Agamemnon: 3 volumes (Hardcover)

by Aeschylus (Author), Eduard Fraenkel (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review
'Philip de May's English version, which compares rather well with other currently available translations, is no mere crib but a powerful and actable text in its own right. The speeches and dialogue flow beautifully, and in the lyric passages his language sensitively reflects the metrical alternations in the original...Judging by the quality of this little volume (issued, it must be said, at an exemplary low price), school and college libraries will do well to take out a subscription to the whole series.' London Association of Classical Teachers --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description
This paperback edition replaces the hardback first published in 1957. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 863 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (December 31, 1950)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198141017
• ISBN-13: 978-0198141013
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 2.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,212,904 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, if a bit dogmatic., April 3, 2003

By	Timothy Doran (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Aeschylus: Agamemnon (Greek text with Introduction and Commentary) (Paperback)

[Note: This edition is a text in ANCIENT GREEK with notes in English. It has no text in English if you are looking for one. There are many to recommend. The best translation of the Oresteia, of which this work is the first part, is in Tony Harrison's Collected Works; the worst, in my opinion at least, was written by Ted Hughes. All the rest are good.]
This is a superb edition with one caveat. At the moment, educated consensus generally holds that a line of poetry seldom has one meaning. Denniston and Page's text plus commentary of Agamemnon apparently was written before this consensus formed. Denniston and Page are feisty, dogmatic, and insistent that they are right, and are largely reacting to Fraenkel's massive text plus commentary to the same play. They take issue with Fraenkel on a number of points while acknowledging his immense erudition. I have no reservations, however, recommending this edition. It was very useful and well-thought out. I give it a high rating.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still the standard commentary on the Agamemnon, May 3, 1999

By A Customer

Since its publication in 1950 it's been the standard scholarly commentary on the Agamemnon, on of the greatest and most read Greek tragedies. Although it's not easy to handle, very elaborate and showing it's age a little,it's nevertheless a monument of modern classical scholarship.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tragedy Personified, November 4, 2007

By	C. L Wilson (Elmhurst, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Aeschylus: Agamemnon (Cambridge Translations from Greek Drama) (Paperback)

First in a trilogy about the return of the Greeks after the Trojan War. Powerful stuff. Such horrors and tragedy as only the Greeks can master. Agamemnon's father killed his brother's children and set their flesh before him to eat, unknowingly. Agamemnon himself killed his own daughter as a sacrifice to the gods for success in the Trojan War, and when he comes home after ten years (which is where the action begins), his wife, Clytemnestra, stabs him to death in a plot with Aegisthus who was the son of the father who ate his children, and in the next part, Orestes, Agamemnon's son will return and kill them both. Please don't think I'm giving away plot here. Plot is not the point, the writing of it is all. To see it staged by first-rate actors must be a real thrill indeed.