- The Progeny
The Progeny (Epigonoi) is an ancient
Greek tragedy written by the Greek playwrightSophocles in the5th century BC and based onGreek mythology .According to myth,
Polynices and six allies (theSeven Against Thebes ) attacked Thebes because Polynices' brother,Eteocles , refused to give up the throne as promised. All but one (Adrastus ) of the seven would-be conquerors were killed. Their children swore vengeance and attacked Thebes. This was called the war of the Epigonoi ("the offspring, the next generation"); the story had been told, before Sophocles, in the lost epic "Epigonoi". These Epigonoi defeated and killed (or drove out)Laodamas , son of Eteocles, and conquered Thebes, installingThersander on the throne. All of the Epigonoi butAegialeus , the son ofAdrastus , or else Alcmaeon, son ofAmphiaraus , survived this battle.The play was lost for centuries, but in April
2005 ,classicist s atOxford University , employinginfrared technology previously used forsatellite imaging, discovered fragments of it. The fragment translates to the following::"Speaker A: . . . gobbling the whole, sharpening the flashing iron.":"Speaker B: And the helmets are shaking their purple-dyed crests, and for the wearers of breast-plates the weavers are striking up the wise shuttle's songs, that wakes up those who are asleep.":"Speaker A: And he is gluing together the chariot's rail."
References
* [http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article2014.ece A second renaissance?] , "The Independent on Sunday", 17 April 2005.
* David Keys and Nicholas Pyke, [http://www.countercurrents.org/arts-pyke190405.htm Decoded At Last: The 'Classical Holy Grail'] , "The Independent", 19 April 2005.
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