Cover -- Half-title -- Series-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Chronology -- Chapter 1 Drama and the city of Athens -- 1 The context of the polis -- 2 The context of democracy -- 3 The context of the festival -- 4 The context of the theatre -- Chapter 2 The Oresteia -- 5 Introduction: plot and plotting -- A charter for the city? -- 6 Revenge: order and transgression -- 7 The female is slayer of the male . . . -- 8 Homer and Aeschylus: rewriting the past for the present -- The mortal coil -- 9 Language and control: the violence of persuasion -- 10 Prophecy, fear and the influence of the past -- 11 The imagery of order -- 12 The divine frame -- The poetic texture -- 13 The intensity of lyric prophecy -- 14 Violent exchange: dramatic dialogue -- 15 Political rhetoric -- Chapter 3 The influence of the Oresteia -- 16 From Sophocles to the women's movement -- Guide to further reading -- Editions -- Translations -- 1 Drama and the city of Athens -- 2 The Oresteia -- 3 The influence of the Oresteia.