Books by Euripides

Book SynopsisEuripides (c. 485–406 BCE) has been prized in every age for his emotional and intellectual drama. Eighteen of his ninety or so plays survive complete, including Medea, Hippolytus, and Bacchae, one of the great masterpieces of the tragic genre. Fragments of his lost plays also survive.Trade ReviewEuripides keeps us on the edge of our seats, whipping up pity, fear, surprise and shock in large doses...The splendid new two-volume Loeb edition of the fragments of Euripides, of which the second volume has just appeared, is a comforting reminder that we actually have fairly substantial knowledge of many Euripidean "lost" plays as well. -- Emily Wilson * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisThis translation with notes is primarily for classroom use. It aims to be true to the basic meaning of the text and tries to bring across some of the beauty of the poetry as well as the rhetorical power of the dialogue and speeches.Trade ReviewThis is a very useful edition, excellent for classroom purposes. The translation is clear and lively, and several students commented on how much they enjoyed it. The introduction provides an excellent overview of the issues in the play, as well as of earlier scholarship, making it a good resource for more advanced classes. The cover photo is an added bonus and provided the starting point for stimulating class discussion. --James B. Rives, York UniversityAn excellent translation which captures Bacchae's combination of colloquial and lyric language. The Notes and Introduction are also very helpful. --Mary-Kay Gamel, University of California, Santa Cruz

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Book SynopsisTHE ACCLAIMED TRANSLATION BY ROBIN ROBERTSON (FORWARD PRIZE, MAN BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLIST 2018)Euripides' Medea, the brutally powerful ancient Greek tragedy that reverberates down the centuries, has been brought to fresh and urgent life by one of our best modern poets.Medea has been betrayed.Trade ReviewThe purpose of translation is to set a play free. This is just what Robin Robertson does. In his lucid, free-running verse, Medea's power is released into the world, fresh and appalling, in words that seem spoken for the first time. -- Anne EnrightThe greatest works demand constant re-translation to meet the changing culture of the age, and Robin Robertson has given us a Medea fit for our times; his elegant and lucid free translation of Euripides' masterpiece manages the trick of sounding wholly contemporary but never merely 'modern' - and will be an especially lucky discovery for those encountering the play for the first time. -- Don PatersonRobertson is master of the dark and wounded, the torn complexities of human relations, and Medea offers a perfect match for his sensibilities. This is an urgent, contemporary and eloquent translation -- A.L. KennedyThis version of Medea is vivid, strong, readable, and brings triumphantly into modern focus the tragic sensibility of the ancient Greeks -- John BanvilleHis version of Medea feels newly minted thanks to the pitch perfection of his linguistic choices. Robertson's skill lies in bringing the words of a long dead Greek to life, not merely to live but to cavort in the mind's ear * Scotland on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisEuripides (c. 485–406 BCE) has been prized in every age for his emotional and intellectual drama. Eighteen of his ninety or so plays survive complete, including Medea, Hippolytus, and Bacchae, one of the great masterpieces of the tragic genre. Fragments of his lost plays also survive.

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Book SynopsisThree of the most famous tragedies from Ancient Greece, all featuring female protagonists - in modern, much-performed translations. This volume, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classic Collections series, contains: Antigone by Sophocles, translated by Marianne McDonald. The first great 'resistance' drama, and perhaps the definitive Greek tragedy. Bacchae by Euripides, translated by Kenneth McLeish and Frederic Raphael. The story of revenge by the half-man half-god Dionysos on Pentheus, King of Thebes, and all his people. Medea by Euripides, translated by Kenneth McLeish and Frederic Raphael. The powerful myth of Medea, who murders her children as revenge for her husband's infidelity.

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Book SynopsisEuripides (ca. 485–406 BC) has been prized in every age for his emotional and intellectual drama. Eighteen of his ninety or so plays survive complete, including Medea, Hippolytus, and Bacchae, one of the great masterpieces of the tragic genre. Fragments of his lost plays also survive.Trade ReviewA well-executed and stimulating production. * Classical Review *An excellent 48-page general introduction… The translation…is close to the Greek and reads fluently and well. All in all this is an excellent little volume. * Greece and Rome *Both experts and generalists will benefit from the work of this experienced Euripidean scholar. -- John E. Thorburn * Religious Studies Review *

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Book SynopsisFour plays which exemplify his interest in flawed, characters who defy the expectations of Greek society The four tragedies collected in this volume all focus on a central character, once powerful, brought down by betrayal, jealousy, guilt and hatred. The first playwright to depict suffering without reference to the gods, Euripides made his characters speak in human terms and face the consequences of their actions. In Medea, a woman rejected by her lover takes hideous revenge by murdering the children they both love, and Hecabe depicts the former queen of Troy, driven mad by the prospect of her daughter's sacrifice to Achilles. Electra portrays a young woman planning to avenge the brutal death of her father at the hands of her mother, while in Heracles the hero seeks vengeance against the evil king who has caused bloodshed in his family. Philip Vellacott's lucid translation is accompanied by an introduction, which discusses the literary background of Classical Athens aTable of ContentsMedea and Other PlaysIntroductionMedeaHecabeElectraHeraclesNotes

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Book SynopsisNow in paperback.Euripides, the last of the three great tragedians of ancient Athens, reached the height of his renown during the disastrous Peloponnesian War, when democratic Athens was brought down by its own outsized ambitions. “Euripides,” the classicist Bernard Knox has written, “was born never to live in peace with himself and to prevent the rest of mankind from doing so.” His plays were shockers: he unmasked heroes, revealing them as foolish and savage, and he wrote about the powerless-women and children, slaves and barbarians-for whom tragedy was not so much exceptional as unending. Euripides’ plays rarely won first prize in the great democratic competitions of ancient Athens, but their combustible mixture of realism and extremism fascinated audiences throughout the Greek world. In the last days of the Peloponnesian War, Athenian prisoners held captive in far-off Sicily were said to have won their freedom by reciting snatches of Euripides’ latest tragedies.Four of those tragedies are presented here in new translations by the contemporary poet and classicist Anne Carson. They are Herakles, in which the hero swaggers home to destroy his own family; Hekabe, set after the Trojan War, in which Hektor’s widow takes vengeance on her Greek captors; Hippolytos, about love and the horror of love; and the strange tragic-comedy fable Alkestis, which tells of a husband who arranges for his wife to die in his place. The volume also contains brief introductions by Carson to each of the plays along with two remarkable framing essays: “Tragedy: A Curious Art Form” and “Why I Wrote Two Plays About Phaidra.”

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Book Synopsis Bryn Mawr Commentaries provide clear, concise, accurate, and consistent support for students making the transition from introductory and intermediate texts to the direct experience of ancient Greek and Latin literature. They assume that the student will know the basics of grammar and vocabulary and then provide the specific grammatical and lexical notes that a student requires to begin the task of interpretation. Hackett Publishing Company is the exclusive distributor of the Bryn Mawr Commentaries in North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe.

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Book SynopsisThis stunning translation, by the acclaimed poet Robin Robertson (Forward Prize, Man Booker shortlist 2018), has reinvigorated Euripides'' devastating take of a god''s revenge for contemporary readers, bringing the ancient verse to fervid, brutal life.Dionysus, god of wine and ecstasy, has come to Thebes, and the women are streaming out of the city to worship him on the mountain, drinking and dancing in wild frenzy. The king, Pentheus, denouces this so-called ''god'' as a charlatan. But no mortal can deny a god and no man can ever stand against Dionysus.''The dialogue is taut, volcanic and often exquisitely beautiful... Euripides deserves to have his exquisite verse transformed into modern speech, and in Robertson I believe he has found a poet who can do that.'' Edith Hall, Literary ReviewTrade Review‘Euripides’s Bacchae is one of the most powerful poems in Greek literature...one of the hardest texts in Western literature to translate. The astute Scottish poet Robin Robertson has already shown with his Medea, published in 2008, that he can translate Euripides into chiselled English poetry ripe for theatrical delivery. Bacchae is even better. In the choral odes, sung by the titular Bacchants, he has radiantly evoked the ritual solemnity, supported by assonance and percussive drive, that makes these sung poems so otherworldly. The dialogue is taut, volcanic and often exquisitely beautiful... Euripides deserves to have his exquisite verse transformed into modern speech, and in Robertson I believe he has found a poet who can do that. This translation cries out for realisation by multiple voices on radio or in live theatre -- Edith Hall * Literary Review *Robin Robertson is the great Euripides translator of our time. The clarity and power of his Medea is unmatched, and his Bacchae is just as direct, unhindered and fluid, perfect for revealing such madness. -- David VannI can recommend the clarity of the translation...Robertson maintains a robust and exuberant style. It’s time to brush up on our Greek theatre and here’s a stunning chance -- Grace Cavalieri * Washington Independent Review of Books *It's 2,400 years old, yet it is so compelling and absolutely modern -- Deborah WarnerI portray men as they should be, but Euripides portrays them as they are -- Sophocles, Aristotle's 'Poetics'

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Book SynopsisThe plays of Euripides have stimulated audiences since the fifth century BC. This volume, containing Phoenician Women, Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulis, Orestes, and Rhesuscompletes the new editions of Euripides in Penguin Classics.Features a general introduction, individual prefaces to each play, chronology, notes, bibliography, and glossaryTable of ContentsThe Bacchae and Other PlaysPreface to the Second EditionIntroductionIonThe Women Of TroyHelenThe BacchaeNotes to IonNotes to HelenNotes to The Bacchae

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Book SynopsisOf all the ancient Greek tragedians, Euripides was the most sensitive to the lives of women and other outcasts in Athenian society, and Electra and Other Plays collects five plays demonstrating his talent for bringing to life their plight. This Penguin Classics edition is translated by John Davie with an introduction and notes by Richard Rutherford.Written during a period overshadowed by the fierce struggle for supremacy between Sparta and Euripides'' native Athens, these five plays are haunted by the shadow of war - and in particular its impact on women. In Electra the children of Agamemnon take bloody revenge on their mother for murdering their father after his return from Troy, and Suppliant Women depicts the grieving mothers of those killed in battle. The other plays deal with the aftermath of the Trojan War for the defeated survivors, as Andromache shows Hector''s widow as a trophy of war in the house of her Greek captor, and Hecabe portrays a defeated queen avenging the murder of her last-remaining son, while Trojan Women tells of the plight of the city''s women in the hands of their victors.John Davie''s compelling translations are accompanied by an introduction by Richard Rutherford describing the tragic genre and Euripides innovations, along with a chronology, prefaces to each play, notes, a bibliography and a glossary of names.Euripides (c.485-07 BC) was an Athenian born into a family of considerable rank. Disdaining the public duties expected of him, Euripides spent a life of quiet introspection, spending much of his life in a cave on Salamis. Late in life he voluntarily exiled himself to the court of Archelaus, King of Macedon, where he wrote The Bacchae, regarded by many as his greatest work. Euripides is thought to have written 92 plays, only 18 of which survive.If you enjoyed Electra and Other Plays, you might like Euripides'' Medea and Other Plays, also available in Penguin Classics.''The most intensely tragic of all the poets''AristotleTable of ContentsElectra and Other PlaysGeneral IntroductionNote on the TextChronological TableTranslator's NotePreface to AndromacheAndromachePreface to HecabeHecabePreface to Suppliant WomenSuppliant WomenPreface to ElectraElectraPreface to Trojan WomenTrojan WomenNotesBibliographyGlossary of Mythological and Geographical Names

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Book SynopsisThe plays of Euripides have stimulated audiences since the fifth century BC. This volume, containing Phoenician Women, Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulis, Orestes, and Rhesuscompletes the new editions of Euripides in Penguin Classics.Features a general introduction, individual prefaces to each play, chronology, notes, bibliography, and glossaryTable of ContentsThe Bacchae and Other PlaysGeneral IntroductionChronological TableNote on the TextTranslator's NotePreface to Phoenician WomenPhoenician WomenPreface to OrestesOrestesPreface to BacchaeBacchaePreface to Iphigenia at AulisIphigenia at AulisPreface to RhesusRhesusNotesBibliographyGlossary of Mythological and Geographical Names

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Book SynopsisAn accessible prose translation that is accompanied by a general introduction and individual prefaces to each play.Table of ContentsMedea and Other PlaysGeneral IntroductionNote on the TextChronological TableTranslator's NotePreface to AlcestisAlcestisPreface to MedeaMedeaPreface to The Children of HeracleaThe Children of HeraclesPreface to HippolytusHippolytusNotesBibliographyGlossary of Mythological and Geographical Names

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Book SynopsisA translation and interpretation of one of Euripides' plays, this version reveals the formal beauty and thematic concentration of the Alcestis. The late William Arrowsmith presents the play as a drama of human existence with recognizably human characters who also represent masked embodiments of human conditions.Trade Review"The thoughtful introduction and notes will attract the intelligent reader. The translation itself is accurate and of high Literary quality."--Patricia P. Matsen, University of South Carolina"A fine translation with very useful introduction, notes, and glossary."--Diane Arnson Svarlien, Georgetown College"Translations should be readable poetry in their own right. DiPiero succeeds and is honest about how he does it."--Haydn Lewis Gilmore, Marywood College"I like this edition better than the Chicago translation."--Nancy Evans, Smith College

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Book SynopsisBased on the conviction that only translators who write poetry themselves can properly recreate the celebrated and timeless tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the Greek Tragedy in New Translations series offers new translations that go beyond the literal meaning of the Greek in order to evoke the poetry of the originals. Under the general editorship of the late William Arrowsmith and Herbert Golder, each volume includes a critical introduction, commentary on the text, full stage directions, and a glossary of the mythical and geographical references in the plays. This vital translation of Euripides'' Electra recreates the prize-winning excitement of the original play. Electra, obsessed by dreams of avenging her father''s murder, impatiently awaits the return of her exiled brother Orestes. When he arrives, the play mounts toward its first climax, a tender recognition scene. From that moment on, Electra uses Orestes as her instrument of vengeance. They kill their mother''s

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Book SynopsisOne of Euripides'' late plays, Ion is a complex enactment of the changing relations between the human and divine orders and the way in which our understanding of the gods is mediated and re-visioned by myths. The story begins years before the play begins, with the rape of the mortal Kreousa, queen of Athens, by Apollo. Kreousa bears Apollos'' child in secret then abandons it. Unbeknownst to her, Apollo has the child brought to his temple at Delphi to be reared by the priestess as ward of the shrine. Many years later, Kreousa, now married to the foreigner Xouthos but childless, comes to Delphi seeking prophecy about children. Apollo, however, speaking through the oracle, bestows the temple ward, Ion, on Xouthos as his child. Enraged, Kreousa conspires to kill as an interloper the very son she has despaired of finding. After mother and son both try to kill each other, the priestess reveals the birth tokens that permit Kreousa to recognize and embrace the child she thought was dead. Ion discovers the truth of his parentage and departs for Athens, as a mixed blood of humanity and divinity, to participate in the life of the polis. In Ion, disturbing riptides of thought and feeling run just below the often shimmering surfaces of Euripidean melodrama. Although the play contains some of Euripides'' most beautiful lyrical writing, it quivers throughout with near disasters, poorly informed actions and misdirected intentions that almost result in catastrophe. Kreousa says at one point that good and evil do not mix, but Euripides'' argument, and what the youthful Ion strives to understand, is that human beings are not only compounded of good and evil, but that the two are often the same thing differently experienced, differently understood, just as beauty and violence are mixed both in the gods and in the mortal world.Trade Review"A comprehensive introduction by Peter Burian explores major themes and structures."--Publishers Weekly "A very readable and passionate translation. Euripides' pathos comes out well."--Clifford Broenimur, University of Massachusetts at Amherst "Thanks for an excellent version of this important text."--Professor David Hopes, UNCA "Euripedes' Ion has much to recommend it to today's reader or dramatic producer....Ion can be used in myth-courses (an excellent text on Apollo), drama-in-translation courses, and also women-in-antiquity courses, since Kreousa exemplifies in miniature the plight of ancient women....The new addition to the Greek Tragedies in New Translatioins...presents a marvellously balanced introduction to the play."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review "A comprehensive introduction by Peter Burian explores major themes and structures."--Publishers Weekly "A very readable and passionate translation. Euripides' pathos comes out well."--Clifford Broenimur, University of Massachusetts at Amherst "Thanks for an excellent version of this important text."--Professor David Hopes, UNCA "Euripedes' Ion has much to recommend it to today's reader or dramatic producer....Ion can be used in myth-courses (an excellent text on Apollo), drama-in-translation courses, and also women-in-antiquity courses, since Kreousa exemplifies in miniature the plight of ancient women....The new addition to the Greek Tragedies in New Translatioins...presents a marvellously balanced introduction to the play."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review

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Book SynopsisEuripides'' Bakkhai is the staple of the canon of Greek tragedy and is required or strongly recommended reading for most undergraduate Classics majors. It also surfaces quite often in non-classics courses focusing on tragedy because its structure and thematics offer exemplary models of the classic tragic elements. The plot of Bakkhai centers around the actions of Pentheus, King of Thebes, who refused to recognise the god Dionysus or permit Thebans to worship him. In revenge, Dionysus drove Pentheus mad, made him cross-dress as a maenad, sent him to worship the god he had spurned, and made his mother, Agave, mistake him for a wild beast and rip him to shreds. Gibbons, a prize-winning poet, and Segal, a renowned classicist, are both leaders in their professions and are well-suited to take on this central text of Greek tragedy. This edition includes an introduction, a new translation, notes on the text, and a glossary.Trade Reviewthis translation merits serious thought for classroom and even scholarly use. Of particular interest is Segal's extensive reconstruction of the lacunae that mar the end of the Bakkhai, including the so-called compositio membrorum of Pentheus. * Thomas E. Jenkins, Trinity University *Gibbons ... has crafted a lyrical verse translation that displays an evident understanding of and respect fo the source text. * Thomas E. Jenkins, Trinity University *This is a lovely, thoughtful edition of the play, and between Gibbon's sturdy verse and Segal's sensitive notes, one can hardly go wrong in assigning the text to an introductory literature class. And even more advanced students of Greek tragedy will wish to examine Segal's valuable appendix on the compositio membrorum, a succinct and insightful bit of scholarship in its own right. * Thomas E. Jenkins, Trinity University *

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Book SynopsisIn Herakles, Euripides reveals with great subtlety and complexity the often brutal underpinnings of our social arrangements. The play enacts a thoroughly contemporary dilemma about the relationship between personal and state violence to civic order . Of all of Euripides'' plays, this is his most skeptically subversive examination of myth, morality, and power. The play depicts Herakles being driven mad by Hera, the wife of Zeus. Hera hates Herakles because he is one of Zeus'' children born of adultery. In his madness, Herakles is driven to murder his own wife and children, and he eventually exiles himself to Athens. The volume includes a new translation, an introduction, notes on the text, and a glossary.

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Book SynopsisA new translation of a long-neglected Greek drama that has become increasingly popular in classrooms and on the stage. The two editors, Alan Shapiro and Peter Burian, a poet and classicist, collaborated previously on The Oresteia. This is the final volume of the Greek Tragedy in New Translations series.Trade ReviewShapiro's poetic translation works not just as a rendering of Greek, but as a good, at times gripping, English Literature script. * Maxine Lewis, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction On the Translation Trojan Women Notes on the Text Glossary For Further Reading

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Book SynopsisCollected here for the first time in the series are three major plays by Euripides: Bacchae, translated by Reginald Gibbons and Charles Segal, a powerful examination of the horror and beauty of Dionysiac ecstasy; Herakles, translated by Tom Sleigh and Christian Wolff, a violent dramatization of the madness and exile of one of the most celebrated mythical figures; and The Phoenician Women, translated by Peter Burian and Brian Swamm, a disturbing interpretation of the fate of the House of Laios following the tragic fall of Oedipus. These three tragedies were originally available as single volumes. This volume retains the informative introductions and explanatory notes of the original editions and adds a single combined glossary and Greek line numbers.Table of ContentsBacchae ; Herakles ; The Phoenician Women

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Book SynopsisThis volume collects for the first time four plays of Euripides in the acclaimed Greek Tragedy in New Translations series, each previously published individually: Alcestis, Medea, Helen, and Cyclops.Table of ContentsEditors' Foreword ; Alcestis the Late William Arrowsmith, founder of the Greek Tragedy in New Translations series ; Introduction ; Alcestis ; Notes ; Medea, Michael Collier, University of Maryland; Georgia Machemer, Duke University ; Introduction ; Medea ; Notes ; Helen, Peter Burian ; Introduction ; Helen ; Notes ; Cyclops, Heather McHugh, University of Washington; David Konstan, Brown University ; Introduction ; Cyclops ; Notes ; Glossary ; For Further Reading

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Book SynopsisEuripides'' Hippolytos tells of an honourable youth''s tragic death, contrived by his father in the false belief that his son had seduced his new wife. This edition of the play is intended for students and scholars alike. The detailed commentary deals with textual problems in full, but wherever possible the editor has sought to explain the text adopted before discussing the reasons for its adoption. It also includes a close analysis of the lyric metres, and discussion of the play''s subject-matter and dramatic context.The text is based on new collations of the medieval manuscripts (two of them hitherto uncollated) and on all known papyri. The Introduction contains a reappraisal, in the light of the evidence of the papyri, of the history of the text in antiquity, and advances a new account of the relationship between the medieval manuscripts. There is also a full discussion of the early history of the legend and of the two lost tragedies on the same theme.Trade Review`profoundly learned and supremely intelligent book ... a truly great achievement' Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones, Journal of Hellenic Studies`This book ... deserves the careful attention of everyone seriously interested in Greek literature.' Journal of Hellenic Studies'celebrated edition ... I can think of no better advertisement for this type of scholarship which may be unfashionable but still has so much to offer.' Greece & Rome, April 1993

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Book SynopsisHecuba The Trojan Women AndromacheIn the three great war plays contained in this volume Euripides subjects the sufferings of Troy''s survivors to a harrowing examination.The horrific brutality which both women and children undergo evokes a response of unparalleled intensity in the playwright whom Aristotle called the most tragic of the poets. Yet the new battleground of the aftermath of war is one in which the women of Troy evince an overwhelming greatness of spirit. We weep for the aged Hecuba in her name play and in The Trojan Women, yet we respond with an at times appalled admiration to her resilience amid unrelieved suffering. Andromache, the slave-concubine of her husband''s killer, endures her existence in the victor''s country with a Stoic nobility. Of their time yet timeless, these plays insist on the victory of the female spirit amid the horrors visited on them by the gods and men during war. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewI imagine that everyone who teaches Greek tragedy in translation entertains a mental wish list for the ideal classroom text. . . . The volume under review, the third in a series of translations of selected plays of Euripides by the team of James Morwood and Edith Hall, comes closer to meeting these criteria than any other with which I am familiar; it is thus welcome indeed . . . This is a translation I shall definietly be ordering for my classes * Bryn Mawr Classical Review 20/09/01 *Review from other book by this author 'Morwood's prose translations read smoothly and reflect current, idiomatic English speech...the impressively ample and up-to-date select bibliography, genuinely helpful explanatory notes for each play, useful discussion of Euripides' thought and style, and the concise, informative background information about the world in which Euripides lived all contribute to the value of this book' Review of Medea and Other Plays * Choice *Table of ContentsHecuba ; The Trojan Women ; Andromache

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Book SynopsisThis is the fourth volume of Euripides plays in new translation. The four plays it contains, Ion, Orestes, The Phoenician Women and The Suppliant Women, explore ethical and political themes, contrasting the claims of patriotism with family loyalty, pragmatism with justice, the idea that 'might is right' with the ideal of clemency.Table of ContentsIon ; Orestes ; The Phoenician Women ; The Suppliant Women

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Book SynopsisFeatures a story of the wronged wife who avenges herself upon her unfaithful husband by murdering their children is lodged securely in the popular imagination, a touchstone for politics, law, and psychoanalysis and the subject of constant retellings and reinterpretations.Trade Review"Taplin's eminently readable version of this harrowing tragedy justifies his reputation as one of our foremost experts in dramatic criticism, whose pioneering efforts in illuminating ancient stagecraft remain indispensable today." -Froma Zeitlin, Princeton University "Euripides's influential and provocative Medea continues to be read, performed, adapted, and reinterpreted in multiple contexts across the globe. Taplin's accessible and performable, yet vivid and poetic translation makes the play available to a modern audience while doing justice to both its complexities and its horrific power." -Helene P. Foley, Barnard College, Columbia University "Taplin translates Medea into clear and contemporary English while reflecting well the different registers and tones that create the subtle texture of Greek tragedy. His version is eminently speakable, but also highly faithful to the original Greek, making it ideal for instructors and readers who want to study closely the specific metaphors and terms that carry the classic themes of this influential drama." -Donald J. Mastronarde, University of California, Berkeley

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Book SynopsisOffers translations of Euripides' Medea, The Children of Heracles, Andromache, and Iphigenia among the Taurians, fragments of lost plays by Aeschylus, and the surviving portion of Sophocles' The Trackers. In this title, introductions for each play offer information about its first production, plot, and reception in antiquity and beyond.

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Book SynopsisOffers translations of Euripides' Medea, The Children of Heracles, Andromache, and Iphigenia among the Taurians, fragments of lost plays by Aeschylus, and the surviving portion of Sophocles' The Trackers. In this title, introductions for each play offer information about its first production, plot, and reception in antiquity and beyond.

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Book SynopsisOffers translations of Euripides' "Medea", "The Children of Heracles", "Andromache", and "Iphigenia among the Taurians", fragments of lost plays by Aeschylus, and the surviving portion of Sophocles' "The Trackers". In this title, introductions for each play offer information about its first production, plot, and reception in antiquity and beyond.

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Book SynopsisOffers translations of Euripides' Medea, The Children of Heracles, Andromache, and Iphigenia among the Taurians, fragments of lost plays by Aeschylus, and the surviving portion of Sophocles' The Trackers. In this title, introductions for each play offer information about its first production, plot, and reception in antiquity and beyond.

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Book SynopsisOffers translations of Euripides' "Medea", "The Children of Heracles", "Andromache", and "Iphigenia among the Taurians", fragments of lost plays by Aeschylus, and the surviving portion of Sophocles' "The Trackers". In this title, introductions for each play offer information about its first production, plot, and reception in antiquity and beyond.

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Book SynopsisOffers translations of Euripides' Medea, The Children of Heracles, Andromache, and Iphigenia among the Taurians, fragments of lost plays by Aeschylus, and the surviving portion of Sophocles' The Trackers. In this title, introductions for each play offer information about its first production, plot, and reception in antiquity and beyond.

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Book SynopsisOffers translations of Euripides' Medea, The Children of Heracles, Andromache, and Iphigenia among the Taurians, fragments of lost plays by Aeschylus, and the surviving portion of Sophocles' The Trackers. In this title, introductions for each play offer information about its first production, plot, and reception in antiquity and beyond.

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Book SynopsisThis Norton Critical Edition, edited by one of the pre-eminent scholars in the field, gathers together research on this Greek tragedy, bringing Medea to life for a contemporary audience.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Poochigian’s translation is a triumph—a remarkably lucid and vibrant rendition... The script’s language is precise yet sonorous, expertly constructed in iambic pentameter to both moving and chilling effect. " -- Aram Kouyoumdjian - Asbarez"By far the most theatrically assured rendition of the play I’ve encountered. The fluid translation by Aaron Poochigian is as mercurial as the staging." -- Charles McNulty - The Los Angeles Times

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Book SynopsisEuripides takes the old myth of Orestes' and Elektra's revenge on their mother Klytemnestra for their father Agamemnon's murder and reinterprets it in realistic, human terms. This translation was first performed together with 'Orestes and Iphigeneia in Tauris' as 'Agamemnon's Children' at the Gate Theatre, London, in 1995.Trade Review"'Euripides, the Athenian playwright who dared to question the whims of wanton gods, has always been the most intriguing of the Greek tragedians. Now, with translations aimed at the stage rather than the page, his restless intellect strikes the chord it always should have... a remarkable achievement both in itself and in reclaiming Euripides as a playwright whose works are still gloriously alive' Evening Standard"

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Book SynopsisThe Greek fleet assembles at the bay of Aulis in readiness to launch an attack on Troy, but the wind suddenly drops and the ships stand idle. Don Taylor's translation is faithful to Euripides' original, and the play confronts us with themes of war and humanity, as valid today as when written over two thousand years ago.

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsIntroduction A Note on This Translation Dramatis Personae Medea Notes Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisOffers a detailed literary and cultural analysis of Euripides' Helen, a work which arguably embodies the variety and dynamism of fifth-century Athenian tragedy more than any other surviving play. The Commentary's notes on language and style make the play fully accessible to readers of Greek at all levels.Trade Review"Allan's commentary is a valuable and needed contribution to the study and dissemination of Euripides' Helen. It is rich in contextual information, straightforward in its analysis and contentions, and judicious in its treatment of the text. Additionally, it does a significant portion of the necessary work of bringing the last four decades of scholarship to bear upon our reading of the play. For all these reasons, Allan's new commentary will go a long way towards achieving his stated goal of demonstrating that 'Helen is an extraordinary exuberant and inventive drama that deserves to be read (and performed) more widely.'" --BMCRTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Euripides and Athens; 2. The figure of Helen in early Greek culture; 3. Helen on stage; 4. The 'New Helen'; 5. The production; 6. A tragedy of ideas; 7. Genre; 8. Helen transformed; 9. The text and its transmission; Helen; Commentary.

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Book SynopsisIon is one of Euripides'' most appealing and inventive plays. With its story of an anonymous temple slave discovered to be the son of Apollo and Creusa, an Athenian princess, it is a rare example of Athenian myth dramatized for the Athenian stage. It explores the Delphic Oracle and Greek piety; the Athenian ideology of autochthony and empire; and the tragic suffering and longing of the mythical foundling and his mother, whose experiences are represented uniquely in surviving Greek literature. The plot anticipates later Greek comedy, while the recognition scene builds on a tradition founded by Homer''s Odyssey and Aeschylus'' Oresteia. The introduction sets out the main issues in interpretation and discusses the play''s contexts in myth, religion, law, politics, and society. By attending to language, style, meter, and dramatic technique, this edition with its detailed commentary makes Ion accessible to students, scholars, and readers of Greek at all levels.Trade Review'… this is a very competent edition of Euripides' Ion, which shows comprehensive familiarity with modern work on the play and its background … detailed enough for the majority of readers.' Michael Lloyd, Exemplaria Classica'… wonderfully sound, tremendously useful for the student and scholar, and constitutes a landmark publication. James Diggle and his team of editors deserve the highest praise for their achievement.' Dublin Review of Books'… tactful, packed with insights and ideas that will generate insight and ideas in any careful reader.' Gregory Crane, Bryn Mawr Classical ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Euripides: life and works; 2. Myth; 3. Setting, staging, and production; 4. Structure and dramatic technique; 5. The Chorus and the characters; 6. Political identity; 7. Ritual and religion; 8. Revelation and deception; 9. Genre and tone; 10. Transmission of the text; A note on the text and critical apparatus; Ion; Commentary.

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Book SynopsisThe surviving text of the fragmentary Phaethon of Euripides depends chiefly on two sources: two pages from a Euripidean manuscript, written about A.D. 500, and a papyrus of the third century B.C., which contains a substantial part of the parodos. These sources are supplemented by a number of citations in classical authors and by a recently published fragmentary hypothesis. Professor Diggle has examined all the manuscript evidence and offers many decipherments. He gives a text of the play and of the hypothesis, an exegetical commentary, prolegomena and appendices, in which he discusses the treatment of the Phaethon myth in classical literature and attempts a reconstruction of the plot of the play.Table of ContentsList of Plates; Preface; Abbreviations; Prolegomena; Text; Commentary; Appendixes; Bibliography; Index verborum; Index of passages discussed; Subject index; Greek index.

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Book SynopsisThis volume provides a thorough philological and dramatic commentary on Euripides' Phoenissae, the first detailed commentary in English since 1911. Phoenissae is of special interest both as a specimen of late Euripidean dramaturgy, and as the subject of longstanding disputes over the extent of interpolation and rewriting to be detected in it. This commentary aims to offer a balanced treatment of issues of language, style, structure, and dramatic technique as well as to explain the reasons for and uncertainties of the constitution of the text. The introduction treats the play's structure and themes, the possible date, the features of the original production, the varied background of Theban myth against which Euripides' choices and innovations may be judged, and general issues relevant to the problem of interpolation. The Greek text is that of the author's 1988 Teubner edition.Trade Review"The finest commentary ever written by an American on a Greek tragedy. Breadth is extraordinary." Religious Studies Review"This handsomely produced volume tips the scales as the heavyweight among Euripidean commentaries. It is a major philological achievement, which vastly enhances understanding of the play." Justina Gregory, AJP"Superb...Mastronarde has brought readers of Medea up to date, set out for us the scholarly discussion while cogently advancing it, and given us the tools to make our own judgements." Hardy Hansen, Classical WorldTable of ContentsIntroduction: 1. The play; 2. The problem of date and companion plays; 3. Features of the original production; 4. Thebaid myth and Phoenissae; 5. The Peisander scholion and Chrysippus; 6. The problem of interpolation; 7. The text; Phoenissae; Commentary; Appendix: The poetic topography of Thebes; Abbreviations and Bibliography; Indexes.

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Book SynopsisThis up-to-date edition makes Euripides' most famous and influential play accessible to students of Greek reading their first tragedy as well as to more advanced students. The introduction analyzes Medea as a revenge-plot, evaluates the strands of motivation that lead to her tragic insistence on killing her own children, and assesses the potential sympathy of a Greek audience for a character triply marked as other (barbarian, witch, woman). A unique feature of this book is the introduction to tragic language and style. The text, revised for this edition, is accompanied by an abbreviated critical apparatus. The commentary provides morphological and syntactic help for inexperienced students and more advanced observations on vocabulary, rhetoric, dramatic techniques, stage action, and details of interpretation, from the famous debate of Medea and Jason to the 'unmotivated' entrance of Aegeus and the controversial monologue of Medea.Trade Review'… predictably fine, thoughtful and polished … a nicely self-contained teaching-tool … Throughout, Mastronarde displays virtues known from his previous activity as a commentator: clarity of exposition; fairness in the treatment of controversial issues; philological acumen; command of the primary and secondary literature … a keen eye for the theatrical dimension of drama; and an openness to engage with broader, and often complex, non-philological aspects of interpretation.' Mouseion, Journal of the Classical Association of Canada'We may confidently say now that future students will face a less difficult task thanks to the work of D. J. Mastronarde, whose knowledge of Greek theatre and uncommon talent as a teacher have combined to produce a most valuable book. It is easy to foresee that students will be grateful to M. for his admirably concise and useful treatment of language, style and metre … Mastronarde's book is an outstanding contribution to the understanding of Medea and a valuable introduction to Greek tragedy as a whole. It deserves to take pride of place on the shelves of Euripidean scholars beside the time-honoured commentary of Page.' Journal of Hellenic Studies'… this series has consistently proven itself to provide high quality commentaries for teaching Greek texts in the original. Mastronarde's fine work does not disappoint. … this is a volume which will prove very useful to students of Greek tragedy in the original and will also be a valuable resource for professional colleagues.' HermathenaTable of ContentsGeneral introduction; Structural elements of Greek tragedy; Language and style; Prosody and metre; MEDEA; Commentary; Appendix: Medea's great monologue.

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