Produced 415 BC. This is a fatalistic play and about the hopelessness of hope. It is one of Euripides' strongest attacks against war. He may have been motivated to write it because of the terrible fate Athens had imposed on the city and island of Melos in 216 BC during the Peloponnesian War for supporting the Spartans, and for which, after a long siege, Athens had massacred all of Melos' adult males and enslaved all its females.
Setting
Before a tent in the camp of the Greek forces, outside the city walls and ruins of of Troy which is smoking. Hecuba is lying stretched out on the ground before one of the tents.
Dramatis Personae
Poseidon [god of the sea]
Athena [goddess of Athens]
Hecuba [former queen of Troy]
Chorus of captive Trojan women
Talthybius [herald of the Greek army]
Cassandra [daughter of Hecuba and king Priam, virgin, priestess and prophetess]
Andromache [widow of Hector (killed by Achilles)]
Astyanax [Andromache's and Hector's son] (non-speaking part)
Menelaus [king of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon, husband of Helen, one of the Greek leaders]
Helen [of Troy, Menelaus's wife and queen, also has been married to Paris]
Structure
Prologue [Lines 1-97, 98-152]
Poseidon enters. He reflects on Troy's former glories and current woes. Troy now only has women who have been enslaved and who are to be distributed by lot to their Greek conquerors.
Athena enters. Athena has been aggrieved by the assault made upon Cassandra who had sought sanctuary at her shrine. Not one Greek had protested at this outrage. She urges Poseidon to wreck the Greek fleet on its way home to Greece.
Parodos (kommos with Hecuba) [Lines 153-196], (first choral ode) [Lines 197-234]
Hecuba awakes. She laments her fall from grace. The Chorus re-iterates her sorrow.
First Episode [Lines 235-510]
Talthybius enters and announces the decision of the allocation of the enslaved women of Troy to their new Greek masters: Cassandra is to become Agamemnon's concubine; Polyxena is to be sacrificed to Achilles on his tomb; Andromache will go to Achilles' son Pyrrhus; Hecuba is to become the slave of Odysseus.
Cassandra appears, half mad and in a trance, wearing a white dress and bearing a wedding torch. She prophesies that by becoming Agamemnon's concubine this will lead to the ruin of his house and that Argos will become even more unhappy than Troy [no one believes her]. She also foresees Odysseus will have ten years of suffering whilst returning home.
First Stasimon [Lines 511-576]
The Chorus relates the story of the fall of Troy. They recall the bringing of the Trojan horse into the city, and the destruction that poured forth upon Troy during the night.
Second Episode [Lines 577–798]
Andromache rides in on a chariot together with her small son, Astyanax. She commiserates with Hecuba, and tells her that the Greeks have sacrificed Polyxena on Achilles' tomb, as an offering to his spirit, and made her a spirit guardian of his tomb. Andromache believes that death is preferable to the future existence that lies before her.
Talthybius enters with guards. He has come to take Astyanax away to be thrown off the walls of Troy to his death. He says he is only carrying out orders. Astyanax is led away by Talthybius and his guards. Hecuba mourns his fate.
Second Stasimon [Lines 799–859]
The Chorus recounts Helen’s arrival at Troy
and the consequent disaster she brought upon the city.
Third Episode [Lines 860–1060]
Menelaus enters, saying that he will take his wife Helen back to Greece for execution to punish her for her having eloped with Paris [Alexandros] to Troy. Helen enters and pleads for her life claiming she is innocent, and puts forward forcible arguments why he should not have her killed. Hecuba rebuts Helen's arguments.
Menelaus agrees with Hecuba that Helen ought to be killed, but instead drags her off and against Hecuba's wishes to his own ship for the journey home to Sparta.
Third Stasimon [Lines 1060 - 1122]
The Chorus sing of how Zeus and gods have betrayed Troy and of its misery. They sing of their dead husbands and how they have been enslaved. They sing of Helen's journey to Laconia [Sparta] in bondage on board Menelaus' ship.
Fifth Episode [Lines 1123 - 1157]
Talthybius returns with the dead body of Astyanax laid out on Hector's shield. Brings news that because Andromache has already been put on the ship taking her to Greece that she has asked Hecuba be allowed to perform burial rites for Astyanax and bury him with Hector's shield. Hecuba bewails the murder of a defenceless child which had been ordered by Odysseus because he feared vengeance when the child grows up.
Fifth Stasimon [1158-1259]
The Chorus and Hecuba prepare Astyanax for burial. a dirge is sung. Hecuba has lost faith in the gods and declares that rituals honoring the dead are pointless. It is the living who matter.
Hecuba laments her fate.
Talthybius returns with Greek soldiers carrying torches. As the body of Astyanax is carried out, Troy is torched, and Hecuba has forcibly to be stopped from throwing herself into the flames. The last dirge for the city is sung. The enslaved women are led away to the ships to set sail for Greece.
References
The Trojan Women - Wikipedia
Siege of Melos - Wikipedia
Cassandra - Wikipedia
Andromache - Wikipedia
Astyanax - Wikipedia
Polyxena - Wikipedia
Helen of Troy - Wikipedia
Kommos (theatre) - Wikipedia
Euripides: Trojan Women (Tρῳάδες) - - Major Reference Works - Wiley Online Library
The Trojan Women - Euripides - Ancient Literature
Ian C. Storey; Arlene Allan (28 January 2014). A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama. Euripides - Trojan Women [Troades]: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 281–. ISBN 978-1-118-45512-8.
Euripides' Trojan Women Study Guide | Department of Greek & Latin - UCL – University College London
LLT 180-1 - The Trojan Women : Discussion Questions - Missouri State University
Trojan Women by Euripides - Greek Mythology
The Trojan Women
Neil T. Croally (20 October 1994). Euripidean Polemic: The Trojan Women and the Function of Tragedy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-46490-1.
Alan Beale (25 February 2014). Euripides Talks. A&C Black. pp. 131–. Trojan Women: The Cassandra Scene ISBN 978-1-4725-2129-3.
Plot and Myth in Euripides' "Heracles" and "Troades"
Ra'anana Meridor
Phoenix
Vol. 38, No. 3 (Autumn, 1984), pp. 205-215 (11 pages)
Published by: Classical Association of Canada
DOI: 10.2307/1088273
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1088273
A Competition of ‘choregoi’ in Euripides’ ‘Trojan Women’. Dramatic Structure and Intertextuality - HAL-SHS - Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société PDF
Greek Versions
Teubner - Euripides - Troades
Euripides, The Trojan Women - Perseus Digital Library
Trojan Women : Euripides - Internet Archive Shirley A. Barlow, Aris & Phillips Classical Texts
Translations
The Trojan Women of Euripides. Translated into English rhyming verse with explanatory notes by Gilbert Murray : Euripides - Internet Archive
Euripides. Ten Plays by Euripides. The Trojan Women: Random House Publishing Group. pp. 195–. ISBN 978-0-307-83046-3.
David Grene; Richmond Lattimore (1960). Greek Tragedies. Volume 2. Libation Bearers (Aeschylus), Electra (Sophocles), Iphigenia in Tauris (Euripides), Electra (Euripides), The Trojan Women (Euripides): University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-30775-6.
The Internet Classics Archive - The Trojan Women by Euripides
The Trojan women of Euripides (1919 edition) - Open Library [Gilbert Murray]
Euripides (2009). Trojan Women. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-970532-0.
Euripides. The Trojan Women and Other Plays. The Trojan Women: OUP Oxford. pp. 153–. ISBN 978-0-19-160618-2.
Peter Burian; Alan Shapiro (15 July 2010). The Complete Euripides: Volume I: Trojan Women and Other Plays. Trojan Women: Oxford University Press. pp. 151–. ISBN 978-0-19-974541-8.
Euripides, The Trojan Women Perseus Digital Library
Audio Visual Versions
The Trojan Women 1971.Full.[Movie].Eng - YouTube
The Trojan Women by Euripides (480-406 B.C.) - Librivox - YouTube
The Trojan Women (1971) Movie - Euripides - Cacoyanis - Internet Archive
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