Aeschylus, Seven against Thebes

The Seven (Septem) was produced in 467 B.C. It is the only extant play of the Theban trilogy: Laius, Oedipus, Seven against Thebes.

The first two plays of Aeschylus' Theban trilogy survive only in small fragments. There are references to the earlier parts of the story in the Seven itself: notice references to the oracle (lines 734ff.) and to the curse (throughout).

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Summary of the Theban Cycle as it relates to the Seven:

Laius + Jocasta [oracle warns against having children]

\ /

Oedipus [kills Laius, marries Jocasta]

Oedipus + Jocasta

\ /

Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone, Ismene

• Eteocles and Polynices cannot agree on the kingship of Thebes.
• Eteocles exiles Polynices; Polynices brings an army from Argos.
• Eteocles kills Polynices. Polynices kills Eteocles

The Seven probably ends at line 1004; the rest seems to have been added by a later author who revised the play without appreciating its subtleties under the influence of Sophocles' Antigone.

Outline of the Play (fill in themes)

Prologue: Eteocles and messenger (1-77)

Parodos: chorus enters in terror (78-180)

Episode 1: Eteocles and chorus (181-288)

Stasimon 1: chorus sings of a city captured (289-375)

Episode 2: Eteocles/messenger/chorus (375-719) shield scene

Stasimon 2: the chorus sings of the curse and the family

Episode 3: chorus/messenger (792-820)

Stasimon 3: the curse and its fulfillment (821-874)

Exodos: kommos (lament): the children of Oedipus (all gathered for the last time) (875-1004)

Questions for consideration and things to notice

1. Does Eteocles have any choice? Is the decision to face his brother in mortal combat forced upon him or does he himself set up the chain of events that leads to this disaster? Is it partly choice and partly luck? How does he accept the necessity to fight his brother? How does he see this "fate" (i.e. what words does he use of it)?

2. Compare the shield scene with the last messenger scene. Where is the battle really fought? Which scene has the more vivid and violent language?

3. How is each defender matched to each attacker in the shield scene? Who ought to win after the first four sections of the shield scene? That is, who has moral superiority?

4. Why is the shield of the fifth attacker more terrible than the others? How does it relate to the outcome of the play?

5. How does the focus of the play change: what seems threatened at the beginning and what (or who) at the end of the shield scene?

6. Notice predictions and remarks about names throughout.

7. Notice images and themes: nautical imagery, the city as a ship; the relation of the city and citizens to the land and gods; inheritance, allotment.

8. Visualize the action as much as possible. Describe each scene dramatically. What are Aeschylus' possibilities for spectacle in the Septem? Which ones are most effective?

9. Find references to earlier stages of the myth; references to events in the first two plays of the Theban trilogy.

10. What do you imagine to be on Eteocles' shield [this is a matter of pure supposition: what if you were staging the play? What would you put on Eteocles' shield?]

11. How are females [whether human or divine] treated in the play? What is Eteocles' attitude toward the feminine? Can it be said that this is Aeschylus' attitude toward the feminine? What female characters are there in the play? What female monsters? What about mothers and sisters? Are there any non-threatening females?

12. What does the chorus add? How does the chorus show the change in focus from the city to the individual?

13. Notice references to justice in the play.

14. Notice references to the curse of Oedipus and family ties in general.

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