Orestes and Other Plays by euripides

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 1,2025

Updated Review: I deleted the blog where my reviews were originally posted, but I'm doing a project where I'm discussing each of the surviving Greek plays in a Youtube video (at https://www.youtube.com/c/TheatreofPhil). I'll be rereading these plays as I move through making the videos, and I'll write new reviews here with the links to the videos beneath them. My overview video about Euripides is at: https://youtu.be/Z-352-0g6ZQ

The Children of Heracles: https://youtu.be/vkYDkNTLUVM

Andromache: https://youtu.be/6PyM08J-sXQ

The Suppliant Women: https://youtu.be/UrcqiIQGdWA

The Phoenician Women: https://youtu.be/7i26trrrw_U

Orestes: https://youtu.be/unRlNl7nAKk

Iphigenia in Aulis: https://youtu.be/RaMrFq_50QA

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Chromoicx

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 1,2025

I didn't know the story of any of these before reading them, which definitely made for an exciting experience. It was also my first prose translation which unfortunately slowed my reading of this down, sometimes to the point where I grew frustrated - although I'm aware this is a more likely a problem with me than the text, it still affected my overall experience.

If I try to remain objective however, these are amazing works. I especially love his characterisation and the voice he often gives his female characters, often so lacking in works from this time. More specifically, I think Ion is my favourite, with Suppliant Women coming second (I loved the debate of politics).

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AshxxMisty

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 1,2025

Athens and the children of Heracles
20 March 2011

tThe only reason I got this volume was because it contained the one Euripidean play that I did not have: the Heraklidae (or, the Children of Heracles). Herakles, otherwise known in Latin as Hercules (which is the term we generally use) was an ancient Greek hero and demigod. He is most famous for the twelve labours, but he appears elsewhere, notably as one of the Argonauts who sailed with Jason to search for the golden fleece (though he is left behind halfway there and goes his own way). Heracles is also well known for his strength, and in Greek Mythology he does seem to come out as a 'strong man' in the same sense that Samson of the Bible does. To me he is simply a hero in the same sense as Achilles.

tHeracles is also known for having over 700 children, and as such creating a race who eventually invaded and conquered the Peloponesian peninsula. The play is set before their rise to power (though it needs be remembered that there was an awful lot of them). Heracles' offspring come to blows with the King of Mycenae and flee to Athens for protection. While there the king raises an army, but the Athenians warn him that the Heraclidae are under his protection. However an oracle says that unless a woman is sacrificed then they will lose the war. One Athenian (no doubt in love with one of the Heraclidae) offers herself up, and thus they go to war and win, and capture the King of Mycenae alive. They are reluctant to execute him, but he prophesies that if they kill him then his spirit will become a defender of Athens.

tEuripides wrote this play during the Peloponesian war, and while we have a lot of his plays, he was always second best to his contemporary Sophocles. Initially only seven of his plays were to survive (in the same sense that we have seven each of the other two great tragedians), however an entire volume of plays also managed to survive and as such he have a much larger collection than normal. The Heraclidae would be one of those plays.

tThis play, obviously written during the war, is designed as a patriotic piece to inspire the Athenians during a dark period of their history. As mentioned, the Heraclidae became the Peloponesians, of which Sparta is one of the many cities. Thus the audience is reminded of a time when they were the protectors of those who are now enemies, and is a way to justify their current actions. Further, the sacrifice of the former enemy of the Heraclidae is a reminder of a promise that Athens will be protected.

tGreek myth is very fluid and tends to change depending on the location and the events. Perseus is considered to be the father of the Persians and Media is the mother of the Medes. Both characters where betrayed by Greek kings, which is why their respective countries became enemies. Of course it is highly unlikely that either of these characters were to ancestors of these races, but in a Greco-centric world, one does not accept that there is any explanation beyond your own borders (which is very true of what is happening today).

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anii

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 1,2025

I'm making good progress on finishing all of Euripides plays. Only 3 to go!
For me this collection was just fine. It's far and away better than the other Euripides collection I read this year (Heracles and Other Plays), but... eh.
I didn't actively dislike any of the plays in this collection, and I really did enjoy The Phoenician Women, so all in all, that's not too bad.

n  Ion:n
★★★☆☆
Apollo spins the most convoluted plan possible to reunite Ion with his birth mother, a woman that he raped and impregnated years ago. This needlessly convoluted plan unsurprisingly almost ends in multiple murders before the deus ex machina comes to the rescue.
I did appreciate how this play rightfully calls out Apollo and really shows how traumatizing the assault was for Creusa. This point was somewhat weakened by the ending where she’s suddenly totally cool with Apollo, but still.
The “reunion” between Ion and his “father” Xuthus was also really funny.
A solid play, not a new favourite. Needed more tragedy.

n  Orestes:n
★★★☆☆
This one’s genuinely difficult for me to rate, because it started out so well!
All the characters are written in a nuanced and sympathetic way (even Electra who I usually find insufferable). Clytemnestra’s murder is treated with real weight, Helen is portrayed in a very humanizing way, the situation the characters find themselves in is genuinely tragic and they have a lot of complicated feelings about it.
Then the second half of the play comes along and the story devolves into a violent display of virulent misogyny. Fun times.
As usual, Helen is unfairly blamed for everything wrong with the world, which clashes weirdly with how she’s portrayed at the beginning of the play. Nothing about how she’s portrayed in this play justifies the vitriol thrown her way.
Also, Electra, unsurprisingly, is firmly on the side of the patriarchy and loves enacting violence on other women. Poor Hermione deserves so much better. Can’t imagine she’s thrilled about having to marry the dude who just threatened to murder her right after witnessing his attempted murder of her mother.
Oh, and Apollo is once again the source of strife in the story (are we sensing a theme?) and gets rightfully called out, but hey, it’s all fine in the end because he comes along and fixes everything at the last second! Yay!

n  The Phoenician Women:n
★★★★☆
Now we’re talking!
The Phoenician Women is set roughly after the events that went down in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, only here Oedipus still remains in Thebes and Jocasta hasn’t killed herself.
Unlike the first two plays in this collection, the tragedy is not directly the fault of a god (no gods feature in this play), but rather because a greedy, power-hungry man would rather see his kingdom burn than share his inheritance with his brother as agreed to. Are we fucking surprised

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DIO_the_almighty

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 1,2025

to be fair i only read orestes but anyways

@madeline miller i dare you to write your next book on orestes and pylades because i would read that in a heartbeat

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Bibg12932

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 1,2025

Why are the language and message so similar to portions of the old testament? Iphigenia's sacrifice replacement of a deer vs. the goat that took the place to Abraham's son Issac, for instance..

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