven Against Thebes ISABELLE TORRANCEPART IModern Perspectives2 Aeschylus and War: A Conversation with Lieutenant Colonel Kristen JanowskyModerated by Olivier Morel and Isabelle Torrance; prepared for publication by Isabelle Torrance.3 Aeschylus, Gangland Naples, and the Siege of Sarajevo: Mario Martone's Teatro di Guerra ISABELLE TORRANCE4 Thebes as High Collateral Damage Target: Moral Accountability for Killing in Seven Against ThebesPETER MEINECKPART IIAncient Perspectives5 Greek Armies against Towns: Siege Warfare and the Seven Against ThebesFERNANDO ECHEVERRÍA6 Eteocles and Thebes in AeschylusLOWELL EDMUNDS7 The Music of War in Aeschylus’ Seven Against ThebesMARK GRIFFITH8 Fathers and Sons in War: Seven Against Thebes, Pythian 8, and the Polemics of GenreMARGARET FOSTERPART III The Destruction of Thebes, Ancient and Modern9 Aeschylus and the Destruction of Thebes: What Did Apollo's Oracle Mean?ALAN SOMMERSTEIN10 The Destruction of Thebes in Brecht's Antigone (1948) DOUGLAS CAIRNSBibliographyContributors