‘Academic Reading Now for the oldest, hottest ticket on the universal stage 1 A lost tragedy by Aeschylus has been recoveree from ancient ashes. Called the Achils, itis pat of his trilogy about the Trojan War. We knew that ‘existed. The play wes mocked by Aristophanes and summarised by ancient commentators, but ‘only fragments and relerences have survived. 2 The only known copy had vanished off the face of the earth, presumed burnt in the ire that destroyed the Library of Alexancia inthe late third century AD, when parts ofthe city were laid waste after rebeling against Rome. 3. Then, during excavetions in Egypt, archaeologists discovered papyrus fragments of the Achiles inside mummios. Deore from tho fre had boon discardod as rubbish and usod as stuffing forthe dead. The German scholar Bruno Snel pieced together the fragments 4 Since then Elias Malancris, a Greok author, ‘hag construct tho ont play, using other fragments from the summaries and parts of the liad to fll gaps. Aeschylus based fis tragedies on Homer so theres justification ‘or this pastiche. As a result we have rescued ‘rom oblivion the closest possible version to Aeschylus’ lost masterpiece '5 The fist porformance ofthe Achiles for 20 centuries will be performed in Cyprus next summer by the island's national theatre ‘company, Thoc. Andy Bargily, Thac's director, seid yesterday: "This isan amazing piece of reconstruction and detective work. The final product isa great work of dram 6 The play tells the story ofthe Greek warrior Achilles, whose bitter anger s the trigger that fires the liad. His story isa foundation ‘document of Wastern literature. Achilles is the first tragic hero, who chose @ shor life of glory toa long if of inconsequentaity tells of how he suiked in his tot, lent his armourto bis best friend Patroclus, revenged the ling cf Patroclus by Kling Hactor, and was killed himself by Prince Paris with an arow in his only vulnerable point, the Achilles tendon. Evoty schoolcild stl knows about Helen of, Troy ("Hel to ships, hel to men, hel to cities"), the Trojan Horse and the Trojan War. These are ‘ageless stories. Achilles and the liad created the frst Iterature to express pity for underdogs ‘and sympathy for man's condition, as wal as the archaic glory of blood and battles and careless gods, Aaschiylus wrote his tragedies about three ‘centuries after Homer and he draws heavily fn the language and morality of Homer. To recover 8 lost tragedy by him isa crown jowol in ‘toraturo, for Avechylus isthe fathor of tragody.. Ho livad from 825 to 4868C, and wrote between £80 and 90 plays (mostly tragedies, but including some satyrie dramas). However, unl today, ‘only seven of his plays had come down to us. Before Aeschylus, the primitive drama had only a chorus and a single actor exchanging verses. Aesehy/lus introduced a second actor tothe tragi stage, creating dramatic dialogue, and innovated costumes and scenery. He was the first dramatist to dare to put contemporary poltos onthe stage, in the Persians. (He fought agsins them at Marathon, whare his brother was killed, and possibly at Salamis.) His bost known and most mature work, the (Oresita trilogy, is a richly poatic and profound \work concerned with justice and mercy, divine will and te belief that humanity can ‘achieve wisdom through suffering He turned the primitive Attic goot-dances into grown. Up tragedy that sll has powor to tear the heartstrings. Now we have the oldest hottest ticket on the universal stage, the Achilles, Choose the most erage are Paragraph 3: vate ecting for Perearenh K_| Pawaraph 2 graph 3 ‘each paragraph, Paragraph & Paragraph 8: Paragraph 6: Paragraph 7 Paragraph & Paragraph 8Now for the oldest, hottest ticket on the universal stage > A Timeless classics of literature > B Why this rediscovered work is so important > c Missing, presumed lost oe D The mission of the Cyprus national theatre company > E Putting together the pieces F Politics in ancient literatureNow for the oldest, hottest ticket on the universal stage The importance of Aeschylus Found in unusual circumstances t Bringing Greek drama to schoolchildren J Achance to see a rediscovered masterpiece K An important discovery L A classic tale of rage, death and glory