The House of Atreus in Classical Greek Tragedy

The House of Atreus in Classical Greek Tragedy Today we are so familiar with plays and movies that it may be difficult to imagine a time when theatrical productions were still new. Like many of the public gatherings in the ancient world, the original productions in Greek theaters were rooted in religion. The City Dionysia Festival It didnt matter that they already knew how the story ended. Athenian audiences of up to 18,000 spectators expected to watch familiar old stories when they attended the Great or City Dionysia festival in March. It was the job of the playwright to interpret familiar myth, slices (temache) from the great banquets of Homer, in such a way as to win the dramatic contest that was the center of the festival. Tragedy lacks a spirit of revelry, so each of 3 competing playwrights produced a lighter, farcical satyr play in addition to three tragedies. Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the three tragedians whose works survive, won first prizes between 480 B.C. and the end of the 5th century. All three wrote plays that depended on thorough familiarity with a central myth, the House of Atreus: Aeschylus Agamemnon, Libation Bearers (Choephoroi), and EumenidesSophocles ElectraEuripides ElectraEuripides OrestesEuripides Iphigenia in Aulis The House of Atreus For generations, these god-defying descendants of Tantalus committed unspeakable crimes that cried out for revenge: brother against brother, father against son, father against daughter, son against mother. It all began with Tantalus- whose name is preserved in the English word tantalize, which describes the punishment he suffered in the Underworld. Tantalus served up his son Pelops as a meal to the gods to test their omniscience. Demeter alone failed the test and so  when Pelops was restored to life, he had to make do with an ivory shoulder. The sister of Pelops happens to have been Niobe who was turned to a weeping rock when  her hubris led to the death of all 14 of her children. When it came time for Pelops to marry, he chose Hippodamia, the daughter of Oenomaus, king of Pisa (near the site of the future ancient Olympics). Unfortunately, the king lusted after his own daughter and contrived to murder all her more appropriate suitors during a (fixed) race. Pelops had to win this race to Mt. Olympus in order to win his bride, and he did- by loosening the lynchpins in Oenomaus chariot, thereby killing his would-be father-in-law. In the process, he added more curses to the family inheritance. Pelops and Hippodamia had two sons, Thyestes and Atreus, who murdered an illegitimate son of Pelops to please their mother. Then they went into exile in Mycenae, where their brother-in-law held the throne. When he died, Atreus finagled control of the kingdom, but Thyestes seduced Atreus wife, Aerope, and stole Atreus golden fleece. Thyestes went into exile, again. Eventually, believing himself forgiven, he returned and ate the meal to which his brother had invited him. When the final course was brought in, the identity of Thyestes meal was revealed, for the platter contained the heads of all his children except the infant, Aegisthus. Adding another creepy element to the mix, Aegisthus may have been Thyestes son by his own daughter. Thyestes cursed his brother and fled. The Next Generation Atreus had two sons, Menelaus and Agamemnon, who married the royal Spartan sisters, Helen and Clytemnestra. Helen was captured by Paris (or left willingly), thereby starting the Trojan War. Unfortunately, the king of Mycenae, Agamemnon, and the cuckolded king of Sparta, Menelaus, couldnt get the warships moving across the Aegean. They were stuck at Aulis because of adverse winds. Their seer explained that Agamemnon had offended Artemis and must sacrifice his daughter to propitiate the deity. Agamemnon was willing, but his wife wasnt, so he had to trick her into sending their daughter Iphigenia, whom he then sacrificed to the goddess. After the sacrifice, the winds came up and the ships sailed to Troy. The war lasted 10 years during which time Clytemnestra took a lover, Aegisthus, the lone survivor of Atreus feast, and sent her son, Orestes, away. Agamemnon took a war prize mistress, as well, Cassandra, whom he brought home with him at the end of the war. Cassandra and Agamemnon were murdered upon their return by either Clytemnestra or Aegisthus. Orestes, having first obtained the blessing of Apollo, returned home to exact revenge on his mother. But the Eumenides (Furies)- only doing their job with respect to a matricide- pursued Orestes and drove him mad. Orestes and his divine protector turned to Athena to arbitrate the dispute. Athena appealed to a human court, the Areopagus, whose jurors were split. Athena cast the deciding vote in favor of Orestes. This decision is upsetting to modern women because Athena, who had been born from the head of her father, judged mothers less important than fathers in the production of children. However we might feel about it, what was important was that it put an end to the chain of cursed events.

James West and the Invention of the Microphone

James West and the Invention of the Microphone James Edward West, Ph.D., was a Bell Laboratories Fellow at Lucent Technologies where he specialized in electro, physical and architectural acoustics. He retired in 2001 after dedicated more than 40 years to the company. He then took a position as a research professor with Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering.   Born in Prince Edward County, Virginia on February 10, 1931, West attended Temple University and interned at Bell Labs during his summer breaks. Upon his graduation in 1957, he joined Bell Labs and began work in electroacoustics, physical acoustics, and architectural acoustics. In conjunction with Gerhard Sessler, West patented the electret microphone in 1964 while working at Bell Laboratories. West’s Research   Wests research in the early 1960s led to the development of the foil electret transducers for sound recording and voice communication that are used in 90 percent all microphones built today. These electrets are also at the heart of most telephones now being manufactured. The new microphone became widely used because of its high performance, accuracy, and reliability. It also cost little to produce, and it was small and light weight. The electret transducer began as the result of an accident, like many notable inventions. West was fooling around with a radio – he loved taking things apart and putting them back together as a child, or at least attempting to put them back together. In this instance, he became acquainted with electricity, something that would fascinate him for years.   West’s Microphone   James West joined forces with Sessler while he was at Bell. Their goal was to develop a compact, sensitive microphone that wouldn’t cost a fortune to produce. They completed development of their electret microphone in 1962 – it worked on the basis of the electret transducers they had developed – and they began production of the device in 1969. Their invention became the standard of the industry. The vast majority of microphones used today in everything from baby monitors and hearing aids to telephones, camcorders and tape recorders all use Bell’s technology. James West holds 47 U.S. patents and more than 200 foreign patents on microphones and techniques for making polymer ​foil electrets. He has authored more than 100 papers and has contributed to books on acoustics, solid-state physics, and material science. He has received numerous awards, including the Golden Torch Award in 1998 sponsored by the National Society of Black Engineers, and the Lewis Howard Latimer Light Switch and Socket Award in 1989. He was chosen New Jersey Inventor of the Year in 1995 and was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 1999. He was appointed president of the Acoustical Society of American in 1997 and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Both James  West and Gerhard Sessler were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1999.