Euripides

Alcestis * Heracles * Children of Heracles * CyclopsEuripides wrote about timeless themes, of friendship and enmity, hope and despair, duty and betrayal. The first three plays in this volume are filled with violence or its threat, while the fourth, Cyclops, is our only surviving example of a genuine satyr play, with all the crude and slapstick humour that characterized the genre. There is death in Alcestis, which explores the marital relationship of Alcestis and Admetus with pathos and grim humour, but whose status as tragedy is subverted by a happy ending. The blood-soaked Heracles portrays deep emotional pain and undeserved suffering; its demand for a more humanistic ethics in the face of divine indifference and callousness makes it one of Euripides' more popular and profound plays. Children of Heracles is a rich and complex work, famousfor its dialogues and monologues, in which the effects of war on refugees and the consequences of sheltering them are movingly explored. In Cyclops Euripides takes the familiar story of Odysseus' escape from the Cyclops Polyphemus and turns it to hilarious comic effect. Euripides' other plays are all available in Oxford World's Classics. 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.

One of the most powerful and enduring of Greek tragedies, Euripides' masterwork centers on the myth of Jason, leader of the Argonauts, who has won the dragon-guarded treasure of the Golden Fleece with the help of the sorceress Medea ― whom he marries and eventually abandons. Authoritative Rex Warner translation.

`the most tragic of the poets' Aristotle Euripides was one of the most popular and controversial of all Greek tragedians, and his plays are marked by an independence of thought, ingenious dramatic devices, and a subtle variety of register and mood. He is also remarkable for the prominence he gave to female characters, whether heroines of virtue or vice. In the ethically shocking Medea, the first known child-killing mother in Greek myth to perform the deed in cold blood manipulates her world in order to wreak vengeance onher treacherous husband. Hippolytus sees Phaedra's confession of her passion for her stepson herald disaster, while Electra's heroine helps her brother murder their mother in an act that mingles justice and sin. Lastly, lighter in tone, the satyr drama, Helen, is an exploration of the impossibility ofcertitude as brilliantly paradoxical as the three famous tragedies. This new translation does full justice to Euripides's range of tone and gift for narrative. A lucid introduction provides substantial analysis of each play, complete with vital explanations of the traditions and background to Euripides's world. 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.

IonOrestesThe Phoenician WomenThe Suppliant WomenIn these four plays Euripides explores ethical and political themes,contrasting the claims of patriotism with family loyalty, pragmatism and expediency with justice, and the idea that 'might is right' with the ideal of clemency. Ion is a vivid portrait of the role of chance in human life and an exploration of family relationships, which combines a sympathetic portrait of a rape victim with remarks on Athenian xenophobia. In Orestes, the most popular of the tragedian's plays in the ancient world, Euripides explores the emotional consequences of Orestes' murder of his mother on the individuals concerned, and makes the tale resonate with advice to Athens about the threat to democracy posed by political pressure groups. The Suppliant Women is a commentary on the politics of empire, as the Athenian king Theseus decides to use force of arms rather than persuasion against Thebes. The Phoenician Women transforms the terrible conflict between Oedipus' sons into one of the most savage indictments of civil war in Westernliterature by highlighting the personal tragedy it brings. 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.