Starting with the Greeks - order

Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides

Get books on in each and read It cover to cover. You best have read Homer and Hesiod because myths and what comes after the Trojan war are a big deal.

>>9856313
This. I think more different reading is required though. For example when you want to read The Persians by Aeschylos you need the background information of Herodotus. I'd say also get started with the other major Greek works and sprinkle some plays in here and there. You don't need them that badly to understand the plays but they do give them another layer.

I've read the Illiad and know the basic gestalt of the Odyssey but it isn't a very appealing premise to me so I don't think I'll read it, at least not yet. I'm reading Hesiod's Theogony before starting with the plays but I was wondering more about the order of the plays than that of the authors. Oedipus at Colonus was written after the Antigones but it presents earlier events so I don't know which one to read first. That's kinda what I'm looking for here, the exact order of the plays (where relevant).
Also, how important is Herodotus? It looks like a huge undertaking and I haven't been able to find any good editions to pirate so it's going to be a pain reading a pretty shit pdf on Kindle.

>>9856819
here is a timeline of the performances, the closest thing to a publication order:
http://www.ancient.eu/timeline/Greek_Tragedy/

>>9856832
That's what I'm asking. Do I read them in the order they were publicized or is there a better way?
For example, chronological reading would mean Antigones, Oedipus Rex and then Oedipus at Colonus and that seems pretty obviously wrong to me.

>>9856819
You're approaching this problem in a really shitty way. Modern fantasy books are supposed to be read in release order since the world they present is completely new and the author exposes it adequately through each new book, ancient greek literature works in a different way, everyone is expected to know what happens in them beforehand since it's part of their culture, you can't just skip Homer if you want to understand any of it.

>>9856819
>know the basic gestalt of the Odyssey but it isn't a very appealing premise to me so I don't think I'll read it
hahahahaha you are going to skip the Odyssey. what the fuck.

>>9856819
>I'm going to skip one of the fundamental texts of the western world

>>9856819
>I don't think I'll read it
>how important is Herodotus?
Don't half ass it, m8.

>>9856819
Either you do the work (yes, it is work) or you don't do it at all and crawl back to your easily digested shitty YA books.

Torrent TTC lectures, there are a ton of them on the Greeks

>>9856605
I would like to add that you should also know Greek mythology pretty well. At least before reading a play, first look at the first page to find out who are the dramatis personae and before reading any further, educate yourself about the relevant mythological cycle.

>>9856290
>Aeschylus
The Persians
Seven Against Thebes
The Suppliants
Agamemnon
The Libation Bearers
Eumenides
Prometheus Bound

>Sophocles
Ajax
Women of Trachis
Antigone
Electra
Oedipus Rex
Philoctetes
Oedipus at Colonus

>Euripides
Alcestis
Medea
Hippolytus
Children of Heracles
The Suppliants
Andromache
Hecuba
Electra
Herakles
Ion
The Trojan Women
Iphigenia in Tauris
Helen
The Phoenician Women
Orestes
Iphigenia in Aulis
Bacchae

Also consider which translations you choose. Greek is much more flexible and usually more condensed than English, so the translation in English is unavoidably more prosaic and verbose, and some translations much more so than others. I personally prefer translations that follow the original as closely as possible, but there are different opinions.

Stop being faggots. I said I know what happens in the Odyssey. I know the setting and the characters mentioned in most of the plays(not all). I don't feel like trudging through 400 pages of hexameter about this one guy who has random shit happen to him while his kid is trying not to be a faggot while growing up. I should be fine so I just want to know the optimal reading order for the plays.

>>9857193
>Antigones before Oedipus Rex
Are you retarded?

>>9857248
I've started reading Homer in another language and now I'm used to that. I'll probably not read the plays in English so I should be fine. Reading the Theogony in English right now and it sucks ass compared to what I'm used to.

>>9857412
>Are you retarded?
it's a work by a much younger sophocles stfu

>>9857412
You're hopeless, go back to shitty YA brainlet

I wish i could get into the greeks too but everyone keeps bitching about translations so i just give up

Should i just pick any translation up and start reading?

Recently read The Epic of Gilgamesh and loved it. Any other notable literature worth reading between it Greek literature, or should I just dive into The Iliad?