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Euripides II: Helen / Hecuba / Andromache / The Trojan Women / Ion / Rhesus / The Suppliant Women
One of seven Modern Library volume comprising the complete greek tragedies
Helen
Hecuba
Andromache
The Trojan Women
Ion
Rhesus
The Suppliant Women
448 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1958
About the author
Euripides
2,614 books1,696 followersEuripides (Greek: Ευριπίδης) (ca. 480 BC–406 BC) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him, but the Suda says it was ninety-two at most. Of these, eighteen or nineteen have survived more or less complete (Rhesus is suspect). There are many fragments (some substantial) of most of his other plays. More of his plays have survived intact than those of Aeschylus and Sophocles together, partly because his popularity grew as theirs declined—he became, in the Hellenistic Age, a cornerstone of ancient literary education, along with Homer, Demosthenes, and Menander.
Euripides is identified with theatrical innovations that have profoundly influenced drama down to modern times, especially in the representation of traditional, mythical heroes as ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. This new approach led him to pioneer developments that later writers adapted to comedy, some of which are characteristic of romance. He also became "the most tragic of poets", focusing on the inner lives and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown. He was "the creator of ... that cage which is the theatre of William Shakespeare's Othello, Jean Racine's Phèdre, of Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg," in which "imprisoned men and women destroy each other by the intensity of their loves and hates". But he was also the literary ancestor of comic dramatists as diverse as Menander and George Bernard Shaw.
His contemporaries associated him with Socrates as a leader of a decadent intellectualism. Both were frequently lampooned by comic poets such as Aristophanes. Socrates was eventually put on trial and executed as a corrupting influence. Ancient biographies hold that Euripides chose a voluntary exile in old age, dying in Macedonia, but recent scholarship casts doubt on these sources.
Euripides is identified with theatrical innovations that have profoundly influenced drama down to modern times, especially in the representation of traditional, mythical heroes as ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. This new approach led him to pioneer developments that later writers adapted to comedy, some of which are characteristic of romance. He also became "the most tragic of poets", focusing on the inner lives and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown. He was "the creator of ... that cage which is the theatre of William Shakespeare's Othello, Jean Racine's Phèdre, of Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg," in which "imprisoned men and women destroy each other by the intensity of their loves and hates". But he was also the literary ancestor of comic dramatists as diverse as Menander and George Bernard Shaw.
His contemporaries associated him with Socrates as a leader of a decadent intellectualism. Both were frequently lampooned by comic poets such as Aristophanes. Socrates was eventually put on trial and executed as a corrupting influence. Ancient biographies hold that Euripides chose a voluntary exile in old age, dying in Macedonia, but recent scholarship casts doubt on these sources.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 9, 2024
And now I complete my reading of the ancient Greek tragedies: 31 extant tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, along with one satyr play by Euripides (Cyclops) and one spuriously attributed to him (Rhesus). That means seventeen Euripidean tragedies are completed with this reading of:
Helen (412 BC) is such a surprising reversal, as with Iphigenia in Tauris, the translator reversed the order of his introduction and the play. Together these are two reimaginings of the Trojan war altered by the gods. This is a powerful and beautifully written play. While it is useful to have read The Iliad, Euripides is riffing off of other legends as well, he introducing great variations to the story.
This narration introduces our namesake as a plaything of the gods. Which is a major theme of Greek epic and tragedy. As well, Helen is a unique presentation of the most important character who is hardly ever visible and has never been given a voice. Euripides does this very well, bringing women again and again to the forefront of his dramas, as this volume does well to showcase.
Hecuba (425 BC) was a second reading for me, and flows beautifully into the a pattern of strong women facing a crisis after war’s end. Here we see the lamentation of women for the loss of their warring men to become slaves of the victors.
Here we see referenced how 50 of Danaus’ daughters plotted to murder the 50 bridegrooms pledged by King Aegyptus. Here the theme of forces marriages and the cunning of women was victorious. Another case, related in The Argonautica presents another case of the Lemnian men’s return with Thracian war-conquered mistresses led to the wives collusion to revenge their loss of place in the bed, perhaps prefacing Medea’s own. It is this interconnected tapestry of the ancient Greek world that is referenced and repeated, with alterations. As in the following line by Polymestor, the treacherous Thracian king, blinded with the pin of a broach:
…indicating they ancient belief in light being emitted from the eyes.
Andromache (427 BC) carries on the war’s end motifs. The tribulations of Hector’s wife, Andromache, as she is gifted to Neoptolemus, Achilles’ son, as a slave prize of his valor. Neoptolemus is also married to Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen. The birth of a son by Andromache threatens Hermione, and with cameos by her father and later Orestes, this is an unforgettable tragic drama—perhaps my favorite among many great ones in this volume. The presence of Achilles’ father, Peleus, presence a rare chance to view this hero, who with Heracles and Jason chased the Golden Fleece, and also with Heracles, fought at Troy a generation before. Really an unbelievable chance to see his character and four generations of Phthian lords: Peleus, Achilles, Neoptolemus, and a young great grandson of Peleus by Andromache.
The Trojan Women (415 BC) is presented perfectly as a followup to Helen, Hecuba and Andromache. This time we have not even left the shores of Troy, and the immediacy of the city’s complete destruction.
the women face the decisions made by the ruling Atreus brothers on the division of the women to the noble warriors.
Ion (415 BC) is singular in telling an older story, before the Trojan War. It is a foundation story of Athens, and even Plato has a dialogue with Ion. What is great about Euripidean structure is how frequent the story is introduced by a god, here, by Hermes.
Rhesus (440 BC) was another reread for me. Given its spurious nature, it does have a different feel than other plays, and as pointed out by the translator Lattimore it tells a story of Book X of The Iliad, which is unknown in his other works. They tell either before, or after the war takes place. I need to rearead Book X to get an idea how the adventures of Odysseus and Diomedes differ. A great simple war adventure behind enemy lines.
The Suppliant Women (417 BC) is another one-off. It touches on my favorite Greek epic cycle, the Theban tragedy of house Oedipus. This play centers on the Argive king Adrastus and the mothers of those killed at the seven gates of Thebes pleading to Theseus to avenge the sacrilege of leaving the dead unburied. A great pitting of the noble king Theseus against the notorious King Creon, Oedipus’ uncle/brother-in-law (never not funny). The story is of the fate of his sons, Polynices and Eteocles.
Helen (412 BC) is such a surprising reversal, as with Iphigenia in Tauris, the translator reversed the order of his introduction and the play. Together these are two reimaginings of the Trojan war altered by the gods. This is a powerful and beautifully written play. While it is useful to have read The Iliad, Euripides is riffing off of other legends as well, he introducing great variations to the story.
They called me Helen. Let me tell you all the truth of what has happened to me. The three goddesses came to remote Ida, and to Paris, for him to judge their loveliness, and beauty was the cause. These were Hera, the Lady of Cyprus, and the Daughter of Zeus. But Aphrodite, promising my loveliness (if what is cursed is ever lovely) to the arms of Paris, won her away. Idaean Paris left his herds for Sparta, thinking I was to be his.
This narration introduces our namesake as a plaything of the gods. Which is a major theme of Greek epic and tragedy. As well, Helen is a unique presentation of the most important character who is hardly ever visible and has never been given a voice. Euripides does this very well, bringing women again and again to the forefront of his dramas, as this volume does well to showcase.
Hecuba (425 BC) was a second reading for me, and flows beautifully into the a pattern of strong women facing a crisis after war’s end. Here we see the lamentation of women for the loss of their warring men to become slaves of the victors.
Hecuba
Why?
Women killed
Aegyptus' sons. Women emptied Lemnos
of its males: we murdered every one. And so
it shall be here.
But of that I say no more.
Let this woman have your safe-conduct
through the army.
Here we see referenced how 50 of Danaus’ daughters plotted to murder the 50 bridegrooms pledged by King Aegyptus. Here the theme of forces marriages and the cunning of women was victorious. Another case, related in The Argonautica presents another case of the Lemnian men’s return with Thracian war-conquered mistresses led to the wives collusion to revenge their loss of place in the bed, perhaps prefacing Medea’s own. It is this interconnected tapestry of the ancient Greek world that is referenced and repeated, with alterations. As in the following line by Polymestor, the treacherous Thracian king, blinded with the pin of a broach:
Polymestor (from within)
Blind! Blind!
O light!
Light of my eyes!
…indicating they ancient belief in light being emitted from the eyes.
Andromache (427 BC) carries on the war’s end motifs. The tribulations of Hector’s wife, Andromache, as she is gifted to Neoptolemus, Achilles’ son, as a slave prize of his valor. Neoptolemus is also married to Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen. The birth of a son by Andromache threatens Hermione, and with cameos by her father and later Orestes, this is an unforgettable tragic drama—perhaps my favorite among many great ones in this volume. The presence of Achilles’ father, Peleus, presence a rare chance to view this hero, who with Heracles and Jason chased the Golden Fleece, and also with Heracles, fought at Troy a generation before. Really an unbelievable chance to see his character and four generations of Phthian lords: Peleus, Achilles, Neoptolemus, and a young great grandson of Peleus by Andromache.
EPODE
White-headed Peleus, I
Credit that tale: how at the Lapithae wedding
You with the tough centaurs fought
A spectacular fight! Then on the good ship Argo rounded the grim cape
Far beyond those Rolling Rocks few craft escape-What voyage more storied than yours?
Next you adventured with Heracles to Troy,
Where he, of the true stock of Zeus, hung garlands of carnage.
Your fame fast bound to Heracles,
You returned to the Greek seas.
The Trojan Women (415 BC) is presented perfectly as a followup to Helen, Hecuba and Andromache. This time we have not even left the shores of Troy, and the immediacy of the city’s complete destruction.
Poseidon
I am Poseidon. I come from the Aegean depths
of the sea beneath whose waters Nereid choirs evolve
the intricate bright circle of their dancing feet.
for since that day when Phoebus Apollo and I laid down
on Trojan soil the close of these stone walls, drawn
true and straight, there has always been affection in my heart
unfading, for these Phrygians and for their city;
which smolders now, fallen before the Argive spears,
ruined, sacked, gutted. Such is Athene's work, and his, the Parnassian, Epeius of Phocis, architect
and builder of the horse that swarmed with inward steel,
that fatal bulk which passed within the battlements,
whose fame hereafter shall be loud among men unborn,
the Wooden Horse, which hid the secret spears within.
Now the gods' groves are desolate, their thrones of power blood-spattered where beside the lift of the altar steps
of Zeus Defender, Priam was cut down and died.
The ships of the Achaeans load with spoils of Troy now, the piled gold of Phrygia. And the men of Greece
who made this expedition and took the city, stay
only for the favoring stern-wind now to greet their wives
and children after ten years' harvest wasted here.
the women face the decisions made by the ruling Atreus brothers on the division of the women to the noble warriors.
Ion (415 BC) is singular in telling an older story, before the Trojan War. It is a foundation story of Athens, and even Plato has a dialogue with Ion. What is great about Euripidean structure is how frequent the story is introduced by a god, here, by Hermes.
Hermes
Atlas, who wears on back of bronze the ancient Abode of gods in heaven, had a daughter Whose name was Maia, born of a goddess:
She lay with Zeus and bore me, Hermes, servant Of the immortals. I have come here to Delphi Where Phoebus sits at earth's mid-center, gives His prophecies to men, and passes judgment On what is happening now and what will come.
For in the famous city of the Greeks Called after Pallas of the Golden Spear, Phoebus compelled Erechtheus daughter Creusa To take him as her lover—in that place Below Athene's hill whose northern scarp The Attic lords have named the Long Rocks.
Rhesus (440 BC) was another reread for me. Given its spurious nature, it does have a different feel than other plays, and as pointed out by the translator Lattimore it tells a story of Book X of The Iliad, which is unknown in his other works. They tell either before, or after the war takes place. I need to rearead Book X to get an idea how the adventures of Odysseus and Diomedes differ. A great simple war adventure behind enemy lines.
The Suppliant Women (417 BC) is another one-off. It touches on my favorite Greek epic cycle, the Theban tragedy of house Oedipus. This play centers on the Argive king Adrastus and the mothers of those killed at the seven gates of Thebes pleading to Theseus to avenge the sacrilege of leaving the dead unburied. A great pitting of the noble king Theseus against the notorious King Creon, Oedipus’ uncle/brother-in-law (never not funny). The story is of the fate of his sons, Polynices and Eteocles.
July 11, 2022
Helen - ****
Hecuba - *****
Andromache - ****
The Trojan Women - *****
Ion - *****
Rhesus - *****
The Suppliant Women - *****
Total - 4.7
Hecuba - *****
Andromache - ****
The Trojan Women - *****
Ion - *****
Rhesus - *****
The Suppliant Women - *****
Total - 4.7
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews