So how does the cinematic universe of Greek plays work? I had never read any before outside of school, and I just started reading Ajax and I feel like I've been thrown into the middle of an on-going series. Like Odysseus is in it, he's a big guy, Homer wrote a book about him. They mention Achilles, I know he has a story too.
Is it like comics, how there are iconic characters and then different writers will add to their lore? Are there also shit playwrights that might have the mythical characters but have shit stories that no one cares about? Are there like weird obscure fan fiction plays about B-tier characters? (After I am familiar with the major stuff, I would kind of like to read these weird obscure fan fictions about B-tier characters if they exist.)
Is there like a comprehensive /lit/ chart for this?
Just read a book on Greek mythology
Basically most Greeks would be taught the different stories from birth, so they'd be familiar with the characters and stories if they were to watch a play.
It's (sort of) like how there's different retellings and interpretations of Snow White
>>8248075
>cinematic universe
When will this meme die?
But seriously, only some of the works Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides have survived, so you're not going to be able to find B-Tier shit/weird obscure fan fiction from other contemporary classical writers, even if they most certainly existed at some point.
There's usually a reason shit doesn't make it. Just like 99.9% of the shit produced in these "cinematic universes" of today will not make it to the year 4000.
Just read something like Schwab's collection of Greek myths and you'll be able to orient yourself in these works easily.
>Is it like comics, how there are iconic characters and then different writers will add to their lore? Are there also shit playwrights that might have the mythical characters but have shit stories that no one cares about? Are there like weird obscure fan fiction plays about B-tier characters?
Yes, no and no. There probably were shitty writers but we don't know about them, since only the best plays survived. (inb4 some faggot starts shitting on Euripides)
>>8248096
>so you're not going to be able to find B-Tier shit/weird obscure fan fiction from other contemporary classical writers
You can find B-tier shit from the big three though
There are basically two "epic traditions" you should be familiar with: one is the Theban Cycle (Seven Against Thebes, everything involving Oedipus, etc.), the other is the Epic Cycle + Homeric poems (Trojan war).
The playwrights used this traditional material as sources for their plays, sorta like Shakespeare.
Also keep in mind that for the Greeks their mythology was not exactly "fixed", there isn't really a hard line between what is canonical and what is "B-tier fan fictions". Homer shows his characters coming up with variations on traditional myths, for example the story of Niobe in book 24.
>>8248108
Ha. Probably. I haven't read all of them.
>>8248092
>Basically most Greeks would be taught the different stories from birth
Ahh, okay that explains it.
>>8248096
>Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides
Okay nice I will stick with them, plus Homer.
>>8248110
Thanks, this is useful.
Kind of off-topic, but are there any play/poems from the Greek era but that are kind of dark and spooky like King Lear and Macbeth?
>>8248192
Or not necessarily from the Greek era, but just from a long time ago that do a good job of portraying people's fears and superstitions.
