Euripides
Personal Information
Description
Euripides was the last of the three great tragedians of classical Athens (the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles). Ancient scholars thought that Euripides had written ninety-five plays, although four of those were probably written by Critias. Eighteen or nineteen of Euripides' plays have survived complete. There has been debate about his authorship of Rhesus, largely on stylistic grounds and ignoring classical evidence that the play was his.Fragments, some substantial, of most of the other plays also survive. More of his plays have survived than those of Aeschylus and Sophocles together, because of the unique nature of the Euripidean manuscript tradition.
Books
The complete plays
Théâtre complet
Hippolytus
Euripides wrote two plays called Hippolytus. In this, the second, he dramatized the tragic failure of perfection. This translation comes in two forms; the first presents a simulacrum of the text as it might have appeared in unprocessed form to a reader sometime shortly after Euripides? death. The second processes the drama into the reduced but much more distinct form of modern print translations.
Cyclops
In ancient Greece, a brave warrior has angered powerful gods. They send violent storms and monsters to stop him from returning home. The murderous Cyclops is the worst of them. Will the warrior beat this cruel monster and will he make it home?
Children of Heracles
This edition and commentary provides an introduction to one of Euripides' less well-known plays, and describes the enormous value of the text for our understanding of Athenian drama, religion, and society. Despite the excellent commentaries of Elmsley (1821) and Pearson (1907), and powerful articles by Wilamowitz, the play has not been given the notice it deserves. This edition interprets the play in a wide cultural setting, considering unorthodox aspects of the structure of the drama, but placing particular emphasis on the cults and myths of Heracles in Attica, on his apotheosis and marriage, on his association with the young, and most of all on the two most striking rituals in the play: the voluntary self-sacrifice of the daughter of Heracles, and the conversion of Eurystheus from an enemy of Athens to a hero whose dead body will protect the city-state. The text is James Diggle's (Oxford Classical Texts 1984).
Euripides
In nine paperback volumes, the Grene and Lattimore editions offer the most comprehensive selection of the Greek tragedies available in English. Over the years these authoritative, critically acclaimed editions have been the preferred choice of over three million readers for personal libraries and individual study as well as for classroom use.