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[Eisworth]

We possess only seven (almost) complete tragedies by the Greek author Aeschylus. The most famous form a triad known as the Orestaia; I had to read this in an undergraduate course many moons ago.

The book under review contains the other four extant plays --- The Suppliant Maidens, The Persians, Prometheus Bound, and The Seven Against Thebes.

I read them in English translation, but in the Loeb Classical Library edition so that I had the Greek text on facing pages. The Greek is still mostly beyond me, but I wanted to see how much I could understand it.

The main problem is that the translation dates from the 1920's when translators of classical literature felt compelled to use archaic English that would give the writers of the King James Bible pause. What I can make out of the Greek is fairly direct and simple language, while the English is a tortuous parody of "high-falutin'" dialect.

Anyhow, the plays themselves were not that exciting, although that may just be the fault of the translation.
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Todd Eisworth
Associate Professor of Mathematics
Ohio University