Taking it further

If you want to find out more about the Amphiareion at Oropos, there is a useful overview of the sanctuary and the religious activity that went on there on the University of Warwick’s Greek Religion database: Amphiareion at Oropos [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .

If you’re interested in learning about the original language in which the inscriptions and texts you’ve read in this course were written, try this free introductory course: Getting started on Ancient Greek.

You may want to find out more about Amphiaraos’ mythological background. A good starting point would be to read the Athenian dramatist Aeschylus’ tragic play, Seven Against Thebes, first produced in 467 BCE. This play relays the dispute between the sons of Oedipus and the subsequent Argive expedition against Thebes (note that Amphiaraos is mentioned in this tragedy, although not as a main character). You may access the text freely via the Perseus Digital Library.

In Activity 10 you examined two sections of the Parthenon frieze of the Parthenon. You may wish to find out more about the Parthenon frieze, its iconography, and connection to the Panathenaia, which you can do so via the Parthenon frieze’s website.

In this course you have been introduced to a festival, the Great Amphiaraia. You may wish to explore videos about other festivals in the Greek and Roman world and think about their implications in relation to personal and polis religion. The videos are freely available on this Classical Studies: festivals page.

This course is part of a series of courses under the title HeadStart Classical Studies. You can find details about this series as well as links to its other courses on this page.