Athenian tragedies of the 5th century BC provide an extra dimension to our impressions of women and attitudes to women in ancient Greece. Here, women can be strong, powerful and commit (under provocation!) heinous crimes; the men, in comparison, often seem vain, weak and too ready to break important social codes. In this lecture Dr Heather Sebo looks at three tragic plays which revolve around women – Aeschylos’ Agamemnon, Sophocles’ Antigone and Euripides’ Medea – and examines their exploration of women and their place in society.

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