Thursday, 4 July 2019

Plays of Euripides


Ten of the extant plays by Euripides (Hecuba, Orestes, Phoenissae, Medea, Hippolytus, Andromache, Alcestis, Troades [Trojan Women], Rhesus, and Bacchae) are known as his  'select' plays, chosen for the quality of their language and the literature they represent. 

Euripides' nine other extant plays are known as his "alphabetic plays" (Electra, Helen, Heracles, Heracles' Children, Hiketes [The Suppliants], Ion, Iphigenia in Aulis, Iphigenia among the Taurians, and Kyklops [Cyclops]). They are so-named because they have come most likely from one part (volume two?) of a complete set of the extant Euripides' work, which was originally organised in roughly alphabetical order. They are all dramas which have titles in Greek which begin with the Greek letters Eta to Kappa in the Greek alphabet.

In critical terms the "alphabetic plays" of Euripides are seen to be a group of plays which were not especially selected for preservation by the compilers of literature in classical times chosen for their quality, but seem only to have survived by the random principle of the alphabet, by the survival of one volume of the compilation of his works.

From a modern point of view Euripides, a younger contemporary of Sophocles, is known for his more nuanced and psychological portrayal of characters. His plays often challenge traditional values and explore the darker aspects of human nature. Medea and Electra, for example, depict women driven to extreme acts of revenge by anger and desperation. Euripides' characters are often deeply flawed and conflicted, but their struggles resonate with audiences on a profound level, making them relevant even today.


Euripides II: Electra, Orestes, Iphigenia in Tauris, Andromache, Cyclops - Internet Archive Euripides III: Bacchanals. The Madness of Hercules. The Children of Hercules. The Phoenician Maidens. Suppliants Euripides IV: Ion. Hippolytus. Medea. Alcestis ISBNs for the Euripides volumes in the Loeb Classical Library:

  1. Euripides I: Cyclops, Alcestis, Medea, edited and translated by David Kovacs. ISBN-13: 978-0674995615

  2. Euripides II: Hecuba, The Suppliant Women, Electra, Heracles, edited and translated by David Kovacs. ISBN-13: 978-0674995622

  3. Euripides III: The Trojan Women, Iphigenia among the Taurians, Ion, edited and translated by David Kovacs. ISBN-13: 978-0674996308

  4. Euripides IV: Rhesus / Suppliant Women / Orestes / Iphigenia in Aulis, edited and translated by David Kovacs. ISBN-13: 978-0674996476

  5. Euripides V: Phoenician Women / Bacchae / Iphigenia at Aulis / Cyclops, edited and translated by David Kovacs. ISBN-13: 978-0674996483


 Synopses of the Plots in the Plays by Euripides:-

Play            Date BC    Prize   Lineage Genre (and notes)

Alcestis       438           2nd      S  Tragedy with slatements of a satyr play

Medea         431           3rd       S  Tragedy

Heracleidae c. 430                   A   Political/patriotic drama

Hippolytus  428            1st       S    Tragedy

Andromache c. 425                  S   Tragedy

Hecuba   c. 424                        S     Tragedy

The Suppliants  c. 423             A   Political/patriotic drama

Electra c. 420                           A  Engages “untragically" with the traditional myth and with other dramatizations of it

Heracles   c. 416                      A   Tragedy

The Trojan Women 415  2nd   S   Tragedy

Iphigenia in Tauris  c. 414       A   Romantic drama

Ion c. 414                                 A   Romantic drama

Helen 412                                A   Romantic drama

Phoenician Women c. 410       S   Tragedy (extensive interpolations)

Orestes 408                              S  Tragedy

Bacchae 405          1st              S  Tragedy (posthumously produced)

Iphigenia at Aulis  405 1st       A   Tragedy (posthumously produced with extensive interpolations)

Rhesus ?                                   S   Tragedy (authorship disputed)

Cyclops ?                                 A    Satyr play (the only fully extant example of this genre)

 Key:

Date indicates date of first production.
Prize indicates a place known to have been awarded in festival competition

Lineage: S denotes plays surviving from a 'Select' or 'School' edition,
               A plays surviving from an 'Alphabetical' edition

Resolutions: Number of resolved feet per 100 trimeters, Ceadel's list
Genre: Generic orientation[95] (see 'Transmission' section) with additional notes in brackets.

Euripides - Perseus Catalog

Vincent King Cooper (1879). Tales from Euripides. Harper & Brothers. 

Church, A. (1900). The Chronology of the Dramas of Euripides. The Classical Review, 14(9), 438-438. doi:10.1017/S0009840X00081968

The Plays of Euripides : Euripides Volume 1, Edward Philip Coleridge

The Plays of Euripides : Euripides Volume II, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Edward Philip Coleridge

The plays of Euripides : Euripides Volume 1

The plays of Euripides : Euripides Volume 2

Euripides Volume 1  - Internet Archive trans by Theodore Alois Buckley
The Tragedies of Euripides vol. I - Google Books
(Hecuba, Orestes, Phcenissae, Medea, Hippolytus, Alcestis, Bacchae, Heraclidae, Iphigenia In Aulide, and Iphigenia In Tauris.)

Euripides Volume 2 - Internet Archive trans by Theodore Alois Buckley
The Tragedies of Euripides Vol. II- Google Books
(Hercules Furens, Troades, Ion, Andromache, Suppliants, Helen, Electra, Cyclops, Rhesus)

The plays of Euripides in English (1906 edition) - Open Library

A concordance to Euripides : Allen, James Turney - Internet Archive

Supplement to the Allen & Italie concordance to Euripides : Collard, C. - Internet Archive

Euripides. Delphi Complete Works of Euripides (Illustrated). Delphi Classics. ISBN 978-1-909496-47-7.

Oxford World's Classics


Medea, and other plays : Euripides - Internet Archive


Euripidis Fabulae : Euripides Tomus I - Internet Archive [Gilbert Murray]

Euripidis Fabulae : Euripides Tomus II -  Internet Archive [Gilbert Murray]

Euripidis Fabulae : Euripides Tomus III - Internet Archive [Gilbert Murray]

Oxford Classical Texts: Euripidis: Fabulae, Vol. 1: Cyclops; Alcestis; Medea; Heraclidae; Hippolytus; Andromacha; Hecuba - Euripides - Oxford Scholarly Editions (1984) ed. J. Diggle
Oxford Classical Texts: Euripidis: Fabulae, Vol. 2: Supplices; Electra; Hercules; Troades; Iphigenia in Tauris; Ion - Euripides - Oxford Scholarly Editions (1991) ed. J. Diggle
Oxford Classical Texts: Euripidis: Fabulae, Vol. 3: Helena; Phoenissae; Orestes; Bacchae; Iphigenia Aulidensis; Rhesus - Euripides - Oxford Scholarly Editions (1994) ed. J. Diggle

Internet Archive Search: Euripidis Fabulae

Euripides Collection at Bartleby.com


Text of Plays by Euripides: 
Drama Online - Euripides


Michael Wodhull (1740–1816) was the first translator into English verse of all the extant writings—nineteen tragedies and fragments—of Euripides. The work was completed (in 4 vols.) in 1782; new edition 1809 (3 vols.). His translation of Medea was vol. lxix. of Sir John Lubbock's Hundred Books; more of the plays in his translation were in Henry Morley's Universal Library.

Works by Euripides


Euripides (ca. 480-406 B.C.) [Athenian playwright] Wikipedia

Translations by Murray, Gilbert [George Gilbert Aimé] (1866-1957) [English classical scholar] Wikipedia Australian Dictionary of Biography Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) [in German]


The Complete Euripides: Volume I: Trojan Women and Other Plays - Google Books

The Complete Euripides Volume II Electra and Other Plays - Google Books

The Complete Euripides: Volume III: Hippolytos and Other Plays - Euripides - Google Books

The Complete Euripides: Bacchae and other plays. Volume IV - Euripides - Google Books

The Complete Euripides Volume V: Medea and Other Plays - Euripides, - Google Books

Wodhull Translations

The Nineteen Tragedies and Fragments of Euripides Volume 1, Translated by M. Wodhull - Google Books

The Nineteen Tragedies and Fragments of Euripides Volume 2, Translated by M. Wodhull - Google Books

The Nineteen Tragedies and Fragments of Euripides Volume 3, Translated by M. Wodhull - Google Books

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

Morley's Universal Library

Euripides Hecuba, Etc. : Euripides. -  Internet Archive

Chicago The Complete Greek Tragedies - Euripides

v. I. Alcestis / translated by Richmond Lattimore -- The Medea / translated by Rex Warner -- The Heracleidae /translated by Ralph Gladstone -- Hippolytus / translated by David Grene

v. II. The Cyclops / translated by William Arrowsmith -- Heracles / translated by William Arrowsmith -- Iphigenia in Tauris / translated by Witter Bynner -- Helen / translated by Richmond Lattimore

v. III  Heracles, The Trojan Women, Iphigenia among the Taurians, Ion

v. IV. Rhesus / translated by Richmond Lattimore -- The Suppliant Women / translated by Frank William Jones -- Orestes / translated by William Arrowsmith -- Iphigenia in Aulis / translated by Charles R. Walker 

v. V. Electra / translated by Emily Townsend Vermeule -- The Phoenician women / translated by Elizabeth Wyckoff -- The Bacchae / translated by William Arrowsmith

Euripides I : Euripides - Internet Archive

Euripides II : Euripides - Internet Archive

Euripides III : Euripides - Internet Archive

Other References

Laura K. McClure (14 December 2016). A Companion to Euripides. Wiley. ISBN 978-1-119-25752-3.

Grace Harriet Macurdy. The Chronology of the Extant Plays of Euripides. Ardent Media.
The Chronology of the Extant Plays of Euripides - Grace Harriet Macurdy

Ian C. Storey; Arlene Allan (28 January 2014). A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 257–65. ISBN 978-1-118-45512-8.

A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama (2005} PDF pp. 258-76

Handbook of Classical Drama

Philip Whaley Harsh (1944). A Handbook of Classical Drama. Stanford University Press. ISBN978-0-8047-0380-2.
http://bit.ly/2XsOlAv Euripides - 1 pp. 163-207
http://bit.ly/2Xr8gQ0 Euripides - 2 pp. 208-53

David Stuttard (25 February 2016). Looking at Bacchae. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4742-2150-4.
David Stuttard (22 May 2014). Looking at Medea: Essays and a translation of Euripides’ tragedy. A&C Black. ISBN 978-1-4725-3016-5.

Sophie Mills (24 February 2006). Euripides: Bacchae. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-0-7156-3430-1.

Günther Zuntz (1955). The Political Plays of Euripides. Manchester University Press

Euripides; James Diggle (1984). Euripdis Fabulae - 1. Tomus I: Cyclops, Alcestis, Medea, Heraclidae, Hippolytus, Andromacha,, Hecuba: E Typographeo Clarendoniano. ISBN 978-0-19-814594-3.

Euripides; James Diggle (1981). Euripides Fabulae - 2. Tomus II: Supplices, Electra, Hercules, Troades, Iphigenia in Tauris, Ion: E Typographeo Clarendoniano. ISBN 978-0-19-814590-5.

Euripides; J. Diggle (1994). Euripidis Fabulae. Tomus III: Helena, Phoenissae, Orestes, Bacchae, Iphigenia Aulidensis, Rhesus: E Typographeo Clarendoniano. ISBN 978-0-19-814595-0.


Ceadel, E. B. “Resolved Feet in the Trimeters of Euripides and the Chronology of the Plays.” The Classical Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 1/2, 1941, pp. 66–89. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/637191.

Euripides’ Telephus - CORE Reader

Euripides - Andromache, Bacchae, Hippolytus, Medea : Euripides - Internet Archive

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