Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-238) and index
Introduction -- Aeschylus' Persians: the messenger and epic narrative -- The literary messenger, the tragic messenger -- Euripides' Bacchae: the spectator in the text -- Homer and the art of fiction in Sophocles' Electra -- Rhesos and poetic tradition
The messenger who reports important action that has occurred offstage is a familiar inhabitant of Greek tragedy. A messenger informs us about the death of Jocasta and the blinding of Oedipus, the madness of Heracles, the slaughter of Aigisthos, and the de