Achilles in Greek Tragedy

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. Whether an aristocrat, a dead warrior or a young man, the tragic Achilles serves as a receptacle for competing definitions of heroism, oscillating between presence and absence, the exceptional and the paradigmatic. Tragedy draws on Achilles to display and pit against one another contrasting views of the mythological self and of its rights and obligations, powers and limitations. The book considers the whole corpus of extant Greek tragedy, with particular attention paid to Aeschylus’ Myrmidons and Euripides’ Hecuba and Iphigenia at Aulis.

• Examines one of the most important characters of Greek mythology in a previously neglected but significant literary context • Offers insights into the presentation of heroism and its absence in Greek tragedy • Deals with important themes in Greek tragedy, such as education, individualism and gender

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: Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis; 5. Mapping the heroic absence: Achilles in other plays; 6. Afterword; Bibliography; General index; Index of passages.