Chapter 3 Athens Tragedy 458 BC

The ship drifted with the story, and the song of war sang to Athens.Here, we witness the birth of a legend. King Agamemnon returned from Troy, dressed in military uniform and experienced many battles. He wanted to enjoy the victory, but died suddenly in the palace. He won the glory of Europa, but brought the destruction of Mycenae.Some laughed, some cried, some had their dreams shattered, and some turned against each other.Agamemnon's body was buried in the loess, and disappeared like all his slain enemies.He left behind not only the tragedy of the kingdom, but also the most painful tragedy about parents and children in the world.This scene of tragedy was not in Mycenae, but in Athens—the Theater of Dionysus.

Bertrand Russell once said that in all history, nothing is more surprising or inexplicable than the sudden rise of Greek civilization.This statement is not false.In such a special time as the 5th century BC, Greek philosophy, architecture, sculpture, drama, poetry, and politics all suddenly reached unprecedented peaks, not only proud enough at the time, but also proud of the world today.It's like a play in itself, all the highlights are concentrated and exploded.If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, you would hardly believe it was real.Athens was the first true center of the world.

This is the most miraculous city-state, short-lived and brilliant, suddenly prospered to a height beyond the reach of others, and suddenly destroyed in unexpected sorrow.Change the millennium world with the ups and downs of a century. When Agamemnon returned to his hometown, he brought a cart full of glory and spoils.Before he got home, the soldiers watching from afar passed the news to the court.Hope comes from the torches, and the herald tells of hardships at sea. Agamemnon finally returns.Everyone cheered for him and laid out a red carpet covered in flowers.After ten years of fierce fighting, the queen greeted her warmly at the door.No one could have foreseen his death.Only his prisoner of war—Cassandra of Troy, the girl who knew the oracle shouted loudly to the sky, predicting Agamemnon's imminent death and her own imminent death with shrill and terrifying voices.She could see that she was about to die, but she followed Agamemnon step by step into the palace of fate in this foresight.

This is the moment when fate winds up.With a scream, blood spattered the palace wall. The person who killed Agamemnon was his wife, Queen Clytemnestra.Sword in hand, she made a startling defense to the angry elders who surrounded her.This woman is determined, ruthless, formidable, and sympathetic.She and her lover took care of the rest and became masters of the kingdom. The most thrilling scene was Cassandra's prophecy, which she could see clearly but whose voice no one could understand. All this is the story told by the drama "King Agamemnon", from the good news to self-justification.It is the tragedy of the playwright Aeschylus, the first of the "Oresteia" trilogy.In 458 BC, the tragedy "King Agamemnon" was staged in the Theater of Dionysus, and it was very popular, winning Aeschylus the trophy of the theater festival.

In the 5th century BC, every Athenian loved to watch the theater.They hold a theater festival every year, in which the best plays are selected and awards are given to poets.Greek drama is a breathtaking example.They are concise and clear, with few characters but rich layers.The costumes of the actors are not complicated, usually robes and masks. The relationship in the drama is not expressed by clothes, but by lines.Poetry is used as the carrier of the script, and there are songs and dances on the stage as a foil. The singing team will sing the cutscenes of the drama and the detached onlookers.The content is generally classical mythology, looking for themes from epics and legends.The earliest dramas were mainly tragedies. They were solemn and noble, solemn and sad, which made the audience involuntarily excited with the actors, facing the impermanence of life and death.

The Theater of Dionysus was the center of Athenian culture in the 5th century BC.At the foot of the Acropolis, beside the South Slope Mountain Road.It is the only way to go up the mountain and the entrance to the Acropolis.The theater is open-air and built on the hillside. The inclination of the hillside becomes the natural means for the seats to be raised one by one.The rows of seats are semicircular, and the focal point of the arc is the central stage.This is a model of dramatic architecture, although simple, it has excellent effects of vision and sound, and became a model for many later dramatic architecture to follow.Existing marble seats date to around 320 BC, and they are incomplete but neat, with occasional remnants of carving visible.Sitting in the seat, you can not only see the stage, but also overlook the city of Athens today.

Greek tragedy reached such heights that it became a model for 19th century philosophy and art in Europe. In the overall atmosphere of romanticism in Europe in the 19th century, it looked for noble and tragic factors from knight legends and heroic epics.Schopenhauer wrote the philosophy of the magnificent tragedy of the soul, the musician Wagner wrote the innovative tragic opera, Nietzsche wrote it.This little book is not heavy, perhaps even Nietzsche himself did not expect its influence to be so long.Nietzsche gave great praise to the philosophy contained in Greek tragedy. He devoted himself to this image, not only analyzing the philosophy of art, but also gaining the infinite power of his own exploration.

Nietzsche said that the mental state of man can be divided into the rational Sun-god state and the intoxicated Dionysian state.The former is an on-the-spot analysis and sober criticism, while the latter is a whole-hearted experience and an intoxicated feeling.Drunkenness and ecstasy are both manifestations of the unity of man and the universe, and the sublime of tragedy is the combination of the two.This kind of Dionysian experience is to use intuition to comprehend the oneness of the universe, which is closer to the truth than the reasoning of self-righteous inspection.Nietzsche's concept of tragedy was inherited from Schopenhauer, who gave tragedy an equally high artistic status. He divided beauty into the sublime magnificence that confronts the will and the ordinary beauty with exquisite details. Greek tragedy undoubtedly belongs to the shocking magnificence.

It is not surprising that the charm of ancient Greek tragedies is so strong that it has aroused such fierce praise from modern philosophers. The reason for this can be found in the trilogy of Agamemnon. Why did King Agamemnon's wife kill him?There are multiple reasons.The first and simplest reason is her extramarital affair. Agamemnon has not returned for ten years, and she tells the pain and sorrow of a woman who stays alone in her empty boudoir.However, this is not a decisive reason.The more critical reason is that Agamemnon killed her daughter, their daughter.When Agamemnon marched to Mycenae in accordance with Zeus's order, another god, Artemis, raised a storm to stop the army from moving forward, claiming that only Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter, the whole army could survive safely.One side is a daughter, and the other side is the responsibility of the king and the glory of war. Agamemnon chose the latter.When the elders laid siege to Clytemnestra, she fought back without fear: "You now sentence me to exile, to the hatred of the citizens and the public curse, but you did not oppose this fellow at all, then Indifferently, he sacrificed his own child, my dearest daughter in travail, as an animal in a great herd of hairy sheep, to calm the storm that blows. Don't you Should he be exiled and punished for his crime?" In this self-justification, a complex figure confronts us.She is selfish and immoral, fierce and scheming, but she is a mother, she does not think that she can sacrifice her daughter for victory, she has reason to be angry.The bloody case ten years later was foreshadowed ten years ago, and a mother could not accept a king.

The tragedy continued.After Agamemnon's death, their son Aristes and daughter Electra were exiled far away. They hated their mother for killing their father and hid their revenge.Electra encouraged her younger brother to take revenge at her father's tomb. She said: "Like a wild wolf's heart is fierce and hard to move, my heart was forged by my mother." A few years later, the prince returned to the palace in disguise and deceived his mother with tricks. Kill the mother's lover, avenge the father.When facing his mother, he also hesitated and asked others what to do, but finally thought of his father.When his mother said "I raised you, I should spend my old age with you", he said: "The murderer wants to live with me?" In the end, he killed his mother himself, swallowing another bitter fruit of the family.

After the vengeance of Orestes, the chorus sings: "No one lives in this world without fault, no one lives his life without disaster. O wretched fate, O life, now, or soon will be Come.” Soon, their predictions became reality, and misery came again.The prince's revenge is complete, but the murder of the blood relatives awakens the sleeping goddess of justice, and she pursues the prince and pays for the crime of killing his mother.Apollo protects Orestes and confronts Furies.The feud between the families turns into a battle between gods and gods.The final settlement was also presided over by God: Athena called the best Athenians together to form a court and vote for judgment.At the time of Orestes' vengeance, the chorus sang: "There is an ancient custom: when there is a murder, and the blood is spilled on the ground, blood is demanded for payment. The dead call out to Erinys, and demand kill for kill, and death for kill." Death, madly vengeful from generation to generation." And when the time came for the trial, Athena said: "People of Attica, listen to my statutes, for the first time you have judged bloodshed. This court of juries shall exist forever, forever Among the people of Aegeus." This was a major shift in the course of history: private grievances judged by public courts. Such a bloody and complicated plot, Aeschylus' performance is not horrifying, but tragic and moving.The focus of the stage is not right and wrong, but the fierce struggle within man himself.For Agamemnon, the opposing forces were as father and as commander; for the queen, as wife and as mother; for the prince, as son as mother and as son as father; His feelings are blood feud and irresistible justice in the world.In short, for all people, there is no simple answer, no black and white right and wrong, no admonition, only everyone pays all the emotional pain and struggles against fate.It's the most unfortunate family story, but it's by no means just a family story. It was an era when moral teachings were not yet dominant, and rules and regulations had not yet been solidified and had not become dogma.At this time, everything is so full and fresh, full of original vitality, and touching people's hearts.When an actor is full of fiery emotions on the stage, inspired by an indescribable force, and sings those long lines, as if involuntarily expressing the deepest part of himself, it is difficult for the people sitting in the audience not to be swept away. Enter it and spend the most thrilling journey together.Aristotle said that the charm of tragedy is purification, and he was talking about the expression of this emotion, such as the pouring of water, which purifies the soul. Athens in the 5th century BC was not only a theater center, but also a golden center for a series of other cultures. There are two tragedy art festivals held in Athens every year, where poets and playwrights compete with each other, and the winners are selected every year and crowned.In addition, the architecture, sculpture, and ceramic art in Athens have also reached heights that are unattainable by the world, which is the envy of future generations.Ancient Greek temples are masterpieces of art, combining architecture, painting and sculpture.From the era of the Roman Empire to France and Germany in the 18th century, in every prosperous era, artists tried their best to imitate and revive the glory of Greece in the tragic era. Today's Acropolis is the only ancient remnant in the city of Athens, like an isolated island surrounded by layers of the modern world.Acropolis means "high city", from here you can walk into history.The entrance of the mountain road is the Theater of Dionysus. Overlooking from the desolation, one can imagine the scene of former actors wearing masks and robes reciting passionate verses. Going up the mountain road is the holy and lofty Acropolis.The Acropolis is built on the top of the mountain, high and inviolable.Looking up from the bottom up, I can finally understand why this city wall can afford the guard of Athens for 2,500 years. The Acropolis is an area on the Acropolis Hill, protected by steep walls, that contains the treasures and buildings most cherished by the Athenians.From the city wall to the mountain gate and the temple, they are all made of pure and beautiful marble, white and simple, reflecting golden light slightly in the sun.Looking up from the mountain gate, the grandeur and elegance of the mountain gate make people instinctively stop the noise.The jungle-like columns, engraved with the most typical vertical ribs in Greece, tower into the blue sky, and the simple lines increase the height of the columns. Pass through the mountain gate and arrive at the Acropolis Square.The visual center is the Parthenon.It is the pride of Greek architecture, magnificent and solemn, without pretension, only the pure beauty of the golden section.It is white as a whole, in the center of the wide square, standing on the top of the mountain, against the dark blue sky, like something outside the world that fell from the sky. The Parthenon is a typical temple in Athens, rectangular in golden ratio, with a triangular gable on the front, a sloping roof, and surrounded by columns.The simplest shape, but with the most profound construction technology. 50 columns surround the main building, slender and straight, with smooth lines. In order to make up for people's optical illusion, there is a slightly protruding arc in the center of the column body, making it appear more straight and majestic.The column is made up of sectioned columnar stones. A thin hole is punched in the center of the boulder, and a metal rod runs through the top and bottom to accurately position and straighten.The ancient temples have red and blue gables, and the dynamic and rich figures are carved in triangular shapes, either standing upright or bowing, and the matching is just right.In ancient times, the outer wall of the temple was a relief, which was nearly 160 meters around. There were 92 statues of figures on the red background, depicting the appearance of the Athena Goddess Festival every four years.Athena is the patron saint of Athens. A 12-meter-high statue of Athena once stood inside the Parthenon Temple, which is a testimony of the piety and wealth of the Athenians. The Parthenon was built in the 5th century BC under the direction of the architect Phidias, who also oversaw the completion of the decorative sculptures.Today's Parthenon is empty, but the former scenery can still be imagined.After being plundered by the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire, there is only one lobby left in the temple today, and the sculptures inside and outside are gone, desolate and damaged.The only treasures are also deposited in the Acropolis Museum, where only the buildings remain.But even so, standing in front of it, people will still be in awe and amazed at its sacred solemnity and beauty beyond time, and its desolate beauty. There are also several small temples on the Acropolis Square, which are also beautiful.Among them, in the Temple of the Goddess of Victory, you can see the Ionic column with the top like waves rolling over.The simple but dynamic Ionic order can still be seen in many buildings in the United States today.It was one of three orders developed in Greece, the others being the Doric and Corinthian orders.The Parthenon adopts the Doric column with an inverted cone at the top, while the top of the Corinthian column is the leaf flying upwards, which is elegant and gorgeous, and is favored by ancient Roman architecture.This is the gift of Greek architecture to every age. In the 17th century, Greece was successively invaded by the Ottoman Empire of the Turks and the Venetian Empire. The temple was blasted by artillery fire, and the sculptures were left unattended in the ruins. In the 19th century, the British picked up the wreckage and brought it to England.This is a century known for its high aesthetics, enthusiasm for treasure hunting, and crazy plunder. In the name of protection, Western European countries set out to the world, bringing the ancient legacy of the world's ancient civilizations into their own control.Today, the main body of the Parthenon sculpture is in the British Museum, with individual collections in the Louvre and elsewhere.This is not the fate of the Parthenon, a temple that, on our way, will encounter sculptures and architectural fragments from other Greek temples many times.In the British Museum, in the Louvre, in the classical art museums in Munich and Berlin, you can see all kinds of complete or incomplete Greek sculptures, no matter where they are, they are the most treasured treasures of the museums. Sculpture was the preeminent art of Greece.The Greek sculptures in the tragic period are also full, calm and majestic like tragic poems.The German scholar Winkelmann once made the most famous comment on this: "Noble simplicity, quiet greatness." This sentence opened the classicism of European art in the 18th and 19th centuries.Winkelmann's description is not a compliment. After seeing the real thing in the museum, I know that he is not exaggerating at all.Greek sculptures are greatly influenced by Egyptian sculptures, but unlike Egyptian sculptures, which have uniform faces, stiff bodies, and almost everyone standing with their feet one behind the other, Greek sculptures are completely diverse, and each sculpture has a different Facial gestures and expressions are full of changes, almost as lifelike as real people.They are not exactly like real people, but more perfect, more elegant, more vigorous, and softer than real humans. Their limbs are more beautiful than humans, and their expressions are more peaceful and wise than humans.They always have high and straight nose bridges and slightly open sexy mouths. Their skin is always smooth, their muscle lines are always smooth, and their body proportions are always harmonious. Hegel called sculpture a classical art, arguing that it was better suited than any other art to express classical ideals.Sculpture is the art of expressing spirituality with form.On the one hand, it does not simply simulate a certain image, but fully expresses the eternal spiritual ideal in it. On the other hand, unlike medieval art types, sculpture pays attention to spirituality to the extent that it does not care about appearance.It is a realistic depiction of the eternal man, removing those accidental and arbitrary factors, leaving a permanent objective spirit, and integrating the overflowing, vigorous, soft, fullness of life with the wisdom and understanding of contemplation. The ideal object expresses the most ideal spirit in the artist's mind.In Hegel's system of attaching great importance to the objective spirit, Greek sculpture is the art form he highly praised. Not much remains of ancient Greek sculpture, and even less in Athens.In the Acropolis Museum and the Archaeological Museum, some remnants can still be seen.A more perfect example is to be seen in the Vatican Museums in Rome.The artistic creativity in the ancient Roman period was lower than that in the Greek period, and there were a large number of replicas of Greek sculptures. Although there was little originality, the reproduction skills were quite solid.Among them are two extremely perfect replicas, which are now in the collection of the Vatican.One is Apollo, the standing figure, the most perfect male figure in the world.The other is Laocoon, the priest who is said to have been engulfed in poisonous snakes during the fire of Troy, after which Lessing's aesthetic pamphlet was influenced and named.This is the most beautiful masterpiece of Greek art. These arts all bloomed in that short period of one or two generations.It was the most magnificent era of Athens, with emotional tragedies, solemn buildings, and full-bodied sculptures.Like the waves crashing under the cliffs, rolling up white waves and rushing to the sky, all the remains of this era have the dual beauty of vigor and detachment, full and rich, and exist for themselves.Only by seeing the fragments hidden in the distance and being held in the palm of your hand can you appreciate how gorgeous Athens is on this mountain. Athens was at the dawn of civilization in the 5th century BC.After the fall of the Mycenaean civilization came a dark period, and after the dark period came a period of prosperous city-states. From the 8th century BC to the 5th century BC, Athens gradually became the core of prosperity.The sublime art of Athens comes from the history of this period. Greece at that time was a loose confederation of city-states, of which Athens was the most powerful.City-states are small kingdoms, each consisting of a central city and surrounding farmland, governed by its citizens.City-states are independent from each other, but they can form alliances when facing a common enemy.The position of the leader is very important. You become the leader because you are strong, and you are powerful because you become the leader.The rise of Athens followed a famous war.It was the leader at that time, and after the victory, it gained great wealth and glory, and thus became brilliant. The most interesting account of this war is undoubtedly Herodotus' "History".He is the first historian in Europe who left his works. His historical writing is like a collection of stories, full of wit and detachment. What brought Athens glory was the famous Hippo-Persian War.In 490 BC and 480 BC, the Persian Empire in Asia invaded Greece twice, and two fierce battles broke out.This was the fiercest confrontation between Europe and Asia after the Trojan War.The Persian Empire was founded by the legendary King Cyrus and rose rapidly in the 6th century BC.Before it, the most powerful country in Asia was Lydia. After the rise of Persia, King Croesus of Lydia sent troops to attack in order to suppress the rise of Persia, but ended up destroying his kingdom.This is an interesting story. Before the battle, Croesus sent an envoy to ask the famous prophet of the Delphi Temple about the fate of his expedition. The prophet said that he could destroy a big empire, so he set off happily. , but did not expect that the seer was speaking of his own empire. Persia survived and became incredibly powerful.It soon spread its tentacles around the Mediterranean Sea and deep into the heart of Greece.The small Greek city-states were caught off guard, and many were conquered or surrendered.The threatened city-state asked Athens for help, and Athens' attitude determined the balance.The Athenians finally believed that Greece should maintain its original independence and freedom, so they participated in the battle and inspired other city-states. Their opponents are extremely strong.The Persian Empire was once one of the largest countries in the world, stretching from India in the east to Egypt in the west, occupying the entire area along the coasts of the Arabian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, far beyond the negligible size of the Greek city-states on the map.The Persians were powerful and ferocious, with a well-equipped army and hundreds of warships in the navy. They pushed east and west simultaneously and conquered Macedonia and other large areas.In 490 BC, King Darius led more than 20,000 people to attack Greece, aiming at Athens. Athens was the most important force to instigate the uprising of the Greek city-states and hinder the advancement of the Persian Empire.The two sides fought fiercely on the Marathon Plain. The Persian army was large in number. However, the Athenians wore heavy armor and effectively blocked the Persian attacks. The Athenian coach Miltiades adopted an unexpected formation and divided the army into three phalanxes. Despite the miss, the flank attacks on both sides were extremely successful, outflanking from the side and surrounding the central army advancing by the Persians.In the end, Athens won the marathon, and the messenger's famous long-distance run was recorded in history. This is a rare classic in the history of war. Athens defeated the powerful opponent Persia, which no one could have expected at the time.The Persians were not reconciled to the failure of this small battle, and prepared to make a comeback.It's just that Darius died suddenly in Egypt, and his son Xerxes didn't send troops until five years later.In 480 BC, Persia invaded Greece again, and this time it was even more mobilizing. It is said that more than 200,000 troops were sent to try to crush Athens with the power of the whole country.There were thousands of ships and transports, and many peoples conquered by Persia also came to fight together. This time, the Greek coalition forces had the participation of Sparta.Sparta is another powerful city-state in Greece. It has been known for its rigorous training and bravery since ancient times.King Leonidas of Sparta, through the oracle, had a premonition that he would die on the battlefield this time, so he took 300 of his most trusted veterans to the most critical throat area.He raised five thousand soldiers from other city-states throughout the Peloponnese before setting off.A few days before the battle, the Peloponnesian allied forces fought hand-to-hand with the Persian allied forces at Thermopylae. Thermopylae was a dangerous terrain and the only way to go. The Spartans withstood the Persian army and delayed the battle for five days.On the sixth day, the Persians found out a passable path in the mountain, and breaking through the defense line was inevitable.Leonidas disbanded the Peloponnesian coalition forces and sent everyone home. He brought only 300 soldiers, 800 slaves Helotus and hundreds of allies who had not left to guard the path and launched a war against the Persians. The final sniper.They stubbornly killed thousands of Persian warriors, and finally all died at Thermopylae. This blocking battle is crucial to the fate of the Greeks.It stalled time to make room for Athens and other city-states.The Athenians also went to Delphi to ask the oracle before the war. The oracle instructed them to flee their homes as soon as possible. The Athenians were dissatisfied and asked again. The oracle gave an ambiguous order: "An impenetrable wooden wall to protect you and your children. Dwell not in peace where you are, for from the earth A great army of cavalry and infantry came; You should retreat when they come, and turn your backs to the enemy; but one day you will fight them Holy salami!When sowing or harvesting grain, You will destroy the children of women. " This oracle is esoteric and difficult to understand. Some people advocate the construction of a wooden barrier around the Acropolis, but a budding Athenian named Themistocles believed that this prophesied that the Persians would be defeated on the Sea of ​​Salamis. So he led the Athenian army to build ships and prepare for the navy.As a result, God's will really stood on the side of the Athenians.Herodotus writes that the Persians "were caught in a storm when they sailed near Keirel in Euboia, and they were carried away by the wind to places they did not know, and struck against rocks. They were killed. All of this was the will of God. Because in this way, the Persian navy is roughly equal in strength to the Greek navy.” Regardless of whether this was God’s will or not, the Athenians took the lead.They gave up the city completely, and when the Persians broke through Thermopylae and killed Athens, there was only an empty city left in Athens.The Persians were enraged, burned the Acropolis, encountered a storm, and lost to Athens in the naval battle of the Gulf of Salamis. The Hippo-Persian War ended, and the Greek coalition forces defeated the strong twice. This is an event recorded in the history of world wars. Herodotus' "History" has been handed down along with history.This book revolves around the Hippo War, tells a number of relevant historical clues, and mixes various interesting customs and customs in it, just like a history of customs full of gossip and anecdotes.Just looking at these makes us curious about the ancient world.For example, he wrote that people invented games during the famine, and used dice and ball games to deal with famine. "They were so addicted to the game during the day that they didn't want to eat anything."For another example, he wrote that on the stone pillar of Lydia, "there are inscriptions inscribed, recording how much work each category of workers did. According to the calculation results, the part that prostitutes did is the most." Because the Lydians The daughter has to rely on working as a prostitute to save enough for her own dowry.These peculiar customs and details are full of fun, giving the ancient world a different color. However, Herodotus' description of the war itself is rare and tragic.His wit is solemn before the warrior's valor.Just like Sima Qian, Herodotus is the best source for future generations to approach the magnificence of history.Herodotus wrote about the inscription erected by later poets where the Spartan soldiers died in battle. In just two sentences, there are sad vicissitudes in the wind: "A passer-by, I was ordered to sleep here forever." After the war, Athens became the well-deserved leader of the Greek Federation.In the next half century, Athens began its golden century of history creation.It builds new cities at the instigation of victory, and encourages the creation of ornamental cities of every kind.This is a rare period in which art is in full bloom, politics is active and clear, and natural knowledge is extremely rich.Such a time is quite rare and unparalleled in the history of Athens and Europe.A new acropolis was built, huge sculptures were erected in temples, and dramatic stories with mixed emotions of tragedy and joy were staged in the theater. This was the first and last glory of Athens. Traveling to and from Greece is most convenient by air from Italy.There is a Metro in the city of Athens, making it easy to access the Acropolis from anywhere. Acropolis: Built on Mount Acropolis, the Acropolis means "high city". It was planned and built by Pericles' huge public facilities between 440 BC and 430 BC.It is the most important, if not the only, important attraction in Athens.Inside the Acropolis are the Parthenon and the Temple of Athena.At the foot of the mountain is the Acropolis Museum with a rich collection.From the Acropolis Hill, you can overlook the Cangshan sea in the whole city of Athens. Dionysus Theater: A semicircular open-air theater under the Acropolis Hill, with broken seats that are 2,300 years old.Greek tragedies were staged here, the laurels of the theater festival will be awarded to the first poets, and the government will reward the audience who watch the plays. Museums: Ancient Landris Museum, National Archaeological Museum, Piraeus Archaeological Museum are all worth visiting.In the Piraeus Archaeological Museum, there is a bronze statue of Apollo from 520 BC, which is the earliest full-body bronze statue.Although the most magnificent treasures have been transported away by the Europeans and hidden in the British Museum, the Louvre, and the Berlin Museum, there are still many treasures left by Athens. The sculptures have soft lines and perfect proportions; The painted human body is detailed and vivid, without fading, just like modern works. The Tragedy of Aeschylus [Ancient Greece] Aeschylus (5th century BC) translated by Luo Niansheng Ancient Greek tragedy is an art of singing. It originated from the chorus popular in the northern Peloponnese around the 7th century BC. The mature script perfectly switches between dialogue and singing. The structure generally includes opening remarks, entrance songs, scenes, Arias and endings between scenes. Aeschylus is one of the three tragic poets of ancient Greece, the other two being Sophocles and Euripides.Sophocles wrote "Oedipus the King," which is probably the most familiar ancient Greek story to the average person, and Euripides' "Medea," the story of a jealous and strong-tempered woman, is still alive today. Often mentioned. Aeschylus is the most vigorous and simple among the tragic writers. His lines are vigorous, powerful and majestic, and when he reads them in long paragraphs, he has a very strong appeal.People's emotions are also full and abundant, revenge is revenge to the end, and rebellion is rebellion to the end of time, which makes people read heartily. The most important word in Greek tragedy is fate.Fate and life are doomed, even Zeus is helpless, so the tragic ending is also doomed.The stalwart of a person lies not only in his commitment to fate, but also in his resistance to fate. King Agamemnon: Chorus: "It is Zeus who guides mortals on the path of wisdom, because he established this effective law: Wisdom comes from suffering. Recalling the previous disasters, the pain will be in the dream, drop by drop in the heart, even A stubborn man will be cautious from now on. Such is the forced favor of God who sits on that solemn bench." "Prometheus": Hermes: "It is such pride, your stubbornness/Bringing you this way, to this port of misery." Prometheus: "Relax, I will never trade/my pain for your slavery." "history" [Ancient Greece] Herodotus (5th century BC) Translated by Zhou Yongqiang History is always humorous, absurd, exaggerated, and coincidental, but occasionally there is a trace of tragedy and desolation.How should history be written, maybe it should be written like Herodotus' "History".Record people's funny moments in a serious style, so that people will always remember how serious and funny human beings are. Herodotus wrote about many kings, most of whom were foolish and would never believe in prophecies, which were wise warnings rather than mysterious spells.And the arrogant king always ignores it.Destiny always plays out in a cycle. The baby persecuted by the king will definitely come back to claim the throne after growing up, and the war that ignores the oracle will eventually end in destruction. Therefore, the once prominent king has finally become a joke in the writings of historians, but the admonition of the Delphi Temple has thus become eternal: know yourself, everything has a limit. "The storm lasted for three days in a row. Finally, the Magus monks performed sacrifices and chanted the spell of calming the wind, so that it finally stopped on the fourth day. Perhaps it was not because of their strength. , but the storm stopped by itself. "When they saw that the famine was showing no signs of abating, they began to plan countermeasures against it. Dice, astragalos, ball games, and all the other different games were invented. They used These were invented to alleviate hunger. They were so addicted to games throughout the day that they didn't want to eat anything." "The World as Will and Representation" [Germany] Schopenhauer (1788～1860) translated by Dong Jian Schopenhauer's works are not all likeable, but this one is definitely a good reading experience.Many people were immersed in it and excited after reading it.Including Nietzsche, he bought old books from a bookstall, tried them occasionally, and couldn't stop since then. Schopenhauer's teaching at the University of Berlin was not pleasant, and his philosophy did not have a wide influence during his lifetime. He held a philosophical pessimism about the world, which was heroic and beautiful because of its inevitability. Schopenhauer regards the world as the will and the display of will, which can not only create a distance between man and the world, but also create a relationship and beauty between man and the world.Schopenhauer's pessimism makes him magnificent.He doesn't need to proclaim loudly, there is the magnificence of destiny in every line. “Therefore, to express the concept of human being—the objectivity of will at the highest level—in a series of interlocking human struggles and behaviors is the main subject of literature and art. “把选择好了的人物置于这样的一些情况之中，其中人物所有一切特性都能施展出来，人类心灵的深处都能揭露出来而在非常的、充满意义的情节中变为看得见的东西。 “无论是从效果还是从写作的困难看，悲剧都要算作文艺的最高峰。这种最高成就以表现出人生可怕的一面为目的，而这有重要的暗示在，即暗示着宇宙和人生的本来本质。” ［德］尼采（1844～1900） 周国平译 这本书实在太出名，出名到我几乎不用去介绍。它是尼采早期的作品，给了尼采名声，也奠定了他后来的方向。古希腊的悲剧精神在德国文化中的绽放也许就是所谓民族性格使然。 尼采细致区分的太阳神和酒神的精神差异，实际上是创作和生活的两种态度。一种是雕塑家一般的静观，一种是音乐家一般的沉醉。悲剧的杰出在于二者的统一，而我们的渺小在于二者皆不能。 尼采不喜欢苏格拉底，而只有读了悲剧，才会觉得他是有道理的。 “存在才是这部艺术喜剧的唯一作者和观众，是它替自己准备了这永恒的娱乐。唯有当天才在艺术创作活动中同这世界的原始艺术家融合为一的时候，他才能窥见一点艺术的永恒本质；因为，在这场合，他才像神仙故事所讲的魔画，能够神奇地翻转眼睛来看自己。这样，艺术家既是主体又是客体，既是诗人兼演员又是观众。 “我们只须看看苏格拉底格言的恶果，他说：'德即是知，犯罪是由于无知，有德的人定是快乐的人。'悲剧的灭亡就是由于这三个乐观主义基本公式。”