Why Should I Buy This Book?

Sophocles’ famous tragedy Oedipus the King ends with Oedipus gouging his eyes out after he discovered he had killed his father and married his mother. What happened to Oedipus after he abandoned his kingdom? What did the ancient Greeks think about fate and destiny? Is the story of Oedipus about fate? Was he given divine justice?  

The Sophocles tragedy has several sequels, one of which is Seven Against Thebes, by Aeschylus. But the story of Oedipus is just part of a fascinating and tragic unfolding of the divine and mortal shortcomings of a mythical Theban dynasty. The three great Greek tragedians created several tragedies retelling parts of this dynasty’s legend and brought forth vividly the intrigues and the complex human emotions involved when human frailty reaches divine proportions. 

Seven Against Thebes is the story of one brother against another, both sons of Oedipus. It is a continuation of the tragic family history of this infamous Theban dynasty. Aeschylus is at his best as he examines the circumstances, the raw emotions, and the eventual outcomes of a war in which there can be no winners. He is one of the earliest writers who see war for what it is—not glory, but agony and suffering. Seven Against Thebes is another masterful story by Aeschylus as he examines the injustice and the human costs when people go to war to settle their differences. If you are interested in understanding the tragedy of war, this is a must-read tragedy. Ian Johnston’s translation of Seven Against Thebes is by far the most readable translation for modern readers.   

Additional insights from David Chu can be seen at https://sites.google.com/site/dtwchu/interests

Greek Classics have long been the bedrock of a proper and thorough education. Reading about the tracks and lives of our ancestors cannot help but uplift us in our current life's path as it arms us with lessons of the past. Tomes have been written on the subject, but to put it in very modern, even economic terms, a recent article in the NY Times put it into such a perspective with an article on what books one finds on the shelves of the world’s most successful CEO’s. The article points out that one doesn’t find “how-to-business books” on their shelves, but rather works of philosophy, poetry, Greek classics, and other books of general knowledge.