Ancient Greece Today

In this episode, we turn to Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. Dr. Lyndsay Coo (University of Bristol) joins Naomi to discuss the play’s plot, its riddles, its questioning of human knowledge, and the role of the gods in a tragedy where they may at first seem absent. Janet Eilber, Artistic Director of the Martha Graham Dance Company, then talks about Graham’s Night Journey (1947), which tells Oedipus' story through the body of Jocasta, his wife and sister.

In this episode, Naomi introduces Prometheus Bound, a play traditionally attributed to Aeschylus. Professor Mark Griffith (University of California, Berkeley) joins her to discuss Prometheus as philanthropos (“human-loving”), Zeus as a tyrant, and the other plays in the Prometheus trilogy. Then Naomi talks to theater director Annie Dorsen about Prometheus Firebringer, algorithmic theater, and technological hubris.

In this episode, Naomi introduces Aeschylus’ Oresteia, first performed in 458 BCE. She discusses the trilogy’s politics with Professor Afroditi Angelopoulou (University of Southern California) and then talks to author and journalist Larry Tye about Robert F. Kennedy’s use of Aeschylus in 1968.

What was Greek tragedy and what is it today? In this episode, Naomi discusses the forms and ideas of Greek tragedy, from classical Athens to 20th-century Cuba, with Rosa Andújar (Barnard College, Columbia University) and Josh Billings (Princeton University).