Book description
Written during the long battles with Sparta that were to ultimately
destroy ancient Athens, these six plays by Euripides brilliantly utilize
traditional legends to illustrate the futility of war. The Children of
Heracles holds a mirror up to contemporary Athens, while Andromache
considers the position of women in Greek wartime society. In The
Suppliant Women, the difference between just and unjust battle is
explored, while Phoenician Women describes the brutal rivalry of the
sons of King Oedipus, and the compelling Orestes depicts guilt caused by
vengeful murder. Finally, Iphigenia in Aulis, Euripides? last play,
contemplates religious sacrifice and the insanity of war. Together, the
plays offer a moral and political statement that is at once unique to
the ancient world, and prophetically relevant to our own. pides (c.
485-406 BC) is thought to have written 92 plays, only 18 of which
survive.
