DOCUMENTARY SOURCES
in Theater

Aeschylus, Oresteia (458 b.c.e.), and other tragedies—This trilogy is the only surviving trilogy from the fifth century b.c.e.

Aristophanes, Acharnians (c. 425 b.c.e.)—Aristophanes' first play introduced the comedic genius of the young playwright. The plot of this Old Comedy revolves around a simple man who defies the Athenian government and makes a separate peace with the Spartans during the Peloponnesian War.

Aristotle, Poetics (c. 340 b.c.e.)—Aristotle's treatise is the first to treat poetic composition of all kinds as art, making Aristotle the first literary critic and theorist.

Cicero (Marcus Tullius), In Defense of Roscius the Comic Actor (c. 69 b.c.e.)—In this speech, Cicero defends the comic actor Roscius against a charge of fraud and in the process reveals important information about the profession of acting in the first century b.c.e.

Euripides, Medea (431 b.c.e.)—One of the more famous of Euripides' plays, Medea highlights the playwright's penchant for depicting society's victims—women, outcasts, the abused—and his ability to explore the interiority of characters in a new way. In this play, Medea—a foreigner, outsider, woman, and witch—is allowed to wreak vengeance on her callous Greek husband Jason, and is rescued in the end by a deus ex machina.

Homer, Iliad and Odyssey (c. 750 b.c.e.)—Homer's epics were the source of Greek dramatic form and much of its subject matter.

Livy (Titus Livius), From the Foundations of the City (c. 25 b.c.e.)—This complete history of Rome (not surviving in its entirety) from its founding in the eighth century to 9 b.c.e. in 142 books includes many anecdotes about Roman theater from its beginning until the beginning of the empire.

Ovid (Publius Naso), Metamorphoses (c. 5 c.e.)—This extremely creative and playful Roman "anti-epic" focuses on the many transformations that take place in Greek mythology, and is one of the most valuable sources of ancient myth.

Plautus (Titus Maccius), Pseudolus (c. 191 b.c.e.)—The comedies of Rome's most popular playwright gleefully borrow plots and settings from Greek New Comedy but turn the material into brilliant and purely Roman plays. Plautus' Pseudolus is representative in many ways of his values; the eponymous clever slave outwits his master and assists his young master's quest for love, with no thought of his own gain.

Seneca (Lucius Annaeus) The Younger, Thyestes (c. 60 c.e.)—Seneca's work, heavily indebted to the Athenian tragic playwrights, are the only extant attempts from Rome to create new tragedies since the days of Naevius, Accius and Pacuvius in the third and second centuries b.c.e. In Thyestes, Seneca displays all of his prodigious rhetorical talent as well as his fondness for the grotesque, as Atreus, the title character's brother, serves up a stew made from Thyestes' own children as revenge for his brother's adultery with his wife.

Sophocles, Oedipus the King (c. 430 b.c.e.)—Sophocles is most famous for three of his plays about the Oedipus story, and his extant tragedies feature strong but stubborn heroes whose greatest qualities often ironically bring about their downfalls. Sophocles' most famous tragic hero, Oedipus, tries desperately to outwit Fate and avoid killing his father and marrying his own mother, while ironically moving inexorably toward the fulfillment of the oracle that prophesied his downfall. This play is often considered one of the most perfect examples of a Greek tragedy, in its characterizations, structure, language, and ultimate moral lesson.

Terence (Publius Afer), Eunuch (c. 160 b.c.e.)—This sophisticated playwright's comedies paid tribute to the artistry of Greek New Comedy during a time when a conservative movement fought to eradicate Hellenistic influences from Rome culture. In this play, he uses his trademark double-plot structure to demonstrate how a personal catastrophe, like rape, can in the end be resolved and can even lead to civic justice and order.

Vitruvius, On Architecture (first century b.c.e.)—The only architectural work to survive from ancient Rome, it provides modern readers with valuable information about Roman engineering, building practices, and theater design.