Few playwrights in the ancient world matched Euripides for sheer audacity — his characters are flawed, his plots unsettling, and his challenges to moral certainty as potent today as they were in fifth-century BC Athens. This collection brings together five of his most gripping works. In Phoenician Women, the sons of King Oedipus stand on opposite sides of a bitter conflict while their mother makes a desperate and ultimately doomed bid to broker peace between them. Orestes turns to the psychological torment of a son consumed by guilt following his vengeful killing of his own mother. The Bacchae delivers perhaps the most chilling warning in all of Greek drama: a king who slights a mysterious stranger, never suspecting that the newcomer is the god Dionysus walking among mortals in human form. Iphigenia at Aulis confronts the Greek commanders with an appalling calculation — whether to sacrifice a princess to win divine favour before sailing for Troy — while Rhesus plunges into the dangerous world of espionage and counter-intrigue playing out between the Greek and Trojan camps. Across all five plays, innovation, daring and unforgettable characters combine to make Euripides endlessly compelling.
ISBN 13: 9780140447262
Author: Euripides
