Representation of women in Athenian tragedy Representation of women in Athenian tragedy The representation of women in Athenian tragedy was performed exclusively by men and it is likely (although the evidence is not conclusive) that it was performed solely for men as well. In a society that valued women’s silence, their predominance in the most public of Athenian art-forms constitutes a paradox. Only one of the surviving 32 plays has no female characters: Sophocles' "Philoctetes". Female tragic choruses also outnumber the male choruses by twenty-one to ten. Macaria, in the "Heracleidae" states that "for a woman, silence and self control are best." The philosopher Xenophon thought
Oedipus Rex "knows" that Peter will do this, but readers would in no way suggest that Peter was a puppet of fate being "forced" to deny Christ. Free will and predestination are by no means mutually exclusive, and such is the case with Oedipus. The oracle delivered to Oedipus what is often called a "self-fulfilling prophecy", in that the prophecy itself sets in motion events that conclude with its own fulfilment. This, however, is not to say that Oedipus is a victim of fate and has no free will. The oracle inspires a series of specific choices, freely made by Oedipus, which