A modern translation exclusive to signet From perhaps the greatest of the ancient Greek playwrights comes this collection of plays, including Alcestis, Hippolytus, Ion, Electra, Iphigenia at Aulis, Iphigenia Among the Taurians, Medea, The Bacchae, The Trojan Women, and The Cyclops.

Euripides is known in literature & fiction circles as a Greek tragedian of classical Athens. Euripides is one of the few whose dramas & plays have survived. Ancient & medieval scholars have attributed 95 dramas & plays to Euripides, of which 19 are known to have survived more or less complete. Euripides is identified with theatrical innovations that have profoundly influenced drama & plays down to modern times. He was unique among the writers of ancient & medieval Athens for the sympathy he demonstrated towards all victims of society, including women. This anthology volume of Euripides includes the Greek tragedy Alcestis, the Greek tragedy Medea, and the Greek tragedy the Bacchae. Alcestis employs both tragic and comic elements and thus the categorization of Alcestis has been the subject of debate among literary critics. In the play's prologue, the god Apollo comes out from Admetus' palace in Pherae, dressed in white and carrying his golden bow, with the intention of leaving to avoid becoming stained by the imminent death of Alcestis, who is being comforted within. He offers an exposition of the events leading up to this moment. Alcestis is literature & fiction, whether the medieval drama & play is categorized as tragedy or satyr, it will always be deemed as an ancient & classical work by Euripides. Euripides' Medea is an ancient Greek tragedy, that centers on the actions of Medea, a former princess of the barbarian kingdom of Colchis, and the wife of Jason. Medea finds her position in the Greek world threatened as Jason leaves her for a Greek princess of Corinth. Medea takes vengeance on Jason by killing Jason's new wife as well as her own children with him, after which she escapes to Athens to start a new life. The Bachae is concerned with two opposite sides of man's nature: There is the rational and civilized side, which is represented by the character of Pentheus, the king of Thebes, and then there is the instinctive side, which is represented by Dionysus. This side is sensual without analysis, it feels a connection between man and beast, and it is a potential source of divinity and spiritual power.

Three Plays of Euripides: Alcestis, Medea, The Bachae, written by legendary author Euripides, is widely considered to be among the greatest classic texts of all time. These great classics will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, Three Plays of Euripides: Alcestis, Medea, The Bachae is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic literature, these gems by Euripides are highly recommended. Published by Classic Books International and beautifully produced, Three Plays of Euripides: Alcestis, Medea, The Bachae would make an ideal gift and it should be a part of everyone's personal library.

The first playwright of democracy, Euripides wrote with enduring insight and biting satire about social and political problems of Athenian life. In contrast to his contemporaries, he brought an exciting--and, to the Greeks, a stunning--realism to the "pure and noble form" of tragedy. For the first time in history, heroes and heroines on the stage were not idealized: as Sophocles himself said, Euripides shows people not as they ought to be, but as they actually are.

Collected 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.

Athenian Tragedy had all but ended with the death of Euripides and in particular with his Bacchae, which is included in this volume and which is often praised by scholars as the best tragedy ever written. This was the very last play he wrote and he did so while he was being hosted by King Archelaus of Macedonia. The play was staged the following year, in 405 BC. Of the surviving nineteen plays (he wrote over ninety) twelve are almost entirely concerned with women. This volume is entirely devoted to that subject: women and the role they play in the lives of men, of their politics and of their daily lives. Women, to Euripides, show the virtues and the ills of a city, his city, his Athens.

Three classic Greek tragedies are translated and critically introduced by Edith Hamilton.

A landmark anthology of the masterpieces of Greek drama, featuring all-new, highly accessible translations of some of the world’s most beloved plays, including Agamemnon, Prometheus Bound, Bacchae, Electra, Medea, Antigone, and Oedipus the King Featuring translations by Emily Wilson, Frank Nisetich, Sarah Ruden, Rachel Kitzinger, Mary Lefkowitz, and James Romm The great plays of Ancient Greece are among the most enduring and important legacies of the Western world. Not only is the influence of Greek drama palpable in everything from Shakespeare to modern television, the insights contained in Greek tragedy have shaped our perceptions of the nature of human life. Poets, philosophers, and politicians have long borrowed and adapted the ideas and language of Greek drama to help them make sense of their own times. This exciting curated anthology features a cross section of the most popular—and most widely taught—plays in the Greek canon. Fresh translations into contemporary English breathe new life into the texts while capturing, as faithfully as possible, their original meaning. This outstanding collection also offers short biographies of the playwrights, enlightening and clarifying introductions to the plays, and helpful annotations at the bottom of each page. Appendices by prominent classicists on such topics as “Greek Drama and Politics,” “The Theater of Dionysus,” and “Plato and Aristotle on Tragedy” give the reader a rich contextual background. A detailed time line of the dramas, as well as a list of adaptations of Greek drama to literature, stage, and film from the time of Seneca to the present, helps chart the history of Greek tragedy and illustrate its influence on our culture from the Roman Empire to the present day. With a veritable who’s who of today’s most renowned and distinguished classical translators, The Greek Plays is certain to be the definitive text for years to come. Praise for The Greek Plays “Mary Lefkowitz and James Romm deftly have gathered strong new translations from Frank Nisetich, Sarah Ruden, Rachel Kitzinger, Emily Wilson, as well as from Mary Lefkowitz and James Romm themselves. There is a freshness and pungency in these new translations that should last a long time. I admire also the introductions to the plays and the biographies and annotations provided. Closing essays by five distinguished classicists—the brilliant Daniel Mendelsohn and the equally skilled David Rosenbloom, Joshua Billings, Mary-Kay Gamel, and Gregory Hays—all enlightened me. This seems to me a helpful light into our gathering darkness.”—Harold Bloom