The Trojan Women and Other Plays

This volume, with translation, introduction and notes by James Morwood offers readings on Euripides' plays The Trojan Women, Hecuba and Andromache. These are all related to the Trojan War and follow themes begun in Homer's Iliad. In Hecuba, the Queen of ruined Troy seeks revenge on Polymestor for the murder of her son Polydorus, but it becomes much more than that, when Agamemnon becomes a temporary ally, and Hecuba's revenge becomes a source of further despair to balance against all her losses in the war against the Greeks. In The Trojan Women, the women are being held waiting for the Greeks to allocate them out after the fall of the city. Hecuba bewails her loss and her awarding to hated Odysseus, Cassandra madly goes about preparing for her wedding to Agamemnon and the fate she will bring his family, Andromache dreads her fate with Neoptolemus whose father Achilles killed her husband Hector, and loses her son Astyanax to the Greeks. The chorus of Trojan women share the pain of all these women, and remind the audience of the widespread despair, loss and fear that these women suffered even after their men had been lost in the war. This must have been a very unusual play, given the large number of women characters in a play that was acted by men for a largely men-only audience in fifth century BC Athens. In Andromache, the widow of Hector begins her new life as slave to Neoptolemus, who killed Hector's father, whose father killed her husband, whose wife Hermione is the daughter of Menelaus and Helen who started the Trojan War. A bitter life indeed. These are wonderful plays; what I would give to have a time travelling machine and to be able to go back to fifth century BC Athens to witness their performance. This book offers a great introduction to someone like me who has not come across Euripides' works before. The introduction is lengthy and most informative, the translations are sympathetic and coherent, and the notes are concise but pertinent.

Having read Homer's The Iliad I wanted to read about the aftermath

An excellent book with a number of Greek pays included. Good commentaries on the plays.

great

Very serviceable texts with good notes and an excellent introduction by Edith Hall

This Oxford World's Classic volume brings together three extant tragedies by Euripides dealing with the aftermath of the Trojan War: "Hecuba," "Trojan Women," and "Andormache." After the fall of Troy, its queen, Hecuba, had become the slave of Odysseus and her daughter Polyxena is taken away to be slain on the grave of Achilles. However, in the Euripides play "Hecuba" it is the earlier death of another child, Polydorus that provides the motivation for what comes to pass. This was a child who had been sent for safety to the Thracian Chersonese. But now, after Hecuba hears of the death of Polyxena, the body of Polydorus washes up on shore. Apparently Hecuba's son-in-law Polymnester murdered the boy for the gold, which King Priam had sent to pay for his education. Agamemnon hears Hecuba's pleas, and Polymnester is allowed to visit the queen before she is taken away into captivity. The most fascinating aspect of "Hecuba" is that it gives us an opportunity to contrast the character of the queen of fallen Troy in this play by Euripides with that in "Trojan Women." This play was performed ten years earlier and its events take place right before the other play as well, although there is some overlap when Talthybius informs Hecuba of the death of Polyxena. In both dramas Hecuba is a woman driven by a brutal and remorseless desire for vengeance; however she proves much more successful in this drama than she does in "Trojan Women." Hecuba has harsh words for Helen, as in the other play, but her son Paris receives his fair share of approbation as well. This play also makes reference to the myth that Hecuba would meet her own hideous death, which reinforces the idea that there is much more of a moral degradation of her character in this play. "Trojan Women" is the most famous of the anti-war plays of Euripides. About 416 B.C. the island of Melos refused to aid Athens in the war against Sparta. The Athenians then slaughtered the men and enslaved the women and children, an atrocity never before inflicted on one Greek city-state by another. As preparations were made for the ruinous expedition against Syracuse, Euripides wrote "Trojan Women," as a plea for peace. Consequently there is a strong rhetorical dimension to the play, which prophesies that a Greek force would sail across the sea after violating victims and meet with disaster. However, there the play also has a strong literary consideration in that the four Trojan Women--Hecuba, Queen of Troy; Cassandra, daughter of Hecuba and Priestess of Apollo; Andromache, widow of Hector; and Helen--all appear in the final chapter of Homer's epic poem the "Iliad," mourning over the corpse of Hector, retrieved by his father Priam from the camp of the Acheans. This tragedy clearly reflects the cynicism of Euripides. Of all the Achean leaders in Homer only Menelaus, husband of Helen, appears. He appears, ready to slay Helen for having abandoned him to run off to Troy with Paris, but we see his anger melt before her beauty and soothing tones. In this play the Greeks do more than enslave women: they slaughter children. Even the herald of the Greeks, Talthybius, cannot stomach the policies of his people, but is powerless to do anything other than offer hollow words of sympathy. The tragedy also reminds us that while we think of Helen as "the face that launched a thousand ships," she was a despised figure amongst the ancient Greeks and there is no satisfaction in her saving her life. The idea that all of these men died just so that she could be returned to the side of her husband is an utter mockery of the dead. "Trojan Women" has the honor of being the first great anti-war play in Western civilization. "Andromache," about the widow of Hector, is one of the weakest of the extant plays of Euripides. The work is better considered as anti-Spartan propaganda, written circa 426 B.C. near the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. The scenes are much more episodic than we usually find in Euripides; the first part of the tragedy is essentially a supplicant play, but then it changes dramatically. The play has one of Euripides' strongest beginnings, with its strong attacks on Sparta, represented by Menelaus. But even as propaganda Euripides elevates his subject for what he sees is not merely a war between two cities, but rather a clash between two completely different ways of life. Once again, Euripides uses the Trojan War as a context for his political argument. Andromache, the widow of Hector, is the slave of Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, who is married to Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus and Helen. The setting is the Temple of Thetis, the mother of Achilles, somewhere between Pithia and Pharasalia in Thessaly. Andromache has born Neoptolemus a son, and the barren Hermione accuses the Trojan woman of having used witchcraft and seeks her death. Andromache has taken refuge as this temple where Hermione and Menelaus try to get her to come out by threatening to kill her son. However, the title character disappears from the play and everybody from Peleus, the father of Achilles, to Orestes, the cousin of Hermione, shows up, mainly to talk about Neoptolemus, who is at Delphi. Thetis shows up as the deus-ex-machina and the play ends rather abruptly. The play works more as anti-Spartan propaganda than as a tragedy since there is little here beyond a progression of characters talking about doing things they end up not doing. This is the weakest of the extant plays of Euripides, but with all three works collected in a single volume this makes an excellent complementary text for those studying Homer's "Iliad," especially since Euripides was apparently the only ancient playwright who was willing to take on the characters of Homer's epic poem.

Bought for study purposes so would not have been a book of choice otherwise but it was a good quality item.

Priced well and has great value. The book is in good and readable condition

Loved it

This is the work of a master poet and playwright. One of the greatest works of the ancient Greek dramatic tradition — and of any literary tradition— is the “Trojan Women” which comes a close as we mere mortals can imagine to grasping the significance the burning of sacred Ilium. However, this is the only translation in English which I have read, so I cannot comment on how well it compares to previous versions or the original Greek which I cannot read. It is a small compact book, great for carrying on purse or bag to read wherever. Excellent notes annotated by line and organized in the back of the book.

Only referenced to this a few times - good read for classical studies.

The condition of this book was excellent. It was a great addition to my Mythology collection. This is a great book for those who want a more closer look at the Trojan War and the women involved.

Great translation with very useful notes to add context to the plays.