Special Sub-Topic: Well Known Greek Plays Click Here To Play: Well Known Greek Plays

Which one of these is not a Greek playwright?

Homer. Homer is a poet. The works 'The Odyssey' and 'The Iliad' are attributed to him.

Which of these plays was not written by Euripides?

Oedipus the King. 'Oedipus' was written by Sophocles.

Which of these playwrights wrote comedies and not tragedies?

Aristophanes. Two of his most famous comedies are 'The Frogs' and 'The Wasps'.

Which three plays make up the trilogy 'The Oresteia'?

Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, Eumenides. They tell the story of Orestes who murders his mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aeigisthus, to avenge his father Agamemnon. The trilogy was written by Aeschylus. 'Electra' by Euripides is written about the same myth.

Which young woman, in the play of the same name, was punished for burying her dead brother?

Antigone. The play 'Antigone' was written by Sophocles. She is punished for burying her dead brother Polynices, becuase he was considered an enemy of the city of Thebes, by King Creon. She hangs herself while in prison.

Who was both mother and wife to Oedipus?

Jocasta. Oedipus was cursed from birth to kill his father and marry his mother. When she finds out the truth about her husband and son, Jocasta commits suicide. Oedipus then gouges out his eyes with the pins from her dress.

Which young man was doomed for scorning Aphrodite (goddess of love) by refusing to worship her, and remaining a virgin?

Hippolytus. Aphrodite caused his step-mother Phaedra to fall in love with him. When he finds out about this from Phaedra's meddling nurse, he threatens to tell Theseus (his father and Phaedra's husband). To preserve her dignity and her children's future, she kills herself and leaves a note saying that Hippolytus raped her. Theseus calls down a curse upon him and he is killed by a monster from the sea.

Of which woman is it said that she 'manoeuvres like a man'?

Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra was both praised and feared by men because she was intelligent and powerful. This is said of her in 'Agamemnon'.

Who murders her own children to hurt her husband?

Medea. Even though she knows it will hurt her more than it will hurt her husband Jason, she still murders her children to make him suffer. She also murders his wife-to-be and King Creon.

In Greek plays all the characters are played by men, but more plays were written with female choruses than male choruses. True or false?

t. Of all the surviving Greek plays, 21 have female choruses and 10 have male choruses.