Product Description
Euripides' Alcestis-perhaps the most anthologized Attic drama-is an ideal text for students reading their first play in the original Greek. Literary commentaries and language aids in most editions are too advanced or too elementary for intermediate students of the language, but in their new student edition, C. A. E. Luschnig and H. M. Roisman remedy such deficiencies.

The introductory section of this edition provides historical and literary perspective; the commentary explains points of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary, as well as elucidating background features such as dramatic conventions and mythology; and a discussion section introduces the controversies surrounding this most elusive drama. In their presentation, Luschnig and Roisman have initiated a new method for introducing students to current scholarship. This edition also includes a glossary, an index, a bibliography, and grammatical reviews designed specifically for students of Greek language and culture in their second year of university study or third year of high school. Luschnig and Roisman, who have published numerous articles and books on Greek literature, bring to this volume decades of experience teaching classical Greek. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A comprehensive and well-designed edition for beginners.
This is an excellent edition of Euripides' Alcestis, including short critical essays, an excellent vocabulary, a brief tutorial on Greek poetic metre, and a commentary well-geared to new students.There seems to be some confusion about which edition of this book is which -- the Oklahoma press hardcover edition, at least, includes all these features plus the full text of the play.

The commentary includes vocabulary (in addition to the comprehensive vocabulary in the back) in a well-thought-out way intended to help the student as he or she proceeds through the text, beginning with extensive glosses of a large number of words and thinning them out over the course of the play.There's really no other edition to buy if you are new to Greek drama, except possibly the Jerram if you're really pressed for funds -- but this edition is vastly superior to that one, if for no other reason simply because of the quality of the printing, which will save the reader much eye strain compared to the older book. ... Read more

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'Today good reading and effective performance of ancient drama require a constellation of talents to succeed, and in the four brought together for "The Electra Plays" we are getting some of the best. Justina Gregory provides a fine critical Introduction to the whole project, and the performance-tested translations of Peter Meineck, Cecelia Eaton Luschnig, and Paul Woodruff are wonderfully readable and speakable - even when the events to be spoken of are not. This is not the usual random gathering of plays, but a volume with a concentrated focus on the three playwrights' treatment of the same events in the House of Atreus. There are parallels and profound differences, all of them endlessly discussable. This ensemble of plays and the team that made it should appeal to anyone interested in Greek literature, theater history, or mythology' - James Tatum, Aaron Lawrence Professor of Classics, Dartmouth College (Johns Hopkins University Press). ... Read more

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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. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Review of the Grene/Lattimore 'Euripides II'
As usual, I have little more to say than to praise the quality of the translation, and lament the lack of footnotes within this volume of the Lattimore/Grene collection. One thing I'll add the the "untraditional" sense of this volume. It opens with the only extant satyr-play, and closes with two very similar plays that present Euripides alternative visions of the Trojan War.

reading euripides in 2008
I've been participating in a bok group that is spending the entire year reading plays by Euripides and it has been a revelation. This volume is ably translated, although it makes sense to check other translations if you wish to engage deeply with the meaning of the text. I had not read this literature since college and am relishing the experience.

rare translation
This edition of the Euripides plays contains the rarely read "Cyclops", not a great play but important nevertheless to a complete understanding of Euripides or Greek drama in my opinion.Just asthe other translations in this series is rather conservative, so too isthis edition. A good, reasonably priced version for undergraduate classes. ... Read more

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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free.This is an OCR edition with typos.Excerpt from book:HlPPOLYTUS.Right gladly, friend ; else were I poor of wit.Huntsman.Knowest thou one law, that through the world has won ?Hippolytus.What wouldst thou ? And how runs thy law ? Say on.Huntsman.It hates that Pride that speaks not all men fair!Hippolytus. And rightly. Pride breeds hatred everywhere. Huntsman. And good words love, and grace in all men's sight ? Hippolytus. Aye, and much gain withal, for trouble slight. Huntsman. How deem'st thou of the Gods? Are they the same ? Hippolytus. Surely : we are but fashioned on their frame. Huntsman. Why then wilt thou be proud, and worship not . . . Hippolytus. Whom ? If the name be speakable, speak out 1 Huntsman. She stands here at thy gate: the Cyprian Queen ! Hippolytus. I greet her from afar : my life is clean. Huntsman. Clean ? Nay, proud, proud ; a mark for all to scan ! Hippolytus. Each mind hath its own bent, for God or man. Huntsman. God grant thee happiness . . . and wiser thought ! Hippolytus. These Spirits that reign in darkness like me not. Huntsman. What the Gods ask, O Son, that man must pay ! Hippolytus (turning from him to the others).On, huntsmen, to the Castle ! Make your way Straight to the feast room ; 'tis a merry thing After the chase, a board of banqueting. And see the steeds be groomed, and in array The chariot dight. I drive them forth to-day. [He pauses, and makes a slight gesture of reverenceto the Statue on the left. Then to the OldHuntsman.That for thy Cyprian, friend, and nought beside! [hippolytus followi the huntsmen, who streamoff by the central door into the Castle. TheOld Huntsman remains.Huntsman (approaching the Statue and kneeling).0 Cyprian—for a young man in his pride1 will... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

More Amazonian bungling!
Yet again the folks at Amazon have bungled matters.The other "review" of this book is in fact a review of (or a puff for) the Penn series of translations of Greek tragedy, not of Euripides' "Selected Fragmentary Plays," a scholarly edition offering Greek texts, English translations, and detailed notes on several of Euripides' fragmentary plays.It should also noted that the book in question is the recently published---and long-awaited---second volume of a work whose first volume appeared in 1995.Eventually, there will be a Loeb Classical Library edition of the major fragments of Euripides, but it is unlikely to replace these volumes of Collard et al., for their very full notes will remain invaluable. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

An actor of Kennelly's "Trojan Women"
Brendan Kennelly aptly adds the disclaimer that his "version" of Euripedes' Trojan Women is "A New Version."If you are seeking historical or literary accuracy to Euripedes' original text (which, by the way, is well worth finding), look elsewhere.

Kennelly's Trojan Women is an adaptation which preserves the poignant, raw flavor of the original, but it is raises some different questions than Euripedes' version did hundreds of years earlier.The stark suffering of humanity is never sugar-coated, even by Kennelly's beautiful verse.The language is at the same time compellingly lyrical and astonishingly raw.

As an actor who had the honor of performing this work (as Andromache), I can say that it is brilliantly suited to character motivation. Whereas Greek theatre was very much plot-driven, Kennelly's Trojan Women is character-driven; much more conducive to our modern form of "method acting".The production is captivating and visceral.As a scholar of classical theatre, I revere this adaptation as just that: a wonderful adaptation.I commend Kennelly for taking Euripedes' brilliant work and making his own beautiful creation from it, honoring the original text, but making it his own.It is well worth reading, but let us say that Peter Sellars would be much more eager to stage this play than Peter Hall.

New as in "not really a translation at all"
I have just returned from a 3 hour performance of Kennelly's "translation" of Euripides' Trojan Women. I teach classical mythology and I gave my students extra credit for attending a local production. I wanted them to see a Greek tragedy on stage and not as dry words on a page. Kennelly's play has no Greek spirit, freely invents incidents, speeches and words, and is mind numbingly boring. Rape, captivity, slavery, death of loved ones, exile, homelessness, loss. Powerful things, but fromafter hearing them lamented again and again for over 2 hours, in a new-agey way entirely foreign to Greek culture, peppered with the obscenities noted by another reviewer, I felt like I was suffering more than Hecuba and her fellow Trojan Women. I, too, knew sorrow and loss.I wish I had my 3 hours back. This play is NOT Euripides and, viewed on its own merits, is NOT good.

Euripides rolls in his grave
This translation/adaption of Euripides's classic drama was, well, not good.Euripides's original leans toward feminism as it is, but Kennelly turns the play into a men-hating feminist diatribe.It can be an interesting and poetic take on the subject at times, but Euripides's message is lost in the bloodbath of the battle-axes.Talthybius and Menelaus, interesting and often sympathetic characters in the original, here emerge as weak and misoginous.Kennelly litters the play with profanity innapropriate to a classical tragedy -- for instance, Helen is called everything from (...) to (...) to (...), and the f-word, shocking and effective the first time it is used, gets to be too much after the fifteenth time it flies out of the Trojan women's mouths.This version does have its good moments, but eventually ends up as nothing but confused feminism.For example, Hecuba's use of water imagery in her final soliloquoy (totally Kennelly's invention -- there is no corresponding text for this in Euripides) seems only to drag on and lay on thick the extremely feminist message.Euripides knew how to present feminist messages in a much subtler way -- read the original.

Kennelly's Trojan Women Salts the Greek Wound
Any actor doubting the visceral power of the Greek Tragedy must readKennelly's take on this classic drama.Far from a passive dirge, this playis a loud battle cry and tribute to all outcast women in war and povertywho fight with cunning, reason, love, and dignity. This story could be setin Ireland, Bosnia, Rwanda...its power reverberates from beyond the ancientGreek grave.If you've given up on Euripides because of your starchyphilosophy professor, pick up this edition from Bloodaxe Books! ... Read more

Product Description
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free.This is an OCR edition with typos.Excerpt from book:HlPPOLYTUS.Right gladly, friend ; else were I poor of wit.Huntsman.Knowest thou one law, that through the world has won ?Hippolytus.What wouldst thou ? And how runs thy law ? Say on.Huntsman.It hates that Pride that speaks not all men fair!Hippolytus. And rightly. Pride breeds hatred everywhere. Huntsman. And good words love, and grace in all men's sight ? Hippolytus. Aye, and much gain withal, for trouble slight. Huntsman. How deem'st thou of the Gods? Are they the same ? Hippolytus. Surely : we are but fashioned on their frame. Huntsman. Why then wilt thou be proud, and worship not . . . Hippolytus. Whom ? If the name be speakable, speak out 1 Huntsman. She stands here at thy gate: the Cyprian Queen ! Hippolytus. I greet her from afar : my life is clean. Huntsman. Clean ? Nay, proud, proud ; a mark for all to scan ! Hippolytus. Each mind hath its own bent, for God or man. Huntsman. God grant thee happiness . . . and wiser thought ! Hippolytus. These Spirits that reign in darkness like me not. Huntsman. What the Gods ask, O Son, that man must pay ! Hippolytus (turning from him to the others).On, huntsmen, to the Castle ! Make your way Straight to the feast room ; 'tis a merry thing After the chase, a board of banqueting. And see the steeds be groomed, and in array The chariot dight. I drive them forth to-day. [He pauses, and makes a slight gesture of reverenceto the Statue on the left. Then to the OldHuntsman.That for thy Cyprian, friend, and nought beside! [hippolytus followi the huntsmen, who streamoff by the central door into the Castle. TheOld Huntsman remains.Huntsman (approaching the Statue and kneeling).0 Cyprian—for a young man in his pride1 will... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

More Amazonian bungling!
Yet again the folks at Amazon have bungled matters.The other "review" of this book is in fact a review of (or a puff for) the Penn series of translations of Greek tragedy, not of Euripides' "Selected Fragmentary Plays," a scholarly edition offering Greek texts, English translations, and detailed notes on several of Euripides' fragmentary plays.It should also noted that the book in question is the recently published---and long-awaited---second volume of a work whose first volume appeared in 1995.Eventually, there will be a Loeb Classical Library edition of the major fragments of Euripides, but it is unlikely to replace these volumes of Collard et al., for their very full notes will remain invaluable. ... Read more

Product Description
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free.This is an OCR edition with typos.Excerpt from book:HlPPOLYTUS.Right gladly, friend ; else were I poor of wit.Huntsman.Knowest thou one law, that through the world has won ?Hippolytus.What wouldst thou ? And how runs thy law ? Say on.Huntsman.It hates that Pride that speaks not all men fair!Hippolytus. And rightly. Pride breeds hatred everywhere. Huntsman. And good words love, and grace in all men's sight ? Hippolytus. Aye, and much gain withal, for trouble slight. Huntsman. How deem'st thou of the Gods? Are they the same ? Hippolytus. Surely : we are but fashioned on their frame. Huntsman. Why then wilt thou be proud, and worship not . . . Hippolytus. Whom ? If the name be speakable, speak out 1 Huntsman. She stands here at thy gate: the Cyprian Queen ! Hippolytus. I greet her from afar : my life is clean. Huntsman. Clean ? Nay, proud, proud ; a mark for all to scan ! Hippolytus. Each mind hath its own bent, for God or man. Huntsman. God grant thee happiness . . . and wiser thought ! Hippolytus. These Spirits that reign in darkness like me not. Huntsman. What the Gods ask, O Son, that man must pay ! Hippolytus (turning from him to the others).On, huntsmen, to the Castle ! Make your way Straight to the feast room ; 'tis a merry thing After the chase, a board of banqueting. And see the steeds be groomed, and in array The chariot dight. I drive them forth to-day. [He pauses, and makes a slight gesture of reverenceto the Statue on the left. Then to the OldHuntsman.That for thy Cyprian, friend, and nought beside! [hippolytus followi the huntsmen, who streamoff by the central door into the Castle. TheOld Huntsman remains.Huntsman (approaching the Statue and kneeling).0 Cyprian—for a young man in his pride1 will... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

More Amazonian bungling!
Yet again the folks at Amazon have bungled matters.The other "review" of this book is in fact a review of (or a puff for) the Penn series of translations of Greek tragedy, not of Euripides' "Selected Fragmentary Plays," a scholarly edition offering Greek texts, English translations, and detailed notes on several of Euripides' fragmentary plays.It should also noted that the book in question is the recently published---and long-awaited---second volume of a work whose first volume appeared in 1995.Eventually, there will be a Loeb Classical Library edition of the major fragments of Euripides, but it is unlikely to replace these volumes of Collard et al., for their very full notes will remain invaluable. ... Read more

Product Description
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free.This is an OCR edition with typos.Excerpt from book:HlPPOLYTUS.Right gladly, friend ; else were I poor of wit.Huntsman.Knowest thou one law, that through the world has won ?Hippolytus.What wouldst thou ? And how runs thy law ? Say on.Huntsman.It hates that Pride that speaks not all men fair!Hippolytus. And rightly. Pride breeds hatred everywhere. Huntsman. And good words love, and grace in all men's sight ? Hippolytus. Aye, and much gain withal, for trouble slight. Huntsman. How deem'st thou of the Gods? Are they the same ? Hippolytus. Surely : we are but fashioned on their frame. Huntsman. Why then wilt thou be proud, and worship not . . . Hippolytus. Whom ? If the name be speakable, speak out 1 Huntsman. She stands here at thy gate: the Cyprian Queen ! Hippolytus. I greet her from afar : my life is clean. Huntsman. Clean ? Nay, proud, proud ; a mark for all to scan ! Hippolytus. Each mind hath its own bent, for God or man. Huntsman. God grant thee happiness . . . and wiser thought ! Hippolytus. These Spirits that reign in darkness like me not. Huntsman. What the Gods ask, O Son, that man must pay ! Hippolytus (turning from him to the others).On, huntsmen, to the Castle ! Make your way Straight to the feast room ; 'tis a merry thing After the chase, a board of banqueting. And see the steeds be groomed, and in array The chariot dight. I drive them forth to-day. [He pauses, and makes a slight gesture of reverenceto the Statue on the left. Then to the OldHuntsman.That for thy Cyprian, friend, and nought beside! [hippolytus followi the huntsmen, who streamoff by the central door into the Castle. TheOld Huntsman remains.Huntsman (approaching the Statue and kneeling).0 Cyprian—for a young man in his pride1 will... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

More Amazonian bungling!
Yet again the folks at Amazon have bungled matters.The other "review" of this book is in fact a review of (or a puff for) the Penn series of translations of Greek tragedy, not of Euripides' "Selected Fragmentary Plays," a scholarly edition offering Greek texts, English translations, and detailed notes on several of Euripides' fragmentary plays.It should also noted that the book in question is the recently published---and long-awaited---second volume of a work whose first volume appeared in 1995.Eventually, there will be a Loeb Classical Library edition of the major fragments of Euripides, but it is unlikely to replace these volumes of Collard et al., for their very full notes will remain invaluable. ... Read more

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Series Copy

Based 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 Tragedies 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 editorship of Herbert Golder and the late William Arrowsmith, 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.

One 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. ... Read more

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The Hippolytus is generally acknowledged to be one of Euripides’ finest tragedies, for the construction of its plot, its use of language and its memorable characterizations of Phaedra and Hippolytus. Furthermore, it asks serious and disturbing questions about the influence of divinity on human lives. Sophie Mills considers these and many other themes in detail, setting the play in its mythological, cultural and historical contexts. She also includes discussions of major trends in interpretations of the play and of subsequent adaptations of the Hippolytus story, from Seneca to Mary Renault and beyond. ... Read more

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Translated by E. P. Coleridge ... Read more

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Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter in order to ensure the good fortune of his forces in the Trojan War is, despite its heroic background, in many respects a domestic tragedy. Plays for Performance Series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Euripides has Agamemnon and Achille fighting pre-Iliad
"Iphigenia in Aulis" was the last play written by Euripides and represents his most cynical depiction of the great heroes of Greek mythology. The subject of the play is the sacrifice of Iphigenia, ordered by her father King Agamemnon, to appease the goddess Artemis, so that the Achaen fleet can have fair winds to sail to Troy and bring back Helen.Of course is will be ten long years before Agamemnon returns, to be murdered in his royal home by his wife Clytemnestra, who spent those long years of separation waiting for the day she could avenge her daughter's death.

I have used "Iphigenia in Aulis" as part of large unit on the Trojan War right before proceeding on to Homer's epic poem the "Iliad." Not only does the play come at that point in terms of the chronology of the war, but it clearly foreshadows the initial confrontation in the "Iliad" between Agamemnon and Achilles over Briseis of the lovely arms.To get his daughter to come to Aulis and be executed, Agamemnon says she is to marry Achilles.This lie not only makes Achilles angry when he learns about it, but the prospect of her daughter's marriage brings Clytemnestra to Aulis as well and foreshadows the tragedy "Agamemnon" by Aeschylus, the first part of the famed Orestia, as well.

But it is the contrast with Homer's epic that is most manifest here.Euripides invests the beginning of Homer's saga with painful irony as Agamemnon rejects the pleas of Briseis's father; after all, has the Achean leader really forgotten the pain of sacrificing his daughter ten years earlier? In Euripides's play it becomes clear that Agamemnon does not care for his daughter; she is but a bargaining chip in his ploy for power. As her father and ruler Agamemnon could simply order his daughter to come to Aulis, but instead he concocts a fake marriage to Achilles, the most eligible of the young Achean heroes. When Achilles finds out he has been a pawn in this deadly little game he is incensed and promises to safe the maiden, but in the end he turns out to be as foolish and as wicked as the rest of the characters. All of the sympathy goes towards Iphigenia, the only true hero in the drama since she alone acts selflessly.For the greater glory of the Achean host she will accept her fate and thus be fondly remembered.

Any one teaching the "Iliad" should at least provide the gist of "Iphigenia at Aulis" as background material, along with the story of the judgment of Paris.The same would apply to the study of either the entire "Orestia" or just the first play in the trilogy, "Agamemnon."As for the "true" fate of Iphigenia as realized by Euripides in "Iphigenia at Taurus," which is certainly the least tragic of his tragedies, that can be briefly mentioned as well to bring the whole grand tale to a happy ending of sorts.

An accurate and wonderfully performable translation!
When you think of Greek tragedy and Euripides what immediately springs to mind? A desperately dry philosophical volume? Believe me, that is not the case with Ipheginia at Aulis. This beautifully crafted volume tells of theconflict between political and familial responsibility with a smattering ofdivine intervention. The beautiful Helen has be kidnapped by Paris andtaken back to Troy. Helen's husband, Menalaus,brother to King Agamemnon ofMycenae persuades his brother to send the largest ever Greek fleet to takethe land of Troy and retieve Helen. As the fleet is ready to sail fromAulis, the winds die and they are stranded.Unless, as the evil andmanipulative prophet Calchas says, a sacrafice of a certain sixteen yearold virgin princess is made then they will be permenantly beached. Herefollow many twists and turns and a ride through the Ancient Greek mythicalworld with the fate of a whole nation at stake. How will Agamemnon fighthis conscience and persuade his wife Clytemnestra to bring his beloveddaughter to meet her death? To what depths will he stoop to to follow thequest for glory? Whatever the outcome, this is a beautiful play which lendsitself to performance at any level- sure to bring any audience to theirfeet!

A great translation of a timeless classic
A brilliant translation of one of Euripides' finest, excellently capturing the mood and spirit of the text.A prose translation, Rudall's effort has done great service to Euripides.The characterisations are good, and thelanguage is almost always fluid and idiomatic, with only a few clumsyexceptions.Excellent! ... Read more

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Based 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 editorship of Herbert Golder and the late William Arrowsmith, 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.

Produced more frequently on the ancient stage than any other tragedy, Orestes retells with striking innovations the story of the young man who kills his mother to avenge her murder of his father. Though eventually exonerated, Orestes becomes a fugitive from the Furies (avenging spirits) of his mother's blood. On the brink of destruction, he is saved in the end by Apollo, who had commanded the matricide. Powerful and gripping, Orestes sweeps us along with a momentum that starting slowly, builds inevitably to one of the most spectacular climaxes in all Greek tragedy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A good book for students
This book is great for students of Greek.The commentary is helpful on several levels in that it both explains issues of grammar and gives background on and insight into the play itself.Seaford, howver is not the best translator.He gives literal translations, which is good in some respects for students who may otherwise be confused.It is clear, from his translations, that his interest is more in the overall meaning of the play than creating a pretty translation. ... Read more

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At once a vigorous translation of one of Euripides' most subtle and witty plays, and a wholly fresh interpretation, this version reveals for the first time the extraordinary formal beauty and thematic concentration of the Alcestis.

William Arrowsmith, eminent classical scholar, translator, and General Editor of this highly praised series, rejects the standard view of the Alcestis as a psychological study of the egotist Admetos and his naive but devoted wife.His translation, instead, presents the play as a drama of human existence--in keeping with the tradition of Greek tragedy--with recognizably human characters who also represent masked embodiments of human conditions.The Alcestis thus becomes a metaphysical tragicomedy in which Admetos, who has heretofore led a life without limitations, learns to "think mortal thoughts."He acquires the knowledge of limits--the acceptance of death as well as the duty to live--which, according to Euripides, makes people meaningfully human and capable of both courage and compassion.This new interpretation compellingly argues that, for Euripides, suffering humanizes, that exemption makes a man selfish and childish, and that only the courage to accept both life and death leads to the realization of one's humanity, and, in the case of Alcestis, to heroism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The closest thing we have to a Greek satyr play
"Alcestis" is the oldest surviving play of Euripides, although he had been writing tragedies for almost twenty years when it was written. Apparently it ws the fourth play in a tetralogy, taking the place of the ribald satyr play which traditionally followed a series of three tragedies. Consequently, this play has more of a burlesque tone, best represented in the drunken speech of Heracles to the butler and his teasing of Admetus at the end. So while "Alcestis" is a tragedy, it does offer up an unusal happy ending.

In Greek mythology Alcestis was the daughter of Pelias and wife of Admetus, an Argonaut and the king of Pherae. In Western literature Alcestis is the model wife, for when her husband is to die she alone agrees to die in his place. However, the key in this drama is how Admetus finds this sacrifice totally acceptable. Admetus is represented as a good and honorable man, but then his ethos is established in this play by the god Apollo in the opening scene, and even though it was written later it is hard not to remember the expose Euripides did on the god of truth in "Ion." Euripides adds a key twist in that Alcestis agrees to the sacrifice before she fully understands that her husband will suffer without her. She is brought back from the underworld by Heracles and restored to her relieved husband, but the play clearly characterizes Admetus as a selfish man and it is this view that other writers have imitated every since.

The story of Alcestis has been addressed by more modern writers from Chaucer and Milton to Browning and Eliot. The sacrifice of Alcestis has also been the subject of several operas. "Alcestis" is not a first rate play by Euripides, but it does represent both his cynicism and his attempt to make the audience confront the problematic elements of its belief system. So while I would not teach "Alcestis" by itself, in conjunction with other play by Euripides, specifically "Ion," it can definitely have value in class.

Offer you this treat!
Alcestis was the first Greek tragedy I read, and it is still the one Ilove most, though Ajax and both Iphigenias are tough competitors. Heracles,a.k.a. Hercules, accepts hospitality at a home where, unknown to him, thehousewife, Alcestis, is being mourned. He drinks and raises hell (the punwill be noticed by he who reads the play!). Informed of the tragedy, muchembarrassed, he decides to add a new task to his tight schedule: bringingback the lady. This is a tragedy that ends well. Actually, it runs well allthe time, being one of the greatest creation of human imagination. ... Read more

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Dionysos, the God of Wine and theatre, has returned to his native land to take revenge of the puritanical Pentheus, who refuses to recognize him or his rites. Remorselessly, savagely and with black humor, the god drives Pentheus and all the city to their shocking fate.

Product Description
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Toward the end of Medea, history's most infamous mother says, "We come from different worlds." If only that were true. What keeps us entranced through this eternally shocking drama is that Medea is part of our world; the passage of 2,400 years has done nothing to distance her from us. The uncanny relevance of Euripides' tragedy is clear in Robin Robertson's bracing new translation (Free Press, $16). A Scottish poet, Robertson preserves the play's ancient Greek context but never lets it sound antique. His efficient introduction lays out the Athenians' attitudes about virtue, women and foreigners, while helping us understand the psychological acuity that makes this ghastly marital battle "feel utterly modern." Almost no one approaches "Medea" without anticipating its climax. Indeed, Medea herself complains, "My reputation, yet again! It goes before me like a curse." But in this energetic version, the arguments between Medea and her faithless husband bristle with tension and even suspense. As the deadly logic of her rage progresses, you can't help but hope that this passionate woman will abandon her plans to exact the ultimate revenge. By the blood-soaked finale, when she's turned all her enemies and her beloved sons "into corpse-meat," the play's banal opening line reverberates with sorrow: "If only it had never happened like this." -- R.C. Copyright 2008, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Medea in Greek, deited by D.L. Page
As and ageing student but a novice in the study in Greek I have found Page's paperback edition very useful (it is in fact the prescribed text for the course I am doing), but it has deficiencies.It appears to be a facsimile print and the Greek text in particular is not as clear as it might be. The print size could be a little larger and the off-white page colour makes the reading harder for ageing eyes. The Greek text is, however, more readable than some classical Greek texts which are little better than appalling.

Another aspect of Page's commentary is that he occasionallyuses Latin in the Commentary. Those of us who studied Latin a long time ago (or not at all) find this no help to us at all. I would recommend that anyone studying Medea in Greek seriously should certainly have this edition and should also buy the edition edited by Alan Elliott (Oxford Press). The latter has a very clear Greek text, notes which are on a slightly easier plane than those of Page, and a useful vocabulary at the back.

I must make it clear that I make no comment on the Medea play itself. That is left to others of greater knowledge. ... Read more

Product Description
Book Description:

"Euripides was born in Salamis in 480 B.C.E. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles he was one of the three leading ancient writers of tragic plays. Very little is known about his personal life; it is belived that he came from a wealthy family and was politically active. Euripides left Athens in 408 B.C.E. and took up residence in Macedonia under the sponsorship of its king; he died shortly thereafter. He did not win as many competitions as Aeschylus or Sophocles, and was used as a running joke in Aristophanes' plays, where he appears as a satirical character. However his dramas became more popular than the other two 'immortals' as time went by. His greatest works are Alcestis, Medea, Electra and The Bacchae." (Quote from sacred-texts.com)

Table of Contents:

Publisher's Preface; Alcestis; Andromache; The Bacchantes; The Cyclops; Electra; Hecuba; Helen; The Heracleidae; Heracles; Hippolytus; Ion; Iphigenia In Tauris; Iphigenia At Aulis; Medea; Orestes; The Phoenissae; Rhesus; The Suppliants; The Trojan Women

About the Publisher:

Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, Esoteric and Mythology. www.forgottenbooks.org

Forgotten Books is about sharing information, not about making money. All books are priced at wholesale prices. We are also the only publisher we know of to print in large sans-serif font, which is proven to make the text easier to read and put less strain on your eyes. ... Read more

Product Description
In his play Bacchae, Euripides chooses as his central figure the god who crosses the boundaries among god, man, and beast, between reality and imagination, and between art and madness. In so doing, he explores what in tragedy is able to reach beyond the social, ritual, and historical context from which tragedy itself rises. Charles Segal's reading of Euripides' Bacchae builds gradually from concrete details of cult, setting, and imagery to the work's implications for the nature of myth, language, and theater. This volume presents the argument that the Dionysiac poetics of the play characterize a world view and an art form that can admit logical contradictions and hold them in suspension. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Feels Very Nietzschean
I tend to agree with the previous review on this book, but I thought it worth mentioning that this text also feels VERY Nietzschean (from Birth of Tragedy).That is to say, Nietzsche's metaphysical principle of the Dionysian (in opposition to the Apollonian in BoT) seems to underwrite every chapter.This is fairly common, I suppose, since "Dionysian" is virtually synonymous with wild/ecstatic/irrational these days (largely because of Birth of Tragedy).But there.I said it.cheers.

so many ideas...so little time...
Charles Segal is acknowledged as one of the foremost authorities on Euripides' Bacchae, and has written several billion other articles on this subject and other themes in Greek literature.So he knows a thing or two.Now this helps, as just about any idea that one has while reading the Bacchae can be found dissected and pondered over in this book.Segal brings together psychoanalytical theory, ritualistic (a la Seaford) theory, and many, many others.However...it takes a while to read and some parts take a while to digest.Overall, though, it is very comprehensive and a must for anyone contemplating studying this fantastic play.One complaint: the bibliographies are great, but the afterword (of the 1997 edition) mentions some texts which aren't at the back, and one which doesn't even seem to exist!!!Gah!But, nice one, Mr Segal...sets the bar. ... Read more