Book description
Through their sheer range, daring innovation, flawed but eloquent
characters and intriguing plots, the plays of Euripides have shocked and
stimulated audiences since the fifth century BC. Phoenician Women
portrays the rival sons of King Oedipus and their mother's doomed
attempts at reconciliation, while Orestes shows a son ravaged with guilt
after the vengeful murder of his mother. In the Bacchae, a king
mistreats a newcomer to his land, little knowing that he is the god
Dionysus disguised as a mortal, while in Iphigenia at Aulis, the Greek
leaders take the horrific decision to sacrifice a princess to gain
favour from the gods in their mission to Troy. Finally, the Rhesus
depicts a world of espionage between the warring Greek and Trojan camps.
EURIPIDES (C. 484-406 B. C.) was one of the three great tragedians of
classical Athens, along with Aeschylus and Sophocles; he is the
youngest of the three. He is believed to have written 92 dramas, but
only 19 of them are now known.
John Davie is Head of Classics at St Paul's School in London.
Richard Rutherford is Tutor in Greek and Latin Literature at Christ
Church, Oxford.
