"New" Play by Aeschylus rediscovered- in a mummy

orgionally reported by that same damn netscape news pop up


Look What They Found In a Mummy!
It's not just jewels, golden coins, and richly textured clothing that archaeologists have found buried in the tombs of Egyptian mummies. In recent years, they have found mummies that were stuffed with papyrus scrolls that contained words. Reuters reports that those words turned out to be the fragments of an original play written by Aeschylus, one of the greatest playwrights the world has ever known.


The play that has been found is a real treasure, perhaps more valuable than any mummy's jewels or gold. Called "Achilles," this trilogy about the Trojan War, was thought to have been lost forever when the Library of Alexandria burned to ashes in 48 BC.

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Historians knew the play existed because Aristophanes and other Greek playwrights of the time made mention of it. But there was no copy of it. Until now. Here is the most amazing part of the story: "Achilles" will be staged for the first time in summer 2004 in Cyprus and in Greece by Cyprus' national theater company, Thoc--more than 2,050 years after it was written.


Reuters notes that historians along with theater experts from Thoc drew on references to the trilogy by other ancient playwrights and the recently discovered papyrus texts to create what they believe is the closest possible adaptation of Aeschylus's masterpiece. "This is a new production, based on a very ancient text," Thoc director Andy Bargilly told Reuters. "We do think it is a faithful adaptation to a large extent, but nobody can say 100 percent." The story revolves around Achilles, the Trojan warrior who was supposed to be invincible until he was killed by his enemy Paris, who shot a poisoned arrow at Achilles' only vulnerable spot--his heel. The play tells of Achilles many encounters with death, as well as the slaying of Hector, the son of the King of Troy[/quote

well, pretty sweet stuff if you ask me, after all, its not often when you rediscover an origianal, and previeouslly unknown work by a playright up in shakespears league

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A Greek author, Elias Malandris, worked on the project for a decade, using the ancient texts, excerpts of Homer's Iliad and references to Achilles found in other Greek plays.

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