Glossary
Euripides's final play in Jiang's lecture, read as a masterpiece and a critique of empire through Dionysian violence.
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Topic brief
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Bacchae
Euripides's final play in Jiang's lecture, read as a masterpiece and a critique of empire through Dionysian violence.
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Key Notes
evidence
Jiang reads Euripides' Bacchae as a critique of empire after Athens had become a mafia state and sacrificed young people in wars of empire.
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definition
Empire is a system where the old sacrifice the young for their own glory.
evidence
Jiang identifies the Bacchae as Euripides's posthumously returned masterpiece and frames it as the final major example after Trojan Women.
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evidence
In Jiang's retelling, Dionysus seeks revenge on Thebes because his mother was insulted and the city refused to worship him.
model
Jiang interprets the image of Pentheus's mother holding her son's head as a metaphor for war and empire, where old people send children to fight and die for their glory.
diagnosis
Jiang reads the Bacchae as a direct criticism of the Athenian Empire and the Peloponnesian War because Athens sacrificed young people to build empire.
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model
Jiang argues that Euripides reimagines Pericles's funeral oration as the mother holding her son's head and celebrating her own bravery.
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diagnosis
Jiang summarizes common interpretations of the Bacchae as religious devotion or fanaticism and as a satire on Dionysus, theater, and democracy.
Timestamped Evidence
Transcript
"if you have not read euboides you must read euboides one of the greatest playwrights in human history so he wrote uh the play..."
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"up the limbs they rip up the legs they dismember him and the person who rips um off his head is actually his mother..."
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"empire is, remember the image of a mother holding the head of her son and proclaiming to the world, look how brave, powerful, and..."
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"...And his last play, he wrote his last play called, the Bacchae in Macedonia. And after he died, his friends brought this play back..."
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"Everyone laughed at her, okay? And the people of Thebes refused to worship Dionysus. Now, Dionysus is worshipped all around the world, including in..."
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"...branch, okay? And he has a very clear view of the Bacchae who are in a circle. Then what Dionysus does is he lowers..."
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"Here it is, okay? And it takes a very long time for the people of Thebes to convince her, that's not a lion's head,..."
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"...sacrificing its young people in order to accomplish this. So the Bacchae is a direct criticism of the Athenian Empire and it's direct criticism..."
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Transcript
"Euripides was probably in the audience, right, because everyone was in the audience when the speech was given, OK? And he reimagines his funeral..."
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"...still performed today. OK? So the Orestia, Oedipus Rex, and the Bacchae are still performed in theaters around the world today. That's how amazing..."
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"...offending the Athenian people, right? So another interpretation is this play, Bacchae, it's a satire on the power of Dionysus and of theatre in..."
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"And also the play, Bacchae, it's a direct attack on the idea of theater itself and democracy, OK? But I don't see it that..."
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Relevant Lectures And Readings
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