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00:00:02,140 --> 00:00:06,660
My bed, my bridal, all for misery.

2
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And I cannot...

3
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I cannot...save my child from death.

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00:00:14,300 --> 00:00:17,940
This is one of the most shocking
stories ever written.

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00:00:17,940 --> 00:00:23,100
A mother, a princess, has lost
her city and her husband in war.

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Now, she has to face the news
that she is to be sold into slavery

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and her only son - killed.

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This film version of an ancient
Greek play called Trojan Women

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has become a classic.

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00:00:36,500 --> 00:00:41,260
The first time I saw it, I was moved
to tears, and it still moves me now.

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It is a play about the most
charged aspects of human life -

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love, war, sacrifice,
fear and death.

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And although it is set
amongst the gods, myths,

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and peoples of ancient Greece,
it is still utterly gripping today.

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It is one of the main reasons
I study Classics.

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An Athenian called Euripides
wrote this play

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a little under two and
a half thousand years ago.

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Back then, he was often
ridiculed as an angry young man.

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But, over time, his plays
have come to symbolise

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the incredible sophistication of
ancient Greek civilisation.

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That civilisation has influenced
almost every aspect of our lives.

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Not just drama, but politics,
language, philosophy,

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art and architecture.

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To understand ourselves,
it turns out,

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we need to understand
the ancient Greeks.

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And the best seat from which
to do that, for my money,

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is in the theatre.

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This series is about how
ancient drama changed our world.

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It's the story of dramatists

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like Aeschylus,
Sophocles and Euripides,

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who revolutionised
storytelling through plays

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like Trojan Women, Antigone,
Oedipus, and The Oresteia.

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It's the story of
how the Ancient Greeks

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gave birth to tragedy and comedy.

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And it's the story of how theatre
spread throughout Greece and beyond,

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becoming a benchmark
of civilisation,

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not just for Greeks,
but for the world -

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then and now.

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In this episode,
I want to journey to Athens

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to explore how drama first began.

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From the very start, it was
about more than just entertainment -

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it was a reaction to real events,
it was a driving force in history,

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and it was deeply connected
to Athenian democracy.

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In fact, the story of theatre,
IS the story of Athens -

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the cultural hub of ancient Greece

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and the stage for one
of the greatest shows on earth.

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The story of drama as we know it
begins in a particular place,

48
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and a particular time -

49
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Athens in the 6th century
before Christ.

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At that time,
Greece was not a single country

51
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but a mass of competing
city-states, or "poleis" -

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the Greek term describing
a body of citizens.

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But in the late 6th century,
the polis of Athens

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pulled ahead of the others -

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politically, economically
and culturally.

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In the last part
of the 6th century BC,

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Athens was the breeding ground
for two extraordinary inventions.

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The first was democracy.

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Athens was ruled, not by kings
or by cliques of aristocrats,

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but by the votes of
its own citizens.

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But the second was theatre.

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Athens invented an entirely
new art form - drama.

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And these two inventions
were tightly intertwined

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at the beating heart
of Athenian society.

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And both of them were the result

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of an extraordinary
cultural revolution.

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At this time, the whole of
ancient Greek culture

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underwent a historic transformation.

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The revolution extended
from architecture to literature,

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from vase painting to philosophy.

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You can see the impact
of that revolution clearly

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in how Greek sculpture developed.

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In the middle 6th century
it was rigid, stylised,

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lacking movement and life.

75
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But then things began to change.

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By the 5th century,
Greek artists began

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to produce some of the greatest
life-like sculptures ever made.

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It all amounted, not
just to a new-looking world,

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but to a whole new
view of the world.

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We call it the Classical World.

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And in this ground-breaking epoch,

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drama was perhaps
the biggest innovation of them all.

83
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Tales of love, death and war
had always been passed on

84
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by storytellers and epic poems
like Homer's Iliad

85
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and savage myths had been
celebrated in choral dance and song.

86
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BUT the Athenians added actors and
invented the idea of performance.

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These epic stories would now
play out, not only in the mind,

88
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but live on stage.

89
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This was more than innovation,
this was a revolution.

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Never before in the Greek
tradition that we know of,

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in the Greek storytelling tradition,

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were things enacted
rather than narrated.

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So, instead of having, "And then
the king drew his sword and said..."

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Instead, a person actually
draws a sword and speaks.

95
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I know we sort of say,
"Well, children do that"

96
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but to do it with
serious storytelling,

97
00:05:58,860 --> 00:06:01,940
with storytelling that
actually delves into

98
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important roots in human behaviour,

99
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that is a very new step and to
have it done in front of you,

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I think that must have been
a very, very startling innovation.

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00:06:12,300 --> 00:06:14,340
ACTOR: The son of Thyestes...

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Ancient Greek drama looked

103
00:06:15,820 --> 00:06:18,860
and sounded very different
from drama as we know it today.

104
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There were no more
than three or four actors.

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There was a chorus who interrupted
the action with song and dance,

106
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and all the performers wore masks.

107
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When an actor began to
enact rather than narrate,

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there's a kind of
dangerousness about that,

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that the actor has
to become a woman,

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the actor has
to become a slave,

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the actor, perhaps even
more dangerously,

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has to become a god and
it's almost as if the mask

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is a kind of signal
of the profession,

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that protects the actor against
the danger of doing these things.

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ACTOR: Blood shoot of Aetrius...

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'The chorus are costumed
and masked in an identical'

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or near identical way and they
move and speak as a group.

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The chorus is not a bunch
of individuals -

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for the Greeks,
the chorus was a group.

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In which, in a sense,
they submerged their identity.

121
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AND what the chorus does is,
in its groupness,

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it tries to make sense of
what it's witnessing.

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They're deeply emotionally involved,
and the suffering becomes a song.

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And the chorus, as a group,
with its group response,

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sings its choral lyrics.

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ACTOR: He plotted it? Single-handed?
The people will stone him.

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CHORUS: You don't stand a chance.

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It seems to me, that the crucial
thing is that it is simultaneously

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a very strong emotional experience

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and a very strong
thought experience.

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When the Greeks came to
analyse their new art form,

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they discerned three
different types of play.

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Two of which we still have with
us today - tragedy and comedy.

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But, in many ways,
modern tragedy has actually changed

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from how ancient tragedy worked.

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For us, tragedy is a
play with a sad ending,

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but for the ancient Greeks,
tragedy was a play

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in which the events offered
the audience a tough decision.

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And because no real ancient
tragedy ends conclusively -

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siding with one
course of action or another -

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what it does is face
the audience with a problem.

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What would THEY do if they
were in the same situation?

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Take one of the most
famous plays ever written -

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Oedipus The King by Sophocles.

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It tells the story of Oedipus,

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a man who was destined to kill
his father and marry his mother.

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Although this outcome
is predicted by an oracle,

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Oedipus himself makes
a series of free choices

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that lead to its fulfilment -

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choices that would have posed
serious questions for the audience.

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The play ends with Oedipus
blinding himself in despair.

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The issues dealt with in tragedy
were often so disturbing

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that the plays were nearly always
set away from Athens,

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in the land of myth and legend,
or at very least a far away city.

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And after a series of tragedies,

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the Athenians were
offered a satyr play.

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Now, we don't have
this any more today

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but effectively the satyrs

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were the half-male, half-goat
companions of the god of revelry,

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who would be allowed
to run around the stage

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doing lots of lewd and bawdy things
as a bit of light relief.

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But what we do have today is comedy.

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And ancient comedy,
just like tragedy,

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spoke directly to
contemporary Athenians.

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Usually set in a topsy-turvy
version of real life,

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or in a realm of fantasy, they
poked fun at contemporary Athens.

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The Birds is a play that mocks
the Athenian obsession

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with litigation and politics.

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It tells the story of two men

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who are tired of a life of
law courts and civic duties.

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To escape, they turn
themselves into birds

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and create a bird city-in-the-sky
called Cloud Cuckoo Land

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where they reject all attempts to
impose Athenian-style law and order.

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Both comedy and tragedy
sought to have a direct bearing

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on life in Athens.

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And most fascinating of all, is how
they seamlessly blended together

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religion and myth with
contemporary politics.

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This means that a play
like The Oresteia by Aeschylus

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can start with a mythic
tale from the Trojan wars

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where Agamemnon is murdered by his
wife and avenged by his son Orestes,

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but can end in a courtroom,
in democratic Athens,

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with Orestes on trial
for the murder of his mother.

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The Oresteia is one of the
biggest hits in antiquity,

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it's also one of the very
few trilogies that we've got.

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So what you have is three tragedies

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and, in this case,
it's got a connected story.

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How does tragedy take this
smorgasbord if you like,

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00:11:03,100 --> 00:11:05,980
and make it into a story?

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00:11:05,980 --> 00:11:08,300
Well it's not the same problem
for the ancient Greeks

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00:11:08,300 --> 00:11:10,020
as it might be for us.

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00:11:10,020 --> 00:11:12,980
You know there's not this
idea of anachronism.

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00:11:12,980 --> 00:11:17,620
Your mythical world, with
the gods, with the Trojan war -

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00:11:17,620 --> 00:11:21,220
all of this that we've had in
the first parts with the trilogy -

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00:11:21,220 --> 00:11:26,700
can then end in that third part
with a law court in Athens,

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which would have been familiar,
of course,

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00:11:28,980 --> 00:11:31,620
from 1st century
contemporary Athens.

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00:11:31,620 --> 00:11:34,220
So you have this brilliant genre

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00:11:34,220 --> 00:11:38,140
where you can zoom from your
present day into the past

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00:11:38,140 --> 00:11:40,300
and bring your past
into your present day.

200
00:11:40,300 --> 00:11:41,940
And it's that relationship,

201
00:11:41,940 --> 00:11:45,820
that tragedy uses to say things
about its contemporary society.

202
00:11:47,300 --> 00:11:50,580
To find out more about how
drama and democratic Athens

203
00:11:50,580 --> 00:11:52,900
became so intimately connected,

204
00:11:52,900 --> 00:11:55,460
I want to look at how
theatre first emerged.

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00:11:56,660 --> 00:11:58,340
Everything in ancient Greece

206
00:11:58,340 --> 00:12:01,100
came under the auspices
of a particular god,

207
00:12:01,100 --> 00:12:04,500
and the god controlling theatre
was called Dionysus.

208
00:12:04,500 --> 00:12:07,060
He was also the god
of wine and revelry

209
00:12:07,060 --> 00:12:10,260
and many scholars think that
theatre evolved directly

210
00:12:10,260 --> 00:12:14,260
out of the choral songs
performed in honour of Dionysus.

211
00:12:14,260 --> 00:12:16,580
But there's also something
else going on here.

212
00:12:16,580 --> 00:12:18,900
Something that is
suggested by the ruins

213
00:12:18,900 --> 00:12:21,180
at a place called Thorikos,
near Athens.

214
00:12:22,300 --> 00:12:25,820
This region was once home to
the ancient Athenian silver mines

215
00:12:25,820 --> 00:12:27,500
but is also the site

216
00:12:27,500 --> 00:12:30,900
of the oldest stone-built theatre
in the Greek world.

217
00:12:30,900 --> 00:12:34,540
We're in an industrial heartland
of the ancient Athenian state,

218
00:12:34,540 --> 00:12:36,580
with the ore washeries
and the mineshafts

219
00:12:36,580 --> 00:12:38,300
just beyond the theatre here.

220
00:12:39,540 --> 00:12:42,540
The first phase of this theatre
is late 6th century

221
00:12:42,540 --> 00:12:44,340
and that puts it in the same time

222
00:12:44,340 --> 00:12:47,300
as the invention of
Athenian democracy itself.

223
00:12:47,300 --> 00:12:49,300
Which throws up another question -

224
00:12:49,300 --> 00:12:54,180
just what is the relationship
between theatre and democracy?

225
00:12:54,180 --> 00:12:57,100
And how did the two
help each other into being?

226
00:13:02,260 --> 00:13:05,980
It's a question that has been
debated by scholars for centuries -

227
00:13:05,980 --> 00:13:09,980
were theatre and democracy
connected from the very start?

228
00:13:09,980 --> 00:13:14,500
Now I actually buy into the
story that tragic drama

229
00:13:14,500 --> 00:13:17,140
IS a democratic invention.

230
00:13:17,140 --> 00:13:18,860
I have a particular take

231
00:13:18,860 --> 00:13:23,060
because I am one of those who
think that Athenian tragic drama

232
00:13:23,060 --> 00:13:25,860
was deeply, strongly politicised.

233
00:13:25,860 --> 00:13:29,380
Not just, it happened in a polis
but it happened in a polis

234
00:13:29,380 --> 00:13:33,940
of a particular sort and could
not have happened before Athens

235
00:13:33,940 --> 00:13:38,260
became a polis of that
particular sort, a democratic one.

236
00:13:38,260 --> 00:13:41,780
The theatrical side
seems to coincide

237
00:13:41,780 --> 00:13:45,300
fairly closely with
the political identity.

238
00:13:45,300 --> 00:13:47,460
Theatrical activities of
some sort or another

239
00:13:47,460 --> 00:13:50,220
were one of the ways in which
they expressed the fact

240
00:13:50,220 --> 00:13:51,980
that now they all belonged together,

241
00:13:51,980 --> 00:13:54,940
this was the place to which they
came and in which they acted.

242
00:13:54,940 --> 00:13:56,340
It's about, you know,

243
00:13:56,340 --> 00:13:59,660
the local community feeling
itself to be a local community.

244
00:14:01,380 --> 00:14:05,060
I'm on my way to visit one of the
smaller Athenian communities

245
00:14:05,060 --> 00:14:07,100
to try and find some more proof

246
00:14:07,100 --> 00:14:10,300
about the connection
between drama and politics.

247
00:14:10,300 --> 00:14:13,300
I want to see what the archaeology
itself has to say.

248
00:14:14,460 --> 00:14:16,460
Now, neither for theatre
nor for democracy,

249
00:14:16,460 --> 00:14:18,460
was there any kind of
immaculate conception.

250
00:14:18,460 --> 00:14:21,580
Nor were either born
into the fully-developed form

251
00:14:21,580 --> 00:14:23,300
that we recognize them today.

252
00:14:23,300 --> 00:14:26,340
Both developed,
arm-in-arm, over time.

253
00:14:26,340 --> 00:14:28,300
And all around us
as we drive in Attica,

254
00:14:28,300 --> 00:14:29,900
we can see the building blocks,

255
00:14:29,900 --> 00:14:32,860
the basis of the Athenian
democratic system.

256
00:14:37,620 --> 00:14:40,340
People tend to think of
Athenians as city dwellers,

257
00:14:40,340 --> 00:14:42,100
but much of the population

258
00:14:42,100 --> 00:14:45,660
actually lived in village
communities called demes.

259
00:14:45,660 --> 00:14:50,020
There were 139 demes making up
the Athenian democracy

260
00:14:50,020 --> 00:14:52,540
and each deme governed itself.

261
00:14:52,540 --> 00:14:54,980
The deme I'm looking for
is one of the remotest -

262
00:14:54,980 --> 00:14:57,220
it's called Rhamnous.

263
00:14:57,220 --> 00:14:59,820
The people who lived here
were mostly farmers,

264
00:14:59,820 --> 00:15:02,820
but all the male citizens
voted for the council,

265
00:15:02,820 --> 00:15:05,700
and on local regulations
and on by-laws.

266
00:15:05,700 --> 00:15:08,020
And right at the heart
of the community,

267
00:15:08,020 --> 00:15:10,340
are the remains of what
was once a theatre.

268
00:15:12,300 --> 00:15:15,260
This is what I've come looking
for on this very hot afternoon -

269
00:15:15,260 --> 00:15:18,020
an inscription that
shows us democracy

270
00:15:18,020 --> 00:15:20,060
at its most local
level in operation.

271
00:15:21,860 --> 00:15:24,620
"Dionisoi" - to Dionysus...

272
00:15:25,860 --> 00:15:30,340
"Hypo tes boules" - from the Boule,

273
00:15:30,340 --> 00:15:35,300
the local council controlling
this deme, here in Attica.

274
00:15:35,300 --> 00:15:38,900
And it's to Dionysus because,
yes, you've guessed it,

275
00:15:38,900 --> 00:15:42,860
we're in a theatre - a theatre,
the space of Dionysus.

276
00:15:42,860 --> 00:15:45,540
The privileged seats for the
distinguished local clientele,

277
00:15:45,540 --> 00:15:48,780
and the stage set out before us.

278
00:15:48,780 --> 00:15:51,860
Religion, politics, theatre...

279
00:15:51,860 --> 00:15:54,340
at democracy's most local level.

280
00:15:58,260 --> 00:16:02,740
These theatres really were far more
than just places of entertainment,

281
00:16:02,740 --> 00:16:07,060
they were places where the whole
deme would gather together.

282
00:16:07,060 --> 00:16:09,500
No-one's going to bother
to build a theatre

283
00:16:09,500 --> 00:16:12,460
just for a couple of days
of drama a year.

284
00:16:12,460 --> 00:16:13,860
But the theatres here,

285
00:16:13,860 --> 00:16:17,060
at the lowest, most basic level
of the Athenian democracy,

286
00:16:17,060 --> 00:16:20,900
seem to have also been used
as multi-purpose civic spaces,

287
00:16:20,900 --> 00:16:25,020
giving them all-year-round
potential, not just for drama,

288
00:16:25,020 --> 00:16:29,100
but also for democracy
and democratic action itself.

289
00:16:29,100 --> 00:16:33,260
And THAT is what the archaeology
is really beginning to uncover -

290
00:16:33,260 --> 00:16:37,220
not only the demes,
but the deme theatres,

291
00:16:37,220 --> 00:16:39,060
spreading across all of Attica.

292
00:16:41,620 --> 00:16:44,220
The use of theatres
for democratic activity

293
00:16:44,220 --> 00:16:46,780
seems to have been the case,
not just in the demes,

294
00:16:46,780 --> 00:16:49,060
but in the city of Athens itself.

295
00:16:49,060 --> 00:16:52,580
Every year, the democratic
authorities spent a fortune

296
00:16:52,580 --> 00:16:56,260
on the Great Dionysia Festival -
a drama competition

297
00:16:56,260 --> 00:16:58,540
that took place in
the Theatre of Dionysus

298
00:16:58,540 --> 00:17:01,060
in honour of the god of theatre.

299
00:17:01,060 --> 00:17:04,300
It's through understanding the
different stages of this festival

300
00:17:04,300 --> 00:17:07,660
that we can get closer to
understanding what ancient Athenians

301
00:17:07,660 --> 00:17:11,340
experienced when they
watched and created drama.

302
00:17:11,340 --> 00:17:13,460
The festival began
with a procession -

303
00:17:13,460 --> 00:17:15,900
a rowdy affair with
feasting, drinking

304
00:17:15,900 --> 00:17:19,100
and a great crowd of people
parading through the streets

305
00:17:19,100 --> 00:17:23,260
with a statue of the god and a
small herd of sacrificial animals.

306
00:17:23,260 --> 00:17:27,300
When it reached the altar of the
12 Olympian Gods in the marketplace,

307
00:17:27,300 --> 00:17:29,900
the first thing that happened
was a holy dance.

308
00:17:31,260 --> 00:17:35,780
The cult of Dionysus
is very much

309
00:17:35,780 --> 00:17:38,820
a psychological thing.

310
00:17:38,820 --> 00:17:41,460
Wine was, of course, very important,

311
00:17:41,460 --> 00:17:43,620
everyone knows that,

312
00:17:43,620 --> 00:17:46,260
but the thing was that by
drinking wine,

313
00:17:46,260 --> 00:17:48,980
you were getting closer to the god

314
00:17:48,980 --> 00:17:53,020
and the more wine you drink,
the more you step out of yourself

315
00:17:53,020 --> 00:17:54,380
and get closer to the god.

316
00:17:55,820 --> 00:17:58,980
And that is also what happens
when you're dancing,

317
00:17:58,980 --> 00:18:03,300
you're getting outside yourself,
so to say, but also by, for example,

318
00:18:03,300 --> 00:18:04,260
wearing a mask...

319
00:18:05,780 --> 00:18:08,740
The ancient people thought
that when you were wearing a mask,

320
00:18:08,740 --> 00:18:11,420
you really become someone else.

321
00:18:11,420 --> 00:18:14,460
And the Greek word is...
It's ecstasies.

322
00:18:14,460 --> 00:18:20,020
So "ec" - out, "stasis" -
of one's self, of one's stance. Yes.

323
00:18:20,020 --> 00:18:23,980
And that's our ecstasy.
It is the ecstasy as we know it.

324
00:18:23,980 --> 00:18:25,660
The ecstasy of the god. Yeah.

325
00:18:29,620 --> 00:18:32,220
The procession then
surged through the streets

326
00:18:32,220 --> 00:18:34,460
along a route lined with tripods -

327
00:18:34,460 --> 00:18:38,660
monuments put up by the proud
sponsors of the winning plays.

328
00:18:38,660 --> 00:18:40,300
Often politicians,

329
00:18:40,300 --> 00:18:43,420
they spent fortunes
funding dramatic productions,

330
00:18:43,420 --> 00:18:46,780
and marked their victories
with monuments like this one -

331
00:18:46,780 --> 00:18:49,220
put up by a winner
from the 4th century BC.

332
00:18:51,620 --> 00:18:55,620
So, the drama festival was more than
an opportunity for staging plays,

333
00:18:55,620 --> 00:18:58,420
it was a chance for the
leading figures of Athens

334
00:18:58,420 --> 00:19:03,500
to stage their generosity, and
their success to the whole city.

335
00:19:03,500 --> 00:19:07,260
Finally, having wound its way
right around the Acropolis,

336
00:19:07,260 --> 00:19:11,620
the procession emerged noisily
into the precinct of Dionysus.

337
00:19:11,620 --> 00:19:15,620
By now, the participants
were becoming a single entity.

338
00:19:15,620 --> 00:19:20,100
It was a religious but also
a political incident, actually.

339
00:19:21,180 --> 00:19:24,100
You know, the whole city, so to say,

340
00:19:24,100 --> 00:19:27,100
steps toward the god

341
00:19:27,100 --> 00:19:31,020
in order to worship the god

342
00:19:31,020 --> 00:19:34,900
and they show not only their piety

343
00:19:34,900 --> 00:19:37,420
but also that they belong together.

344
00:19:37,420 --> 00:19:39,620
So... It's an extraordinary
idea, isn't it?

345
00:19:39,620 --> 00:19:42,900
That when they take their seats
in theatre, it's no longer,

346
00:19:42,900 --> 00:19:45,700
we would say in English, "It's no
longer Joe Bloggs and somebody" -

347
00:19:45,700 --> 00:19:47,820
it's no longer the farmer
and the individuals,

348
00:19:47,820 --> 00:19:51,420
it is a collective of people
with a new identity

349
00:19:51,420 --> 00:19:55,580
which is that of worshippers
of the god Dionysus. Yes, correct.

350
00:19:55,580 --> 00:19:59,380
It's a bit different to going to the
theatre today, right? It is indeed.

351
00:20:01,380 --> 00:20:04,700
All of this put the audience
into a receptive state

352
00:20:04,700 --> 00:20:07,540
for the drama competition
that was to follow.

353
00:20:07,540 --> 00:20:10,220
But first, as they took their seats
in the theatre,

354
00:20:10,220 --> 00:20:13,140
there was one more important
set of rituals to come.

355
00:20:14,940 --> 00:20:17,140
The audience were seated here,

356
00:20:17,140 --> 00:20:20,780
perhaps in the same groupings
as when they went to war.

357
00:20:20,780 --> 00:20:23,020
The citizens of Athens
who were acting on the stage,

358
00:20:23,020 --> 00:20:26,780
were acting in the same groups
as when they went to war.

359
00:20:26,780 --> 00:20:29,580
And in the front seats of the
theatre were the reserved seats

360
00:20:29,580 --> 00:20:33,180
for various priests of the city, and
for the important civic officials.

361
00:20:34,420 --> 00:20:38,180
And then, before the plays began,
there were a series of events.

362
00:20:38,180 --> 00:20:41,780
First, a libation -
an offering to the gods were poured

363
00:20:41,780 --> 00:20:43,940
in the centre of the
stage by the generals,

364
00:20:43,940 --> 00:20:46,180
the military generals of the city.

365
00:20:46,180 --> 00:20:49,580
Then, a parade of tribute,

366
00:20:49,580 --> 00:20:52,940
of all the money paid by the cities
and states of the Athenian empire

367
00:20:52,940 --> 00:20:56,620
to Athens, was literally
taken across the stage,

368
00:20:56,620 --> 00:21:00,020
paraded in front of an audience
that contained members

369
00:21:00,020 --> 00:21:03,820
from those same city-states
which had to pay all that money.

370
00:21:03,820 --> 00:21:06,900
Then a list of all those who had
benefited the city in some way

371
00:21:06,900 --> 00:21:08,420
was read out.

372
00:21:08,420 --> 00:21:12,980
And finally, onto the stage
were brought the orphans,

373
00:21:12,980 --> 00:21:16,940
those whose parents had died
fighting for the city in battle

374
00:21:16,940 --> 00:21:19,060
and whom the city would now

375
00:21:19,060 --> 00:21:22,180
take on the expenses of
bringing up and educating.

376
00:21:22,180 --> 00:21:26,660
They came on, dressed themselves
in the armour of war

377
00:21:26,660 --> 00:21:30,220
and took their seats, their
special seats here in the theatre.

378
00:21:30,220 --> 00:21:32,420
Only then could the plays begin.

379
00:21:35,380 --> 00:21:38,220
From dawn until dusk, for five days,

380
00:21:38,220 --> 00:21:40,980
the citizen audience watched
three playwrights

381
00:21:40,980 --> 00:21:45,020
each put on three tragedies
as well as a farcical satyr play,

382
00:21:45,020 --> 00:21:46,540
and some comedies.

383
00:21:46,540 --> 00:21:49,780
At their heart were issues
of justice and loyalty,

384
00:21:49,780 --> 00:21:53,020
war and peace,
vengeance and compassion,

385
00:21:53,020 --> 00:21:56,140
which sent powerful
messages to the citizen audience.

386
00:21:59,380 --> 00:22:01,380
In the centuries
of Athens' greatness,

387
00:22:01,380 --> 00:22:05,060
over 1,000 plays were written
for the Dionysia.

388
00:22:05,060 --> 00:22:09,620
But today, just 32 of them
survive in full.

389
00:22:09,620 --> 00:22:11,780
And those 32 have survived, in part,

390
00:22:11,780 --> 00:22:14,380
because they were considered
to be the greatest.

391
00:22:14,380 --> 00:22:17,300
And they were all written
by just three people -

392
00:22:17,300 --> 00:22:20,220
Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides -

393
00:22:20,220 --> 00:22:23,380
the great tragedians
of the 5th century BC.

394
00:22:26,140 --> 00:22:27,740
Aeschylus was the first.

395
00:22:27,740 --> 00:22:29,780
He was the author of the Oresteia,

396
00:22:29,780 --> 00:22:32,740
the only whole trilogy
to have survived.

397
00:22:32,740 --> 00:22:35,380
Sophocles wrote
two of the most enduring plays -

398
00:22:35,380 --> 00:22:37,540
Oedipus The King and Antigone,

399
00:22:37,540 --> 00:22:40,420
which tells the tragic story
of Oedipus' daughter

400
00:22:40,420 --> 00:22:41,980
who is sentenced to death

401
00:22:41,980 --> 00:22:45,340
for breaking the law and
burying her rebel brother.

402
00:22:45,340 --> 00:22:48,100
But, of all the playwrights,
Euripides is now considered

403
00:22:48,100 --> 00:22:50,420
in many ways to have been the best.

404
00:22:50,420 --> 00:22:53,580
He wrote the play Medea,
with its shocking tale

405
00:22:53,580 --> 00:22:55,300
of a woman betrayed by her husband

406
00:22:55,300 --> 00:22:57,900
who takes revenge
by killing her own children.

407
00:22:59,140 --> 00:23:03,740
The playwrights of ancient Athens
were all gurus of the city

408
00:23:03,740 --> 00:23:07,460
in one form or another -
Aeschylus the war hero,

409
00:23:07,460 --> 00:23:09,740
Sophocles the civic official,

410
00:23:09,740 --> 00:23:13,500
and Euripides, the sort of enfant
terrible of Athenian society.

411
00:23:14,700 --> 00:23:18,860
The Greek word for playwright
is "didaskalos",

412
00:23:18,860 --> 00:23:21,140
which means "trainer", or "teacher".

413
00:23:21,140 --> 00:23:23,820
Now, in part, that refers
to the playwright's role

414
00:23:23,820 --> 00:23:26,100
in training the chorus
for their play,

415
00:23:26,100 --> 00:23:30,620
BUT many believe it also refers
to the role of the playwright

416
00:23:30,620 --> 00:23:36,100
in training the audience for
participation in democracy itself.

417
00:23:36,100 --> 00:23:39,700
If we take Sophocles' Ajax,
as an example -

418
00:23:39,700 --> 00:23:42,220
it's a retelling of a classic myth

419
00:23:42,220 --> 00:23:45,900
set in the time of the legendary war
between the Greeks and the Trojans.

420
00:23:45,900 --> 00:23:47,980
And, on the one hand, it's just that

421
00:23:47,980 --> 00:23:50,540
but on the other it's also a lesson,

422
00:23:50,540 --> 00:23:55,420
a lesson in the sacrifices that have
to be made for democracy to work.

423
00:24:00,100 --> 00:24:04,700
Ajax was one of the warriors who
fought with the Greeks at Troy.

424
00:24:04,700 --> 00:24:08,500
After the death of Achilles,
the greatest hero of them all,

425
00:24:08,500 --> 00:24:12,180
the Greeks take a vote on
who should get his weapons.

426
00:24:12,180 --> 00:24:16,420
They choose Odysseus, not Ajax,
and Ajax is furious.

427
00:24:18,540 --> 00:24:23,220
Unable to accept the result of the
vote, he goes on a killing spree.

428
00:24:23,220 --> 00:24:26,940
And ultimately, consumed
by the shame of his actions -

429
00:24:26,940 --> 00:24:28,700
he is driven to suicide.

430
00:24:32,620 --> 00:24:34,740
The motor of this play is a vote -

431
00:24:34,740 --> 00:24:36,820
a process that would
have been very familiar

432
00:24:36,820 --> 00:24:39,540
to the democratic citizens
of ancient Athens.

433
00:24:39,540 --> 00:24:43,180
But it's a vote that
Ajax refuses to accept.

434
00:24:43,180 --> 00:24:47,940
Ajax is the antithesis of
the good democratic citizen.

435
00:24:47,940 --> 00:24:49,700
But the play also goes further.

436
00:24:49,700 --> 00:24:51,940
Because, for me, the key moment

437
00:24:51,940 --> 00:24:55,140
is actually what happens
after Ajax's death.

438
00:24:55,140 --> 00:24:57,220
What Sophocles has
the other Greeks do

439
00:24:57,220 --> 00:24:59,820
is debate about how
they should proceed.

440
00:24:59,820 --> 00:25:03,140
And some argue that Ajax should not
be buried because of his actions

441
00:25:03,140 --> 00:25:06,260
but Odysseus steps in to
argue that he should be buried.

442
00:25:07,980 --> 00:25:12,620
"Do not fling his body out unburied,
treated so unfeelingly.

443
00:25:12,620 --> 00:25:16,340
"And don't let force have such
control of you that you allow

444
00:25:16,340 --> 00:25:19,500
"your hate to trample justice down."

445
00:25:19,500 --> 00:25:22,700
For scholars, this is the
critical point in the play.

446
00:25:24,260 --> 00:25:25,700
There's a real danger in Ajax

447
00:25:25,700 --> 00:25:29,500
that because you've
got these two extraordinary episodes

448
00:25:29,500 --> 00:25:31,100
that are bloody and shocking,

449
00:25:31,100 --> 00:25:33,380
you think the play
is about those two episodes

450
00:25:33,380 --> 00:25:34,860
that are bloody and shocking.

451
00:25:34,860 --> 00:25:38,660
But I think the play is about
the process of debate

452
00:25:38,660 --> 00:25:40,980
that leads to decisions

453
00:25:40,980 --> 00:25:47,300
in the wake of actions that really
you haven't been able to cope with.

454
00:25:47,300 --> 00:25:51,740
So, this is a play
that stages debate

455
00:25:51,740 --> 00:25:54,500
and it stages it in all its forms.

456
00:25:54,500 --> 00:25:58,580
One way of thinking about Ajax
is as a hermetical bronze age

457
00:25:58,580 --> 00:26:02,860
or archaic warrior stuck in a much
more modern political system.

458
00:26:02,860 --> 00:26:06,740
He has values about being
an individual and being a hero,

459
00:26:06,740 --> 00:26:09,340
not being a co-operative person...

460
00:26:09,340 --> 00:26:11,220
that make him very difficult,

461
00:26:11,220 --> 00:26:15,700
as if individuals can no longer
be powerful figures in a democracy.

462
00:26:15,700 --> 00:26:18,060
A man out of time, out of place?
Yes.

463
00:26:18,060 --> 00:26:21,540
So, this may be someone who
is hardly a role model citizen

464
00:26:21,540 --> 00:26:23,580
but there are going to
be lots of people in Athens

465
00:26:23,580 --> 00:26:25,100
who are hardly role model citizens.

466
00:26:32,180 --> 00:26:35,660
Athens, no doubt, had its own
fair share of bigheads

467
00:26:35,660 --> 00:26:40,060
and glory seekers - people who just
wouldn't work within the democracy.

468
00:26:40,060 --> 00:26:41,860
And this play plays out the dilemma

469
00:26:41,860 --> 00:26:43,780
of what do you do with
those kinds of people?

470
00:26:43,780 --> 00:26:46,900
How do you keep
the democracy on track?

471
00:26:46,900 --> 00:26:50,260
And that, for me, is why Odysseus'
intervention is so crucial,

472
00:26:50,260 --> 00:26:52,980
because he shows that you need
to have empathy with these people

473
00:26:52,980 --> 00:26:56,260
and you need to let
justice run its course.

474
00:26:56,260 --> 00:26:58,380
Odysseus offers a way
for the community

475
00:26:58,380 --> 00:27:01,940
to come back together, make a
joint decision and move forward.

476
00:27:03,140 --> 00:27:06,180
And that's why this play
is such a great example

477
00:27:06,180 --> 00:27:10,220
of what theatre did in
ancient Athenian society -

478
00:27:10,220 --> 00:27:13,100
it told a story, it posed problems,

479
00:27:13,100 --> 00:27:15,540
it asked questions,
questions of the audience

480
00:27:15,540 --> 00:27:18,180
about what would you do
in this kind of situation,

481
00:27:18,180 --> 00:27:21,700
a situation which they would
undoubtedly have to face up to

482
00:27:21,700 --> 00:27:23,100
at some point in their lives.

483
00:27:25,940 --> 00:27:28,900
Theatre was vital to the
processes that played out

484
00:27:28,900 --> 00:27:32,100
here on the Pnyx,
home of the Athenian assembly.

485
00:27:32,100 --> 00:27:35,780
It was the oil that allowed
democracy to function.

486
00:27:35,780 --> 00:27:39,100
A contained space which allowed
for a continual process

487
00:27:39,100 --> 00:27:42,900
of risky reflection,
self-doubt and debate.

488
00:27:42,900 --> 00:27:45,340
It's no accident that
the most important words

489
00:27:45,340 --> 00:27:48,220
in any Greek tragedy are
"Ti draso?" -

490
00:27:48,220 --> 00:27:50,540
"What shall I do?"

491
00:27:50,540 --> 00:27:53,980
Theatre and democracy
had grown up together

492
00:27:53,980 --> 00:27:56,980
and were now inextricably
linked in Athenian minds

493
00:27:56,980 --> 00:28:00,020
and every year, for almost
the next two centuries,

494
00:28:00,020 --> 00:28:02,540
the Athenians came to the theatre

495
00:28:02,540 --> 00:28:06,060
to rework the old myths
into tragic dramas

496
00:28:06,060 --> 00:28:08,980
that spoke to the problems
that had beset

497
00:28:08,980 --> 00:28:10,900
and were fundamental

498
00:28:10,900 --> 00:28:14,020
to one of the most important and
interesting stories in history -

499
00:28:14,020 --> 00:28:16,740
The Rise and Fall of Athens.

500
00:28:16,740 --> 00:28:20,900
And, at the same time, those
very same people were here,

501
00:28:20,900 --> 00:28:23,820
in the assembly,
making the decisions

502
00:28:23,820 --> 00:28:25,460
that affected those events.

503
00:28:28,060 --> 00:28:29,660
It's therefore no surprise

504
00:28:29,660 --> 00:28:32,740
that a common subject matter
in Athenian drama

505
00:28:32,740 --> 00:28:37,220
was a problem that constantly
dogged the Athenian assembly - war.

506
00:28:37,220 --> 00:28:39,980
And one war in particular
fired the imagination

507
00:28:39,980 --> 00:28:41,500
of the playwright Aeschylus,

508
00:28:41,500 --> 00:28:43,860
who lived through
the real life drama

509
00:28:43,860 --> 00:28:45,860
and was inspired
to write what is now

510
00:28:45,860 --> 00:28:49,540
the first ancient Greek play
to survive in full.

511
00:28:49,540 --> 00:28:54,460
In 490 BC, less than 20 years
after the democracy was established,

512
00:28:54,460 --> 00:28:58,940
Athens was attacked by the greatest
power on earth - the Persian empire.

513
00:29:02,100 --> 00:29:06,500
The first crisis came at Marathon,
26 miles from the city of Athens.

514
00:29:08,660 --> 00:29:11,260
A Persian fleet arrived
with an enormous army.

515
00:29:11,260 --> 00:29:14,260
Although outnumbered,
the Athenians attacked,

516
00:29:14,260 --> 00:29:16,620
and against all the odds,
they triumphed.

517
00:29:18,860 --> 00:29:22,380
The Athenian dead were commemorated
by a memorial barrow

518
00:29:22,380 --> 00:29:23,980
near the battlefield,

519
00:29:23,980 --> 00:29:25,820
which is impressive even today.

520
00:29:27,460 --> 00:29:30,540
But ten years later,
the Persians were back with an army

521
00:29:30,540 --> 00:29:33,020
said to have been
more than a million strong.

522
00:29:33,020 --> 00:29:36,620
As it bore down on Athens,
the assembly passed a heroic decree

523
00:29:36,620 --> 00:29:40,100
at the urging of a leading
general called Themistocles.

524
00:29:40,100 --> 00:29:42,660
Amazingly, a later copy
of the decree

525
00:29:42,660 --> 00:29:45,820
actually survives
in an Athens museum.

526
00:29:45,820 --> 00:29:50,140
This is one of the most evocative
inscriptions surviving to us today.

527
00:29:50,140 --> 00:29:54,500
It's a decree of the people
of Athens and here's the key word -

528
00:29:54,500 --> 00:29:57,420
"Salamina" - Salamis.

529
00:29:57,420 --> 00:30:00,460
This is the decree
recording the decision

530
00:30:00,460 --> 00:30:03,860
by the Athenian people
to evacuate their home city

531
00:30:03,860 --> 00:30:06,220
and go to the island of Salamis

532
00:30:06,220 --> 00:30:11,220
to save themselves from the
invading hordes of Persians.

533
00:30:11,220 --> 00:30:13,980
This is the record of
one of the most key moments

534
00:30:13,980 --> 00:30:15,700
in the whole of ancient history.

535
00:30:18,700 --> 00:30:22,620
The Athenians abandoned their city
and took to their ships,

536
00:30:22,620 --> 00:30:25,660
leaving only a few men
barricaded on the Acropolis.

537
00:30:26,940 --> 00:30:31,780
The Persians ransacked the city,
destroying the temples.

538
00:30:31,780 --> 00:30:33,860
But the Athenian gamble paid off -

539
00:30:33,860 --> 00:30:36,340
the Athenian fleet
defeated the Persians

540
00:30:36,340 --> 00:30:38,460
in the narrows off Salamis.

541
00:30:38,460 --> 00:30:39,860
Greece was saved.

542
00:30:41,060 --> 00:30:45,420
And witnessing it all, not from afar
but at close range, was Aeschylus.

543
00:30:47,660 --> 00:30:52,300
Aeschylus wasn't just a playwright -
he was also a soldier.

544
00:30:52,300 --> 00:30:56,020
He stood in the Athenian
ranks on the plane at Marathon,

545
00:30:56,020 --> 00:30:59,500
on that fateful day when
the Persians first arrived.

546
00:30:59,500 --> 00:31:02,620
He was part of the
victorious Athenian army,

547
00:31:02,620 --> 00:31:05,300
but he also lost his brother
on the battlefield.

548
00:31:06,700 --> 00:31:08,460
Aeschylus, in his own epitaph,

549
00:31:08,460 --> 00:31:12,060
preferred to be remembered for
his role here at Marathon,

550
00:31:12,060 --> 00:31:14,060
rather than for his plays.

551
00:31:14,060 --> 00:31:17,100
Without doubt, it was his
extraordinary experiences

552
00:31:17,100 --> 00:31:20,700
here on the battlefield that
gave him a unique perspective

553
00:31:20,700 --> 00:31:24,460
and allowed him
to represent war on stage

554
00:31:24,460 --> 00:31:27,220
in a way that has echoed ever since.

555
00:31:29,620 --> 00:31:32,420
Aeschylus composed over
90 plays in his lifetime

556
00:31:32,420 --> 00:31:34,300
and of the few that survive,

557
00:31:34,300 --> 00:31:37,100
the play that he composed
about these great events

558
00:31:37,100 --> 00:31:41,220
is one of the most moving,
and one of the most fascinating.

559
00:31:41,220 --> 00:31:45,420
In 472 BC, Aeschylus produced
a play called The Persians,

560
00:31:45,420 --> 00:31:49,620
and it's the first ancient tragedy
to survive to us in full today.

561
00:31:49,620 --> 00:31:54,300
Its sponsor was no-one less than
the future democratic hero Pericles.

562
00:31:54,300 --> 00:31:58,700
But what's really surprising
about it is its subject matter,

563
00:31:58,700 --> 00:32:01,860
because it tells the story
of how the Persians

564
00:32:01,860 --> 00:32:05,500
reacted to the news of their defeat
at the battle of Salamis,

565
00:32:05,500 --> 00:32:09,700
a battle that those in the
audience had fought and won

566
00:32:09,700 --> 00:32:11,700
just eight years before.

567
00:32:15,020 --> 00:32:17,580
The play is set in
the Persian capital.

568
00:32:17,580 --> 00:32:19,820
A messenger arrives
at the Persian court

569
00:32:19,820 --> 00:32:22,020
with the news of the Greek victory.

570
00:32:22,020 --> 00:32:24,780
The Persians cannot believe
that they have been defeated,

571
00:32:24,780 --> 00:32:26,780
and they fall to pieces.

572
00:32:26,780 --> 00:32:28,420
In their misery,

573
00:32:28,420 --> 00:32:32,820
they summon the ghost of the
previous King Darius for advice.

574
00:32:32,820 --> 00:32:35,380
The ghost of Darius
tells the Persians

575
00:32:35,380 --> 00:32:38,020
that they themselves
are to blame for their defeat,

576
00:32:38,020 --> 00:32:40,620
because their pride
and their ambition

577
00:32:40,620 --> 00:32:42,780
has led them to disregard the gods.

578
00:32:44,820 --> 00:32:49,420
"The voiceless heaps of slaughtered
corpses shall eloquently show

579
00:32:49,420 --> 00:32:53,220
"that no one human should
puff up inflated thoughts.

580
00:32:53,220 --> 00:32:56,420
"You see how insolence,
once opened into flower,

581
00:32:56,420 --> 00:32:59,180
"produces fields ripe with calamity

582
00:32:59,180 --> 00:33:02,780
"and reaps a harvest-home
of sorrow."

583
00:33:02,780 --> 00:33:06,020
This is the crucial
theme of the play.

584
00:33:06,020 --> 00:33:10,820
Well, I think, really, at its heart,
it's almost a tragedy about hubris.

585
00:33:10,820 --> 00:33:14,860
Hmm. This idea of, sometimes
translated as "arrogance",

586
00:33:14,860 --> 00:33:18,940
something like that - going too far,
crossing a line, transgressing.

587
00:33:18,940 --> 00:33:21,980
And the Persians had done that.

588
00:33:21,980 --> 00:33:24,700
They thought big, they thought
they could go and take Greece.

589
00:33:24,700 --> 00:33:26,900
They didn't win and, actually,

590
00:33:26,900 --> 00:33:28,380
part of what the play is exploring

591
00:33:28,380 --> 00:33:31,140
is the idea that
big empires can fall.

592
00:33:31,140 --> 00:33:32,820
What kind of resonance

593
00:33:32,820 --> 00:33:37,500
and implications does a play
like The Persians have for us today?

594
00:33:37,500 --> 00:33:41,620
It deals with one of these eternal
themes - it looks at war.

595
00:33:41,620 --> 00:33:44,340
It looks at the destruction,
the loss,

596
00:33:44,340 --> 00:33:47,180
the risks you run if you go to war.

597
00:33:47,180 --> 00:33:50,580
They became really popular
with the Gulf War

598
00:33:50,580 --> 00:33:55,100
and with the Iraq War as well and
this is a really interesting one.

599
00:33:55,100 --> 00:33:56,980
In some modern productions,

600
00:33:56,980 --> 00:33:59,860
what you get is costume
that really tells you

601
00:33:59,860 --> 00:34:04,580
that the audience should be making
a link with contemporary war.

602
00:34:04,580 --> 00:34:07,980
What point is Aeschylus making,
do you think, with that?

603
00:34:07,980 --> 00:34:10,980
I mean this is an amazingly
difficult question to answer,

604
00:34:10,980 --> 00:34:15,780
you can't even imagine how this
must have felt for the audience.

605
00:34:15,780 --> 00:34:20,060
They'd had their city sacked,
they'd really come close

606
00:34:20,060 --> 00:34:23,180
to being completely
occupied by Persia.

607
00:34:23,180 --> 00:34:27,580
This play is, on one level
really celebratory... Yeah.

608
00:34:27,580 --> 00:34:30,860
But you have to imagine it
operating on another level as well

609
00:34:30,860 --> 00:34:34,740
because there are incredibly
moving speeches in this -

610
00:34:34,740 --> 00:34:39,580
the language isn't just
victorious, if you like.

611
00:34:39,580 --> 00:34:42,140
I think it tells us a lot
about what tragedy is doing,

612
00:34:42,140 --> 00:34:45,380
it is complex and it doesn't
make it easy on the audience

613
00:34:45,380 --> 00:34:48,460
and it's really asking
the society to reflect.

614
00:34:54,780 --> 00:34:57,980
This play, for me, is both an
exception to normal tragedy

615
00:34:57,980 --> 00:35:00,620
AND a fantastic example of it.

616
00:35:00,620 --> 00:35:05,740
It's an exception because unlike
most that focus on mythical stories,

617
00:35:05,740 --> 00:35:08,780
this focuses on real
and recent history.

618
00:35:08,780 --> 00:35:12,140
But it's a fantastic example
of what tragedy does

619
00:35:12,140 --> 00:35:14,300
because it doesn't
just allow the Athenians

620
00:35:14,300 --> 00:35:16,940
to gloat over their victory.

621
00:35:16,940 --> 00:35:18,740
Instead, it offers a warning.

622
00:35:18,740 --> 00:35:22,020
For the Persians,
pride came before a fall,

623
00:35:22,020 --> 00:35:24,740
and at a time when Athens
and the Athenians

624
00:35:24,740 --> 00:35:28,300
were beginning to grow in their
own power within the Greek world,

625
00:35:28,300 --> 00:35:30,580
the play offers that same message -

626
00:35:30,580 --> 00:35:34,740
"be careful or you too could end up
just like the Persians."

627
00:35:37,060 --> 00:35:42,620
This warning had a direct bearing
on the current situation in Athens.

628
00:35:42,620 --> 00:35:44,780
In the aftermath
of the Persian wars,

629
00:35:44,780 --> 00:35:47,980
Athens reached the peak
of her power and influence

630
00:35:47,980 --> 00:35:51,220
and the fleet that had
secured victory at Salamis

631
00:35:51,220 --> 00:35:53,580
now reached out across the Aegean.

632
00:35:54,740 --> 00:35:59,780
Athens became the leading city-state
in a new anti-Persian alliance.

633
00:35:59,780 --> 00:36:04,180
But what began as a free coalition,
was soon under Athenian control.

634
00:36:07,780 --> 00:36:11,180
The financial muscle at Athens'
command allowed it eventually

635
00:36:11,180 --> 00:36:13,980
to turn the free alliance
of Greek cities and states,

636
00:36:13,980 --> 00:36:18,180
that had been brought together
to wreak revenge on the Persians,

637
00:36:18,180 --> 00:36:21,940
into an empire solely to
support the glory of Athens.

638
00:36:21,940 --> 00:36:23,740
And it was policed by the mighty

639
00:36:23,740 --> 00:36:28,140
and yet brutal majesty
of the supreme Athenian fleet.

640
00:36:28,140 --> 00:36:29,820
The war-chest for
that free alliance,

641
00:36:29,820 --> 00:36:32,220
which had been kept on
the sacred island of Delos,

642
00:36:32,220 --> 00:36:35,180
was moved to Athens,
placed on the Acropolis

643
00:36:35,180 --> 00:36:37,980
and eventually into
a building - the Parthenon -

644
00:36:37,980 --> 00:36:42,260
which has today become synonymous
with democracy and freedom.

645
00:36:42,260 --> 00:36:44,820
And yet which was originally built

646
00:36:44,820 --> 00:36:46,940
with the blood-money of
Athenian empire.

647
00:36:49,900 --> 00:36:53,140
Every year, each city
in the alliance or empire,

648
00:36:53,140 --> 00:36:55,740
contributed money
in silver as tribute,

649
00:36:55,740 --> 00:36:59,020
and this money was displayed
in the theatre, in Athens,

650
00:36:59,020 --> 00:37:02,100
at the Great Dionysia Festival.

651
00:37:02,100 --> 00:37:05,140
But when any members of the
empire refused these payments,

652
00:37:05,140 --> 00:37:07,780
Athens sent a fleet to attack them.

653
00:37:07,780 --> 00:37:10,340
Having an empire meant
that the Athenian assembly

654
00:37:10,340 --> 00:37:12,700
was now making
life-or-death decisions,

655
00:37:12,700 --> 00:37:16,860
not just about themselves but about
cities and peoples far away

656
00:37:16,860 --> 00:37:18,940
who had no real say in the matter.

657
00:37:21,100 --> 00:37:24,900
These decisions were far from
easy, as the Athenians discovered

658
00:37:24,900 --> 00:37:28,220
when they had to decide how
to deal with the city of Mytilene.

659
00:37:33,260 --> 00:37:35,540
In 428 BC, the city of Mytilene

660
00:37:35,540 --> 00:37:37,500
rebelled against
the Athenian empire.

661
00:37:37,500 --> 00:37:40,740
The Athenian assembly met
to decide how to respond.

662
00:37:40,740 --> 00:37:43,340
The hardliners
wanted to execute every man

663
00:37:43,340 --> 00:37:45,580
and enslave every woman
in the city -

664
00:37:45,580 --> 00:37:48,660
the moderates just to execute
the ringleaders.

665
00:37:48,660 --> 00:37:49,980
On the first day of debate,

666
00:37:49,980 --> 00:37:52,500
the Athenian assembly
sided with the hardliners.

667
00:37:52,500 --> 00:37:56,820
They even dispatched a trireme to
Mytilene to carry out those orders.

668
00:37:56,820 --> 00:37:58,940
And yet when they met
on the second day,

669
00:37:58,940 --> 00:38:02,620
the Athenian assembly started
to doubt its own decision.

670
00:38:02,620 --> 00:38:05,700
And indeed they went on to reverse
it, sending a second trireme

671
00:38:05,700 --> 00:38:08,220
which got there just in time.

672
00:38:08,220 --> 00:38:11,500
Now these events not only brought
great relief to the Mytileneans

673
00:38:11,500 --> 00:38:15,380
but it also brought home to the
Athenians the critical importance

674
00:38:15,380 --> 00:38:19,580
of thinking through properly their
decisions before taking action.

675
00:38:23,500 --> 00:38:26,100
Dealing with life and death
decisions like this

676
00:38:26,100 --> 00:38:29,300
had always lain at the heart
of Athenian drama.

677
00:38:29,300 --> 00:38:33,140
And authors like the prize-winning
Sophocles forced the audience

678
00:38:33,140 --> 00:38:38,500
to experience vicariously
the consequences of sloppy thinking.

679
00:38:38,500 --> 00:38:42,540
In 442 BC, Sophocles won yet
another victory at the City Dionysia

680
00:38:42,540 --> 00:38:44,620
with his play Antigone.

681
00:38:44,620 --> 00:38:46,980
Now, Sophocles was a man
intensely involved

682
00:38:46,980 --> 00:38:48,740
with the affairs
of the Athenian state.

683
00:38:48,740 --> 00:38:50,380
He had been a general
and he would go on

684
00:38:50,380 --> 00:38:52,540
to become one of
its closest advisers

685
00:38:52,540 --> 00:38:55,300
during its darkest hours
in future years.

686
00:38:55,300 --> 00:38:58,100
And his play Antigone deals
with exactly this kind of thing -

687
00:38:58,100 --> 00:39:01,180
how to debate and argue
through the difficult

688
00:39:01,180 --> 00:39:04,220
and yet critical issues
that face a city.

689
00:39:05,340 --> 00:39:08,500
And what can happen
when it all goes terribly wrong.

690
00:39:13,300 --> 00:39:18,060
The play tells the sad story of
Oedipus' daughter Princess Antigone.

691
00:39:19,380 --> 00:39:22,300
When Antigone buries
the body of her rebel brother,

692
00:39:22,300 --> 00:39:24,740
she is following
the law of the gods.

693
00:39:24,740 --> 00:39:28,660
But the city's law and her uncle,
King Creon have forbidden it.

694
00:39:30,460 --> 00:39:32,940
Creon is furious,
and condemns her to death.

695
00:39:36,100 --> 00:39:40,180
Creon's son Haemon,
who is in love with Antigone,

696
00:39:40,180 --> 00:39:42,580
urges his father to reconsider.

697
00:39:43,740 --> 00:39:49,580
He argues that "A city is not a city
if it is the holding of one man."

698
00:39:49,580 --> 00:39:51,980
But Creon is stubborn
and uncompromising.

699
00:39:51,980 --> 00:39:56,380
He refuses to listen,
and refuses to back down.

700
00:39:56,380 --> 00:39:59,780
The play ends with Antigone and
Haemon both committing suicide

701
00:39:59,780 --> 00:40:02,820
and with Creon facing the
displeasure of his people

702
00:40:02,820 --> 00:40:04,100
and of the gods.

703
00:40:04,100 --> 00:40:06,500
Creon has to face the fact
that his actions,

704
00:40:06,500 --> 00:40:08,780
and his alone,
have caused this disaster.

705
00:40:10,540 --> 00:40:15,780
All of Greek tragedy stages dilemmas
that cities under leaders have,

706
00:40:15,780 --> 00:40:16,020
where they're faced
with either very bad luck

707
00:40:16,140 --> 00:40:19,660
where they're faced
with either very bad luck

708
00:40:19,660 --> 00:40:23,060
or very bad management, or both.

709
00:40:23,060 --> 00:40:25,900
Now, at one end of that
spectrum you've got Oedipus,

710
00:40:25,900 --> 00:40:29,660
who has very, very, very bad luck -
he's doomed before he's even born.

711
00:40:29,660 --> 00:40:31,380
How do you react to that?

712
00:40:31,380 --> 00:40:34,700
How do you conduct yourself
in a situation with very bad luck?

713
00:40:34,700 --> 00:40:38,900
Right at the other end is the story
of Oedipus' daughter Antigone,

714
00:40:38,900 --> 00:40:43,460
faced with THE most incompetent
leader in all of Greek literature

715
00:40:43,460 --> 00:40:45,380
and that is saying something.

716
00:40:45,380 --> 00:40:49,940
Creon simply cannot put a foot
right, so Sophocles is asking people

717
00:40:49,940 --> 00:40:52,100
to think about what
a good leader might be

718
00:40:52,100 --> 00:40:54,740
through showing them
the worst possible leader

719
00:40:54,740 --> 00:40:56,380
and the Athenians loved that

720
00:40:56,380 --> 00:41:00,820
so much that Antiquity said
they made him general in response.

721
00:41:00,820 --> 00:41:04,060
Creon is getting pretty
a bad stick from Edith

722
00:41:04,060 --> 00:41:08,740
but there is a real sense in which
the issue at the centre of the play

723
00:41:08,740 --> 00:41:12,180
is an issue that arises
even in Athenian law.

724
00:41:12,180 --> 00:41:14,940
In Athenian law,
if someone is a traitor

725
00:41:14,940 --> 00:41:16,540
they are not to be buried -

726
00:41:16,540 --> 00:41:18,900
you have to take
them beyond the borders

727
00:41:18,900 --> 00:41:20,900
and you can then bury them outside.

728
00:41:20,900 --> 00:41:23,180
If you're a dimark in Athens

729
00:41:23,180 --> 00:41:27,660
and there is a dead body in your
deign you are obliged to bury it.

730
00:41:27,660 --> 00:41:30,940
So, immediately that clash of,

731
00:41:30,940 --> 00:41:32,940
"Yes, you must bury it
but no, you can't"

732
00:41:32,940 --> 00:41:35,500
arises if the dead body
happens to be a traitor.

733
00:41:35,500 --> 00:41:39,180
So this isn't a non issue,
this is a real issue

734
00:41:39,180 --> 00:41:43,340
and Creon may make a
complete fist of resolving it

735
00:41:43,340 --> 00:41:46,180
but he makes a fist because

736
00:41:46,180 --> 00:41:50,500
there are two diametrically
opposed, justifiable views

737
00:41:50,500 --> 00:41:53,220
and you then have to pick
your way through these.

738
00:42:00,740 --> 00:42:04,100
Due to his dogged determination
for others to do

739
00:42:04,100 --> 00:42:08,580
exactly what he wants, his inability
to listen, to compromise,

740
00:42:08,580 --> 00:42:10,940
Creon ends up paying
the ultimate price -

741
00:42:10,940 --> 00:42:14,460
the loss of his family
and his authority.

742
00:42:14,460 --> 00:42:18,260
It's a play about listening,
debate, compromise,

743
00:42:18,260 --> 00:42:20,260
what it takes to be a leader.

744
00:42:20,260 --> 00:42:23,100
Those are issues which,
of course, had relevance

745
00:42:23,100 --> 00:42:25,860
to the ancient Athenians
watching the play,

746
00:42:25,860 --> 00:42:30,500
but they're also issues that are
relevant to any society at any time.

747
00:42:30,500 --> 00:42:34,100
That's what makes
Antigone so timeless.

748
00:42:37,100 --> 00:42:41,740
It's got universal appeal
because it's about someone

749
00:42:41,740 --> 00:42:45,020
fighting against the system
and a system that's wrong.

750
00:42:45,020 --> 00:42:47,500
I mean, that's how
it gets picked up now

751
00:42:47,500 --> 00:42:51,500
and that's what really appeals to
modern audiences, I think, about it.

752
00:42:51,500 --> 00:42:52,940
A play like Antigone,

753
00:42:52,940 --> 00:42:55,940
what kind of resonance
does that have for us today?

754
00:42:55,940 --> 00:42:59,420
Thinking about this
adaptation that Jean Anouilh

755
00:42:59,420 --> 00:43:05,940
produced in 1944 in France while it
was being occupied by Nazis -

756
00:43:05,940 --> 00:43:08,860
that's a real example
where you've got this play

757
00:43:08,860 --> 00:43:13,820
which is really taken on and
championed by the Resistance.

758
00:43:13,820 --> 00:43:17,820
How did it ever get
permission to be performed

759
00:43:17,820 --> 00:43:20,500
if it's such a play of resistance?

760
00:43:20,500 --> 00:43:23,820
Well, I think that's
the ambiguity of the play.

761
00:43:23,820 --> 00:43:28,260
So, for the occupying force,
for the Vichy government,

762
00:43:28,260 --> 00:43:30,860
actually, you can look
at this play and think,

763
00:43:30,860 --> 00:43:34,060
"This is a play about
law and imposing law"

764
00:43:34,060 --> 00:43:36,380
and actually this
is a silly little girl

765
00:43:36,380 --> 00:43:40,140
who breaks that law and
she gets what's coming to her.

766
00:43:40,140 --> 00:43:44,260
So, it's that ambiguity that allows,
even in those circumstances,

767
00:43:44,260 --> 00:43:47,260
this great play of resistance,
for some people, to be put on.

768
00:43:52,500 --> 00:43:56,700
Tragedy was an effective way of
engaging with the issues

769
00:43:56,700 --> 00:44:00,660
that beset the democracy,
but it was not the only way.

770
00:44:00,660 --> 00:44:02,940
There was also comedy.

771
00:44:02,940 --> 00:44:06,940
Comedy was irreverent,
rude and bawdy,

772
00:44:06,940 --> 00:44:10,860
and it was also personal,
targeting real individuals.

773
00:44:10,860 --> 00:44:14,580
And just like today, ordinary
Athenians in the marketplace

774
00:44:14,580 --> 00:44:18,860
were deeply suspicious
of their elected political leaders.

775
00:44:18,860 --> 00:44:21,540
Some people, it seems,
were just naturally born

776
00:44:21,540 --> 00:44:23,140
to successfully navigate

777
00:44:23,140 --> 00:44:26,500
the slippery waters
of Athenian politics.

778
00:44:26,500 --> 00:44:29,860
And one of those guys
was a man called Cleon.

779
00:44:29,860 --> 00:44:32,140
HE SPEAKS GREEK

780
00:44:32,140 --> 00:44:36,180
Now, Cleon was what we would call
today an opportunistic politician.

781
00:44:36,180 --> 00:44:38,620
He would be with the aristocrats
or he would be spurring

782
00:44:38,620 --> 00:44:42,220
on the lowest of the low
of the Athenian citizenry.

783
00:44:42,220 --> 00:44:46,220
And the ancient commentators
are fairly hard on Cleon.

784
00:44:46,220 --> 00:44:48,420
Today we'd probably
be a bit more balanced,

785
00:44:48,420 --> 00:44:50,220
but without a shadow of a doubt

786
00:44:50,220 --> 00:44:53,700
he would do whatever it took to
get whatever he wanted.

787
00:44:53,700 --> 00:44:56,380
Naturally, he had his enemies.

788
00:44:56,380 --> 00:44:59,820
They accused him of being
greedy, not just for power,

789
00:44:59,820 --> 00:45:02,500
but for fresh-caught tuna,

790
00:45:02,500 --> 00:45:06,300
seen back then as a luxury desired
by the rich and anti-democratic.

791
00:45:09,060 --> 00:45:12,580
How could the democracy
keep people like this in check

792
00:45:12,580 --> 00:45:15,060
while not killing off
their energy and enthusiasm

793
00:45:15,060 --> 00:45:18,020
that at the end of the day
benefited the city?

794
00:45:18,020 --> 00:45:21,180
Well, one of the ways
they did it was in the theatre,

795
00:45:21,180 --> 00:45:24,780
by taking the piss out of them,
right in their very face.

796
00:45:30,420 --> 00:45:33,340
Comedies, while performed
at the Dionysia Festival,

797
00:45:33,340 --> 00:45:35,980
also had their own smaller festival.

798
00:45:35,980 --> 00:45:38,100
It was called the Lenaia.

799
00:45:38,100 --> 00:45:39,580
It took place early in January,

800
00:45:39,580 --> 00:45:41,900
long before the season
for sailing started,

801
00:45:41,900 --> 00:45:44,420
so there were no foreigners present.

802
00:45:44,420 --> 00:45:47,180
This meant that comic writers
could really let rip

803
00:45:47,180 --> 00:45:50,180
without letting the city down.

804
00:45:50,180 --> 00:45:52,980
What you have is
really lively plays,

805
00:45:52,980 --> 00:45:56,340
very outrageous plays sometimes

806
00:45:56,340 --> 00:45:58,500
but they are politically involved.

807
00:45:58,500 --> 00:46:03,140
The settings can be amazing
in the real sense, incredible.

808
00:46:03,140 --> 00:46:06,180
You have comedies that
go to the underworld,

809
00:46:06,180 --> 00:46:07,500
they go to hell

810
00:46:07,500 --> 00:46:11,020
and that's where you get
these animal choruses like frogs.

811
00:46:11,020 --> 00:46:14,220
This is a frog that was used

812
00:46:14,220 --> 00:46:18,340
in the King's College Greek play.

813
00:46:18,340 --> 00:46:21,420
Animal choruses are
quite common in comedy.

814
00:46:21,420 --> 00:46:23,940
You've got, for example,
the chorus here...

815
00:46:25,060 --> 00:46:28,900
These guys performing and the
songs that they get to sing,

816
00:46:28,900 --> 00:46:32,140
I mean, this is a
great source of comedy.

817
00:46:32,140 --> 00:46:35,780
What kind of level of biting
satire are we talking about here

818
00:46:35,780 --> 00:46:37,220
in ancient comedy?

819
00:46:37,220 --> 00:46:38,980
It's extremely personal,

820
00:46:38,980 --> 00:46:42,420
there's insults really
of quite an infantile nature.

821
00:46:42,420 --> 00:46:46,060
You have plays which put politicians
as one of the characters,

822
00:46:46,060 --> 00:46:47,900
very thinly disguised,

823
00:46:47,900 --> 00:46:51,620
but they'll be the
leading politicians of the day.

824
00:46:51,620 --> 00:46:55,540
Their policies will be clear, the
way they speak might be parodied,

825
00:46:55,540 --> 00:47:00,020
even the mask can reflect
characters from Athenian society.

826
00:47:01,380 --> 00:47:03,780
This was the sort of thing
that lay in store

827
00:47:03,780 --> 00:47:07,380
for ambitious politicians
like Cleon.

828
00:47:07,380 --> 00:47:10,420
And the man who was
the real expert at this

829
00:47:10,420 --> 00:47:13,900
was a comic playwright
called Aristophanes.

830
00:47:13,900 --> 00:47:17,380
And for Aristophanes and Cleon,
it was a grudge match -

831
00:47:17,380 --> 00:47:19,620
they even came
from the same village.

832
00:47:24,180 --> 00:47:28,380
In 425 BC, Aristophanes
wrote a play called The Knights.

833
00:47:28,380 --> 00:47:31,020
It portrays Cleon
as a cunning servant

834
00:47:31,020 --> 00:47:34,420
working for an old man called Demos.

835
00:47:34,420 --> 00:47:38,700
Demos represents the people,
and as his crafty servant,

836
00:47:38,700 --> 00:47:41,060
Cleon misuses his position

837
00:47:41,060 --> 00:47:44,900
for the purposes of
extortion and corruption.

838
00:47:44,900 --> 00:47:47,980
Yet, in the end, is it Demos
who has the last laugh.

839
00:47:47,980 --> 00:47:52,380
Cleon's corrupt ways are
exposed, he loses his position

840
00:47:52,380 --> 00:47:54,540
and he is reduced
to selling sausages

841
00:47:54,540 --> 00:47:56,900
outside the Athens' city gates.

842
00:47:56,900 --> 00:47:59,340
Aristophanes didn't
pull any punches -

843
00:47:59,340 --> 00:48:02,380
this play brings Cleon
right back down to earth.

844
00:48:02,380 --> 00:48:04,620
And, of course, the politicians,

845
00:48:04,620 --> 00:48:06,380
about whom the jokes
were being made,

846
00:48:06,380 --> 00:48:09,620
were right here, visible
to all in the audience.

847
00:48:09,620 --> 00:48:11,580
So it's like having
one of our shows,

848
00:48:11,580 --> 00:48:14,700
The Daily Show in the States
or Have I Got News For You here,

849
00:48:14,700 --> 00:48:16,980
being played out in
an important civic space -

850
00:48:16,980 --> 00:48:19,340
the Capitol or
the House of Commons -

851
00:48:19,340 --> 00:48:21,340
with the people they're
taking the piss out of

852
00:48:21,340 --> 00:48:23,140
sitting right here in the audience,

853
00:48:23,140 --> 00:48:24,940
having to take it
in front of everyone.

854
00:48:24,940 --> 00:48:26,660
The Greeks even had a word
for this -

855
00:48:26,660 --> 00:48:29,220
they called these people,
the "komedoumenoi",

856
00:48:29,220 --> 00:48:32,180
those made fun of in comedy.

857
00:48:32,180 --> 00:48:34,620
And this isn't just
some sort of sideshow.

858
00:48:34,620 --> 00:48:37,540
This, many ancient commentators saw,

859
00:48:37,540 --> 00:48:40,580
as the hallmark of
ancient Athenian democracy

860
00:48:40,580 --> 00:48:42,820
and of freedom and free speech.

861
00:48:44,820 --> 00:48:47,460
The laughter didn't
stop Cleon's career.

862
00:48:47,460 --> 00:48:52,540
Despite his slippery reputation,
he was elected again and again.

863
00:48:52,540 --> 00:48:55,820
But the effect of comedy
was more subtle than that.

864
00:48:55,820 --> 00:48:58,900
What it did do, was police
the boundaries of behaviour,

865
00:48:58,900 --> 00:49:02,780
skewer pretensions and remind
those in positions of power

866
00:49:02,780 --> 00:49:06,940
of their responsibilities and of
the limits of their ambitions.

867
00:49:06,940 --> 00:49:09,540
It's a kind of satire
that we can still see at work

868
00:49:09,540 --> 00:49:11,980
in our own democracy today.

869
00:49:11,980 --> 00:49:16,180
By the time of Cleon, this
experiment in Athenian democracy

870
00:49:16,180 --> 00:49:18,580
was heading towards its centenary.

871
00:49:18,580 --> 00:49:21,660
And in that time it had seen it
all, from fighting for survival,

872
00:49:21,660 --> 00:49:25,580
to cultural supremacy,
to empire, to wealth.

873
00:49:25,580 --> 00:49:30,180
And it was, still, at war,
not now with Persia

874
00:49:30,180 --> 00:49:34,060
but with Greece's greatest
fighting force - the Spartans.

875
00:49:35,380 --> 00:49:38,580
And desperate times called
for desperate measures.

876
00:49:41,900 --> 00:49:46,380
The war between Sparta
and Athens started in 431 BC

877
00:49:46,380 --> 00:49:48,540
and lasted for decades.

878
00:49:48,540 --> 00:49:50,380
It was a fight to the death.

879
00:49:50,380 --> 00:49:54,060
Sparta ruled by land,
Athens ruled at sea.

880
00:49:54,060 --> 00:49:55,820
But there was one island

881
00:49:55,820 --> 00:49:58,380
that had never submitted
to Athenian domination

882
00:49:58,380 --> 00:50:01,620
and tried instead
to remain neutral -

883
00:50:01,620 --> 00:50:03,900
the small island of Melos.

884
00:50:05,220 --> 00:50:09,820
In 416 BC, the Athenian
democrats had had enough -

885
00:50:09,820 --> 00:50:13,020
it was time for
the Melians to submit.

886
00:50:13,020 --> 00:50:16,740
So the Athenians sent their
fleet to enforce their demands.

887
00:50:18,180 --> 00:50:21,620
Now, according to Thucydides,
the contemporary Athenian historian,

888
00:50:21,620 --> 00:50:23,580
the Athenians sent in
not just their fleet

889
00:50:23,580 --> 00:50:26,660
but also some diplomats
to put the case.

890
00:50:26,660 --> 00:50:30,180
The case was very simple,
it was this - join us or die.

891
00:50:31,940 --> 00:50:34,500
But what happened next,
according to Thucydides,

892
00:50:34,500 --> 00:50:38,180
was an extraordinary debate
between the two sides.

893
00:50:38,180 --> 00:50:41,380
"These envoys the Melians did not
bring before the popular assembly,

894
00:50:41,380 --> 00:50:43,860
"but bade them tell in
the presence of the magistrates

895
00:50:43,860 --> 00:50:45,940
"and the few what
they had come for."

896
00:50:45,940 --> 00:50:48,940
The envoys gave the Melians
an ultimatum -

897
00:50:48,940 --> 00:50:53,020
surrender and pay tribute
to Athens or be destroyed.

898
00:50:53,020 --> 00:50:56,860
The Melians argued that they were
a neutral city, not an enemy.

899
00:50:56,860 --> 00:51:00,660
And that it would be shameful and
cowardly to submit without a fight.

900
00:51:00,660 --> 00:51:03,140
But the Athenians were unmoved -

901
00:51:03,140 --> 00:51:06,500
they countered that if they didn't
extract surrender from Melos,

902
00:51:06,500 --> 00:51:08,660
the empire would look weak.

903
00:51:08,660 --> 00:51:12,540
They argued that the strong have
the right to exert their authority.

904
00:51:13,620 --> 00:51:15,020
This is a classic example

905
00:51:15,020 --> 00:51:17,700
of what we call in Greek
an "agon" - a debate.

906
00:51:17,700 --> 00:51:20,220
You could have seen it in
the philosophical lecture hall

907
00:51:20,220 --> 00:51:22,500
or in the political assembly
or in the law courts,

908
00:51:22,500 --> 00:51:24,660
or indeed on the stage
in the theatre.

909
00:51:24,660 --> 00:51:27,500
And it's summed up... Well, it's
summed up rather well, actually,

910
00:51:27,500 --> 00:51:30,460
by an enthusiastic student who seems
to have had this copy before me.

911
00:51:30,460 --> 00:51:34,500
And who has written rather pithily
in the margin, "Might is right".

912
00:51:34,500 --> 00:51:37,140
And that was the Athenian argument.

913
00:51:37,140 --> 00:51:39,100
The strong do as they can.

914
00:51:39,100 --> 00:51:41,820
The weak suffer what they must.

915
00:51:41,820 --> 00:51:43,580
And that's exactly what happened.

916
00:51:43,580 --> 00:51:45,620
The Athenians invaded
the island of Melos,

917
00:51:45,620 --> 00:51:47,140
they executed all the men,

918
00:51:47,140 --> 00:51:49,220
they enslaved all the women
and the children,

919
00:51:49,220 --> 00:51:52,220
and they established
an Athenian colony there.

920
00:51:52,220 --> 00:51:57,140
And yet, just the very next year,
in the Theatre of Dionysus,

921
00:51:57,140 --> 00:51:59,020
in the centre of Athens,

922
00:51:59,020 --> 00:52:02,660
Euripides, the enfant
terrible of Athenian drama,

923
00:52:02,660 --> 00:52:06,100
staged a play called Trojan Women.

924
00:52:06,100 --> 00:52:09,420
Its subject matter was what
happened to the women at Troy

925
00:52:09,420 --> 00:52:13,220
after the Greeks had besieged,
invaded and destroyed the city.

926
00:52:14,700 --> 00:52:18,540
So the Athenians
sat down to watch a play

927
00:52:18,540 --> 00:52:20,780
which laid before them on the stage

928
00:52:20,780 --> 00:52:24,580
the tragic reality
of what they had done,

929
00:52:24,580 --> 00:52:27,100
just the year before,
to the island of Melos.

930
00:52:31,140 --> 00:52:35,340
The play is set in the aftermath
of the legendary siege of Troy.

931
00:52:36,780 --> 00:52:39,540
The city has fallen,
all the Trojan men are dead,

932
00:52:39,540 --> 00:52:41,500
and the surviving Trojan women,

933
00:52:41,500 --> 00:52:45,780
who make up the chorus in the play,
are to be sold into slavery.

934
00:52:45,780 --> 00:52:48,300
But for Princess Andromache,
there's worse -

935
00:52:48,300 --> 00:52:50,980
her son is to be taken
from her and slaughtered.

936
00:52:52,420 --> 00:52:57,740
When she argues, the messenger tells
her to be brave - "might is right".

937
00:52:57,740 --> 00:53:00,180
SHE WAILS

938
00:53:03,700 --> 00:53:05,660
WOMEN ALL SCREAM

939
00:53:05,660 --> 00:53:08,020
MAN: Hush.

940
00:53:12,780 --> 00:53:13,940
SHE PANTS

941
00:53:13,940 --> 00:53:16,340
If you say words that
make the army angry...

942
00:53:17,860 --> 00:53:19,780
..the child will have no burial...

943
00:53:21,340 --> 00:53:23,140
..and without pity...

944
00:53:24,740 --> 00:53:26,900
So bear your fate as best you can.

945
00:53:28,860 --> 00:53:32,220
Then you need not leave him
dead without a grave...

946
00:53:34,340 --> 00:53:37,060
..and you will find
the Greeks...

947
00:53:37,060 --> 00:53:38,220
more kind.

948
00:53:42,340 --> 00:53:47,100
Trojan Women may well have spoken
to Athenian actions on Melos,

949
00:53:47,100 --> 00:53:49,340
but Euripides was also crucially

950
00:53:49,340 --> 00:53:52,140
sending a broader message
about the disillusionment

951
00:53:52,140 --> 00:53:53,860
that was taking hold in Greece

952
00:53:53,860 --> 00:53:56,420
after years of
relentless, savage war

953
00:53:56,420 --> 00:53:58,660
and the terrible impact

954
00:53:58,660 --> 00:54:01,540
that such conflict has on
all members of society.

955
00:54:04,500 --> 00:54:08,860
Why should WE think that what the
Athenians did to the Melians

956
00:54:08,860 --> 00:54:12,340
would have generated
such terrific outrage

957
00:54:12,340 --> 00:54:14,460
when the Spartans had done something

958
00:54:14,460 --> 00:54:19,980
very similar to the people of Hisiai
just a few years earlier. Exactly.

959
00:54:19,980 --> 00:54:21,980
I mean that's purely historically.

960
00:54:21,980 --> 00:54:24,780
On the other hand,
the coincidence of date means,

961
00:54:24,780 --> 00:54:27,700
it seems to me, that as
Euripides is writing this,

962
00:54:27,700 --> 00:54:30,980
what is the big campaign
the Athenians are involved in

963
00:54:30,980 --> 00:54:35,660
that is going to involve
women as slaves of war?

964
00:54:35,660 --> 00:54:38,860
Well, there is no other
campaign going on

965
00:54:38,860 --> 00:54:44,100
as Euripides is writing
it in the winter of 416-5

966
00:54:44,100 --> 00:54:48,420
but he could have thought it
at any time, that's the thing.

967
00:54:48,420 --> 00:54:53,700
By 416/415, I think Euripides
really has seen that war

968
00:54:53,700 --> 00:54:56,060
as a way of life brings
nothing but misery

969
00:54:56,060 --> 00:54:58,260
to both victors and vanquished.

970
00:54:58,260 --> 00:55:00,460
And from that point of view,
if you focus on Melos,

971
00:55:00,460 --> 00:55:02,860
you actually miss that point.
Exactly.

972
00:55:02,860 --> 00:55:04,900
The more you think
that this is a sort of,

973
00:55:04,900 --> 00:55:07,740
"Oh, there's been a terrible
atrocity..." Yes. Exactly.

974
00:55:07,740 --> 00:55:09,340
..the more you miss

975
00:55:09,340 --> 00:55:12,980
that this is about war and
how irrational and terrible.

976
00:55:12,980 --> 00:55:17,100
Euripides is presenting
a view of all the Greeks

977
00:55:17,100 --> 00:55:19,540
as having barbarised themselves

978
00:55:19,540 --> 00:55:21,740
during the course of
the Peloponnesian War.

979
00:55:23,740 --> 00:55:25,620
Euripides was not the only one

980
00:55:25,620 --> 00:55:28,140
to despair at the state
of affairs in Greece,

981
00:55:28,140 --> 00:55:30,860
or criticise Athenian behaviour.

982
00:55:30,860 --> 00:55:34,420
Many in Greece now felt that
Athens was guilty of hubris,

983
00:55:34,420 --> 00:55:36,220
of over-reaching pride.

984
00:55:36,220 --> 00:55:39,260
And anyone who had ever
seen a Greek tragedy

985
00:55:39,260 --> 00:55:42,700
would have been aware
of what could happen next.

986
00:55:42,700 --> 00:55:45,420
Here at Rhamnous in the 6th century,

987
00:55:45,420 --> 00:55:47,340
the people had built a temple

988
00:55:47,340 --> 00:55:51,660
to the Greek goddess responsible for
punishing those guilty of hubris.

989
00:55:51,660 --> 00:55:56,140
She was called Nemesis, a name that
comes from the Greek verb "nemein" -

990
00:55:56,140 --> 00:55:58,340
meaning to give what is due.

991
00:56:01,060 --> 00:56:02,900
Now, after the Melian atrocity,

992
00:56:02,900 --> 00:56:06,700
it seemed like Athenian
ambition and pride

993
00:56:06,700 --> 00:56:09,060
was beginning to over-reach itself.

994
00:56:09,060 --> 00:56:10,620
They not only had enemies abroad -

995
00:56:10,620 --> 00:56:13,900
they had an increasing number
of enemies in Greece,

996
00:56:13,900 --> 00:56:16,620
and indeed an increasing number
of enemies at home as well,

997
00:56:16,620 --> 00:56:18,700
who were beginning
to think of democracy

998
00:56:18,700 --> 00:56:22,900
as perhaps the immoral
inversion of the righteous order.

999
00:56:22,900 --> 00:56:24,620
The question was,

1000
00:56:24,620 --> 00:56:28,700
as the glorious golden age of
the 5th century drew to a close,

1001
00:56:28,700 --> 00:56:30,740
how would theatre and democracy,

1002
00:56:30,740 --> 00:56:34,900
which had so spectacularly
grown up together,

1003
00:56:34,900 --> 00:56:38,940
survive in a much harsher
and more difficult world?

1004
00:56:45,460 --> 00:56:49,020
Although the future of Athens
now looked uncertain,

1005
00:56:49,020 --> 00:56:53,340
the past century had
been a spectacular era,

1006
00:56:53,340 --> 00:56:57,460
Athens had invented and pioneered
an array of things

1007
00:56:57,460 --> 00:57:01,100
which underpin our own civilisation.

1008
00:57:01,100 --> 00:57:03,820
From classical sculpture
and architecture

1009
00:57:03,820 --> 00:57:06,780
to new directions
in philosophy and history.

1010
00:57:08,220 --> 00:57:10,900
But for me,
out of all those legacies,

1011
00:57:10,900 --> 00:57:14,500
two stand out as the most
extraordinary...

1012
00:57:14,500 --> 00:57:16,220
First, democracy -

1013
00:57:16,220 --> 00:57:20,220
Athens created the first
democratic constitution in history

1014
00:57:20,220 --> 00:57:22,980
which has become a beacon
across the centuries.

1015
00:57:24,620 --> 00:57:27,020
And second - at the very same time,

1016
00:57:27,020 --> 00:57:31,260
Athens invented a powerful
and incisive new art form -

1017
00:57:31,260 --> 00:57:34,620
theatre - an innovation
without which perhaps,

1018
00:57:34,620 --> 00:57:37,340
that democracy might
never have survived.

1019
00:57:39,420 --> 00:57:45,060
Drama comes from the Greek word,
"dram" - to do, to act, to perform.

1020
00:57:45,060 --> 00:57:47,540
And if there is one thing
that has become abundantly clear

1021
00:57:47,540 --> 00:57:50,140
it's that theatre was
never just mere entertainment,

1022
00:57:50,140 --> 00:57:52,020
never a passive spectator -

1023
00:57:52,020 --> 00:57:56,460
it was a performer in Athens'
story in the ancient world.

1024
00:57:56,460 --> 00:58:02,260
From tragedy making our most
important beliefs uncomfortable,

1025
00:58:02,260 --> 00:58:04,900
to comedy questioning
and policing citizenship,

1026
00:58:04,900 --> 00:58:07,020
and keeping people in check.

1027
00:58:07,020 --> 00:58:12,220
Theatre was an institution that
plugged into religious, civic,

1028
00:58:12,220 --> 00:58:16,380
political and military aspects
of ancient Athenian society.

1029
00:58:16,380 --> 00:58:20,300
It was an extraordinary,
and extraordinarily uncomfortable,

1030
00:58:20,300 --> 00:58:24,620
risky and yet essential
part of Athenian life.

1031
00:58:24,620 --> 00:58:27,220
Join the Open University
as we explore

1032
00:58:27,220 --> 00:58:30,980
the connections between Greek
theatre and modern-day democracy.

1033
00:58:33,020 --> 00:58:35,980
Follow the links to the Open
University's free-learning website.

1034
00:58:44,780 --> 00:58:48,500
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