EURIPIDES A Writer of Greek Tragedies

1. EURIPIDESA Writer of Greek Tragedies

2. Who Was Euripides? • Euripides was an Ancient Greek playwright who lived from 484 – 406 BC. • He was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens. • The other two were Aeschylus and Sophocles.

3. His Early Years. . . • He was born on Salamis Island around 484 BC. • He was the son of Mnesarchus, a retailer who lived in a village near Athens. • His mother's name was Cleito, a humble vendor of vegetables. • Mnesarchus insisted that the boy should train for a career in athletics.

4. His Early Years (Cont.) . . . • He served for a short time as both a dancer and torch-bearer at the rites of Apollo Zosterius. • He also studied painting and philosophy under the masters.

5. As a Man. . . • He had two disastrous marriages. • Both of his wives — Melite and Choerine (the latter bearing him three sons) — were unfaithful. • He became a recluse, making a home for himself in a cave on Salamis.

6. Presentation of His Plays. . . • Athenian tragedy during Euripides's lifetime was a public contest between playwrights. • The state funded it and awarded prizes to the winners. • The language was spoken and sung verse. • The performance area included a circular floor or orchestra where the chorus could dance, a space for actors (three speaking actors in Euripides's time), a backdrop and some special effects. • Tragic poets were often mocked by comic poets during the dramatic festivals.

7. Awards in Competition: • Euripides first competed in the City Dionysia, the famous Athenian dramatic festival, in 455 BC. • It was not until 441 BC that he won a first prize. • His final competition in Athens was in 408 BC. • The Bacchae and Iphigenia in Aulis were performed after his death in 405 BC and first prize was awarded posthumously. • Altogether his plays won first prize only five times.

8. What Did He Write? • Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to Euripides, but it is now believed that he wrote ninety-two at most. • Four of the plays attributed to Euripides were probably written by Critias. • Of these, eighteen or nineteen have survived complete.

9. Sequencing his work. . . If Euripides's plays are sequenced in time, they reveal that his outlook on life might have changed through the years, providing a "spiritual biography": 1) An early period of high tragedy (Medea, Hippolytus) 2) A patriotic period at the outset of the Peloponnesian War (Children of Hercules, Suppliants) 3) A middle period of disillusionment at the senselessness of war (Hecuba, Women of Troy) 4) An escapist period with a focus on romantic intrigue (Ion, Iphegenia in Tauris, Helen) 5) A final period of tragic despair (Orestes, Phoenician Women, Bacchae)

10. The Death of Euripides: • It is said that Euripides died in Macedonia after being attacked by the Molossian hounds of King Archelaus. • Legend says that his cenotaph near Piraeus was struck by lightning — signs of his unique powers, whether for good or evil. • According to modern scholars, his death might have been caused instead by the harsh Macedonian winter.

11. This is a fragment of a vellum codex from the 4th-5th centuries AD, showing choral lines from Medea (lines 1087-91). Tiny though it is, the fragment influences modern editions of the play.