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Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound

Edited with an Introduction, Translation and Commentary by A.J. Podlecki

The play's title figure has long held a central place in the 'libertarian' stream of Western culture, but controversies continue to swirl about the work and its hero. What are we to make of Prometheus's extravagant claims? Was he, as he insists, the only force that stood between the human race and extinction? Can Zeus really have been as misanthropic as his adversary paints him? Are we, in short, to think of Prometheus as a genuine hero, or merely as a megalomaniac rebel without sufficient cause? As for the play itself, the present editor, flying in the face of current orthodoxy, takes the view that the case against Aeschylean authorship has not been established. But this lingering doubt should do nothing to diminish its stature as a masterpiece of ancient Greek drama. 240p (Aris & Phillips 2005)

Review Quote

"The Introduction is worth the price of the book on its own. But the Commentary too is superb...every school and University Classics Department should purchase at least one copy."

Robert Tatam
JACT Review (2006)

Biographical note

A. J. Podlecki is a retired Professor of Classics, Greek History and Literature at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He holds degrees from Holy Cross College (Worcester, Massachusetts), Oxford University and the University of Toronto. He has written extensively on Greek literature and is the author of Perikles and his Circle (Routledge, 1998).

Table of Contents

Editor's Preface
Introduction
1. Prometheus, Bringer-of-fire
2. Prometheus in archaic Greece
3. Associated myths
4. Near Eastern parallels
5. Prometheus in fifth-century cult
6. Prometheus philanthropes: the fifth-century idea of progress
7. The Prometheus Bound in its trilogy; possible sequels
8. The "Problem" of Zeus
9. Prometheus in ancient Greek art
10. True Promethean fire
11. The Text of Prometheus Bound
Symbols in the Apparatus Criticus
Greek Text (with Apparatus) and facing Translation
Commentary

Appendices
1. The Authenticity of Prometheus Bound
2. The Geography of Prometheus Bound
Bibliography and Abbreviations

Related Titles

• Aeschylus: Eumenides
  Edited with an Introduction, Translation and Commentary by A. J. Podlecki

• Aeschylus: The Persians
  with an introduction, translation and commentary by Edith Hall

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