The Theater!

In ancient Greece an art form emerged from the annual worship of local gods. A competition then developed and poets worked through human conditions crafting tragedy. The three masters of the art form reflect three different periods of Grecian social, literary, and religious development.

Aeschylus wrote from a high religious purpose and motivation. He wrote plays that celebrated the faithful rituals and actions. In places within his work there is a glimpse of the traditionalist and the fundamentalist. In his work lurks the superstitious awe of the simmering mountaintop, the striking lightening bolt, or the rattling earth.

Sophocles wrote from the context of a social and intellectual transition period, where society was questioning the old ways, the old gods but still felt it important to pay lip service if nothing else to the old thoughts. They provided respectability, acceptance, and recognition through a common pantheon. More and more there is the touch of the cynic, the jade, and the disbeliever.

Euripides wrote in a Grecian post-modern era where many wished to deconstruct the past and recast their future free of the restrictions of their 'primitive' past. Yet, Euripides saw, as many of the authors did, that under the mythic stories of the Gods and their challenges could be found metaphor for the realities of human life.

Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold.
Euripides