In Alcestis, the heroine agrees to give up her own life to spare the life of her husband Admetus. A frequently cited example is Euripides' Medea, in which the deus ex machina is a dragon-drawn chariot sent by the sun god, used to convey his granddaughter Medea away from her husband Jason to the safety of Athens. More than half of Euripides' extant tragedies employ a deus ex machina in their resolution, and some critics claim that Euripides invented it, not Aeschylus.
Ancient examples Īeschylus used the device in his Eumenides, but it became an established stage machine with Euripides. The device is associated mostly with Greek tragedy, although it also appeared in comedies. Aeschylus introduced the idea, and it was used often to resolve the conflict and conclude the drama. The machine could be either a crane ( mechane) used to lower actors from above or a riser which brought them up through a trapdoor. The term was coined from the conventions of ancient Greek theater, where actors who were playing gods were brought onto stage using a machine.
Deus ex machina is a Latin calque from Greek ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός (apò mēkhanês theós) 'god from the machine'.
