Front cover image for Orestes and other plays

Orestes and other plays

"Written during the long battles with Sparta that were to ultimately destroy ancient Athens, these six plays by Euripides brilliantly utilize traditional legends to illustrate the futility of war. The Children of Heracles holds up a mirror to a contemporary Athens, while Andromache considers the position of women in Greek wartime society. In The Suppliant Women, the difference between a just and an unjust battle is explored, while The Phoenician Women describes the brutal rivalry of the sons of King Oedipus, and the compelling Orestes depicts the guilt caused by vengelful murder. Finally, Iphigenia in Aulis, Euripides' last play, contemplates religious sacrifice and the insanity of war. Together, the plays offer a moral and political statement that is at once unique to the ancient world and prophetically relevant to our own."--P. [4] of cover
Print Book, English, 2001
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001