Aeschylus I: Oresteia (The Complete Greek Tragedies)

Can we help?:

• Ask us a question
• Submit a Product Review
• Send to a Friend
• Schedule a Gift Reminder

Genre: Drama texts: classical, early and medieval; Plays and playwrights: classical, early and medieval; Plays; Plays / Drama; Ancient (Classical) Greek; Ancient, Classical and Medieval; Drama / Greek and Roman;

Average Review: 4 stars

Review: Note on transation : I have read a few things by Lattimore, and while he is touted as the most accurate translator of Greek literature, I find him increadibly difficult to read. His sentences sometimes make no sense at all. English is a language that depends upon syntax and the order of words in a sentence; Greek is not this way, it is a language with myriad declensions and conjugations, effectively allowing its poets to manipulate a sentence's word order. Lattimore may simply be too accurate to the Greek originals, because the word order--translated so precisely--simply does not fit well in the English. I recommend Fagles, who is an amazing translator; and while he is accurate, he also understands the limitations of translating the Greek to English. His sentences are fluid and capture the life of the translation. For Aeschylus, I also recommend Philip Vellacott. Check out Fagles, then check out Vellacott. But please forego the Lattimore translations, unless you really want to understand just the sort of impact a bad translation can have.