For what it's worth, Euripides could've been a lot nicer to my gal pal Helen. I mean, what is up with that?

I suppose that's nothing short of ordinary given the times. Even if Euripides is argued to be a pioneer, a forefront to the defence of women.

But damn. Hecuba and Andromache though. I knew they had it rough, but damn. I can understand why a tyrant might weep at their sorrows.

It's been a pleasure Euripides. Let's not meet again for a while ok? We've had a good run over my three years at university. Let's leave it on a good note.

I hadn't read any Euripides since a college classics course. Of the three major Greek dramatists, I never really liked Aeschylus and didn't read too much Euripides. Everyone focused on Sophocles, who was very good. But, having read this recent translation, Euripides has rocketed up into first place among these three (even though he won the fewest competitions when he was alive).

If I had to list these plays in order of my favorites, it would be Andromache, then Hecuba, then closely followed by The Trojan Women. In the Trojan Women, I loved Hecuba's retort to Helen's unwillingness to accept any blame for the destruction of Troy, when in reference to the Judgement of Paris, Hecuba says, "After all, why should the goddess Hera have conceived so great a desire to be beautiful? Was it so that she could win a better husband than Zeus? Was Athena in eager pursuit of a match with one of the gods? But she shunned marriage and asked her father to let her stay a virgin. Don't try to give respectability to your crime by making the goddesses out to be fools" (p. 65, lines 975-981). As a footnote mentions, contemporary belief in the judgement of Paris is not questioned, but the "rationalizing of myth for the sake of argument is thoroughly Euripidean" (p. 142).

In Andromache, there are many excellent lines were Andromache and Peleus put Hermione and Menelaus in their places. Andromache says to Hermione, in reference to her mother Helen, "Do not try to outdo your mother, lady, in the love of men. All sensible children should steer clear of the ways of bad mothers" (p. 82, lines 229-231). Peleus chews out Menelaus several times, partly reflecting the real world fact that Athens was at war with Sparta when Euripides produced this particular play.

The pathos of these plays, the stories, the characters, all spoke out loudly across the ages. While certainly having political as well as dramatic significance when they were first produced, these plays still resonate today with issues of war, violence, inner strength, and ego. I thoroughly recommend them.

"Ten years -
ten times the seed was sown before Troy fell,
perished beneath Greek spears.
A desert now where homes were. Blood
drips down from the holy shrines.
While to the Greek ships pass the Trojan treasure,
gold, gold in masses, armour, clothing
stripped from the dead.
Oh fools! The men who lay a city waste,
so soon to die themselves."

After typing the above ,I KNOW that once finished, I will be unable to restrain myself from going right back to the start and reading it ALL again.
A play without a plot, a play of portraits of defeat, of unbearable grief, pride, and the utter madness of war.
And THIS was written in 416BC!! Oh fools!! indeed.
In that long ago time a man saw with perfect clarity what war was, and wrote what he saw in a play of surpassing power.And rubs his audience's nose in it even more by presenting their legendary foes as wholly sympathetic.

The play first came to my notice in 1972 as a film by the Greek director, Michael Cacoyannis famous for his "Zorba the Greek" with Anthony Quinn and Alan Bates. Mikis Theodorakis wrote the music for both of these films. As well, "The Trojan Women " starred Kath Hepburn,Vanessa Redgrave,Genevieve Bujold and Irene Papas. Splendid acting!!!...naturally.
A heart-rending anti-war statement by Euripides, he wrote it in 416BC to hold a mirror up to his fellow Athenians, who had recently slaughtered the male population of the island of Melos ,and sold into slavery its women and children, all Greeks, for wishing to remain neutral in the war against Sparta, their neighbours.Pacifists have never been popular!
And 24 hundred years later the mirror is as clear and as accusing.
The horror of the situation of the surviving women is offset by the beauty of the poetry of their despair and grief...and courage. The play consists of three main episodes each centering on the fate of one of the captives and all linked by the presence of the central character of Hecuba the Queen. She witnesses the fates of Cassandra, her daughter; Andromanche, wife of her slain son Hector, and their small boy, Astyanax; and Helen, the cause of the destruction of their city.
The play is being presently shown in Sydney and Astyanax is being played by Nicholas,grandson of my Greek barber Chris and son of his daughter a teaching colleague. So I have gone back to the text so I can more enjoy the play. Really, ANY excuse will do!!!!Only forty or so pages and you'll never regret it!!!

A well-chosen collection of three plays set in the aftermath of the Trojan war, focusing on the women victims of the war. Hecuba is portrayed as a defeated, passive victim in ‘The Trojan Women’; in the eponymous ‘Hecuba’, even though a prisoner of war in Agamemnon’s camp, she takes an active, grisly, and highly effective revenge against a false friend. I enjoyed ‘Andromache’ particularly, although it seems the least “well made” from a modern point of view: perhaps some of the ancient cultural references have got lost in the last several thousand years. Andromache’s debates with Hermione, Menelaus and Peleus are entertaining; the gender politics however are a bit challenging for a modern reader and the ending a bit unfocused.

Hecuba and The Trojan Women were excellent reflections on the end of the Trojan war from two different perspectives, but from the same character: Hecuba.

Read for university applications, but these plays will stick with me for a long time.
This specific translation marks when actors would likely be singing during moments of high emotion, which is a nice touch.

fun!

HECUBA. Yet if god had not turned
the world upside down, we would vanish
into obscurity. We would never have
given men to come the inspiration to sing
of us in their song.

interesting collection, with plays that obviously complement one another well. a lot of misery and a surprising number of argumentative speeches. this translation is fairly straightforward in that it reads in a very literal manner and has a lot of explanatory notes including in places where a greek word with certain connotations has been swapped out for a more simplistic english word (e.g. various animals translated as just 'child' or 'girl). think my ranking is trojan women > hecuba > andromache,

Since I only read one of the plays I won't rate the book // will read soon but had to know what happened in the original play before reading the new adaptation. Euripides really is the king of depressing.

Hecuba! Helen! Cassandra! Polyxena! Andromache! Thank you, Euripides. I am nourished.

It is rather hard to believe that these plays were written over 2,400 years ago. They are easy to read and comprehend and are, in fact, very absorbing and captivating. I guess that is why they are still read a couple thousand years after they were written! The plays are all tragedies and pertain to the Trojan War and it's aftermath, which took place hundreds of years prior to the plays being written (if the war actually did occur). They all feature strong and forceful yet tragic female characters. To me, they are far more interesting and compelling than the male characters. It is interesting to note that many of the Greek tragedies have such strong female characters, since they were written by men, for a male only audience (women were not allowed to watch them), and acted in by males only. I have noticed that in the past few years there has been several new novels written that are based on Greek Mythology, and most of them seem to feature female leading characters. They are more engrossing, and let's face it, Achilles was an obnoxious jerk.

I liked all three of the plays in this collection, I did not really prefer one over the other, enjoying each in it's turn. And if you are thinking about popping the DVD of the movie "Troy" into your player, sit down and read some Euripides instead. He is far more entertaining and believable...

Lovely.