Readers and viewers of the Agamemnon regularly shudder when, at the start of the play, they encounter the upsetting augural image of a pair of fierce birds of prey atop a small, helpless, and wholly pathetic hare. What does the image mean, what is its significance in the animal-filled Oresteia as a whole, and what was Aeschylus’ source? In this talk, Prof. Joshua Katz (Princeton) will offer a novel perspective on these questions, especially the last: it turns out that consideration of the art and language of the people against whom the Greeks fought the Trojan War will help us understand what Aeschylus is doing here, and why.

This is a Living the Core virtual seminar.