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Helen / Phoenician Women / Orestes

euripides david kovacs

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Euripides has been prized in every age for the pathos, terror, surprising plot twists, and intellectual probing of his dramatic creations. In this fifth volume of the new Loeb Classical Library Euripides, David Kovacs presents a freshly edited Greek text and a faithful and deftly worded translation of three plays.

For his Helen the poet employs an alternative history in which a virtuous Helen never went to Troy but spent the war years in Egypt, falsely blamed for the adulterous behavior of her divinely created double in Troy. This volume also includes Phoenician Women, Euripides' treatment of the battle between the sons of Oedipus for control of Thebes; and Orestes, a novel retelling of Orestes' lot after he murdered his mother, Clytaemestra. Each play is annotated and prefaced by a helpful introduction.

624 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1,-0410
Places
thebes, argos, 

This edition

Format
624 pages, Hardcover
Published
June 15, 2002 by Loeb Classical Library
ISBN
9780674996007
ASIN
0674996003
Language
Multiple languages
Characters More characters
  • Antigone

    Antigone

    In Greek mythology, Antigone is a Theban princess, and a character in several ancient Greek tragedies. She is the daughter of Oedipus, king of Thebes. Her mother is Jocasta. In another variation of the myth, her mother is Euryganeia. She is a sister of Po...

  • Oedipus

    Oedipus

    Oedipus was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family.The story of Oedipus is the subje...

  • Eteokles (son of Oedipus)

    Eteokles (son Of Oedipus)

    In Greek mythology, Eteocles was a king of Thebes, the son of Oedipus and Euryganeia. Oedipus killed his father Laius and married his mother. Eteocles was succeeded by his uncle, Creon....

  • Menelaus

    Menelaus

    In Greek mythology, Menelaus (Ancient Greek: Μενέλαος, Menelaos) was a king of Mycenaean Sparta, the husband of Helen of Troy, and a central figure in the Trojan War. He was the son of Atreus and Aerope, brother of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and, accordin...

  • Orestes

    Orestes

    In Greek mythology, Orestes (Greek: Ὀρέστης) was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. When his father returned from the Trojan War, he was murdered by Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus. Orestes went into exile and swore to get revenge. After he reac...

  • Pylades

    Pylades

    ...

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About the author

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euripides

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Euripides (Greek: Ευριπίδης) (ca. 480 BC–406 BC) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him, but the Suda says it was ninety-two at most. Of these, eighteen or nineteen have survived more or less complete (Rhesus is suspect). There are many fragments (some substantial) of most of his other plays. More of his plays have survived intact than those of Aeschylus and Sophocles together, partly because his popularity grew as theirs declined—he became, in the Hellenistic Age, a cornerstone of ancient literary education, along with Homer, Demosthenes, and Menander.
Euripides is identified with theatrical innovations that have profoundly influenced drama down to modern times, especially in the representation of traditional, mythical heroes as ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. This new approach led him to pioneer developments that later writers adapted to comedy, some of which are characteristic of romance. He also became "the most tragic of poets", focusing on the inner lives and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown. He was "the creator of ... that cage which is the theatre of William Shakespeare's Othello, Jean Racine's Phèdre, of Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg," in which "imprisoned men and women destroy each other by the intensity of their loves and hates". But he was also the literary ancestor of comic dramatists as diverse as Menander and George Bernard Shaw.
His contemporaries associated him with Socrates as a leader of a decadent intellectualism. Both were frequently lampooned by comic poets such as Aristophanes. Socrates was eventually put on trial and executed as a corrupting influence. Ancient biographies hold that Euripides chose a voluntary exile in old age, dying in Macedonia, but recent scholarship casts doubt on these sources.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 17 votes)
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17 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Worm_Death
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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This was the first time I've read a Loeb classic edition and I have to say, even though the dual text was lost on me, I really liked them. The size was perfect for reading. The edition I had also had the Phonecian Women and Orestes but I'd already read both of those so I only read Helen. I can't help think that there was some huge cultural context missing while reading this book. While I could appreciate the impact of totally making the whole Trojan war pointless, and making Helen good and a devout wife, it just didn't seem as emotional to me as it probably did to the ancient Greeks. The closest analogy I can think of is the books that try to make Satan out as the good guy. What this reminded me of the most was "fix it fic", when someone just can't stand the ending that was given and needs to make it so the characters don't do the awful things they are supposed to do and end up living happily ever after. What I thought was interesting was the fact that in this play most of the parts were female, and it was the women who had all the brains and important descisions to make, Helen came up with their plan to escape, Theonoe had the gift of prophecy and was the one who decided if Helen and her husband could escape. And yet (according to the introduction) Euripides still got into lots of trouble by the women of Greece for the way he portrayed them. The play itself was alright, not as interesting as Aschelyus, as not much happened and there were no surprises. But it was still quite good. It's being put on at King's this week as their Greek play and I'm looking forward to watching it.
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Toste
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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Wow.. I knew Euripides was unorthodox, but what a fresh way to look at the same story. Some of the plays are even better than the more reknowned counterparts by the old masters!
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siriiriri
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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The Revised editions of the Greek plays are fabulous. I especially enjoyed this one because I was unfamiliar with the plays themselves, though I do know the players from other plays and literature. As always, the historical notes are helpful, and do lend the reader to seeking out other plays and ancient texts to fill out the stories. Another book to add to my library in the future.
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hk17
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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This is really a lovely edition of Euripides' plays. Introductions are informative but not too long. Plays are presented in readable form - it is clear who is speaking now, verses are numbered. It was all readable and nice so I think translations here are good.

As for downsides: I'm not fan of putting plays by date of the first performance, I would rather choose order more concered with stories (e.g putting plays about the house of Agamemnon together...) but it's nice that quality of plays here has ascending tendency. Footnotes were uninteresting. I would prefer to have allusions explained rather than to read about long history of question "is this said by this or that character?".


Helen 3/5
It was really interesting to read alternative version of story of Helen. I prefer classic one though.
Portraiting Helen as super-faithful wife seems really odd to me. And the moode of story was more like some Red Library romance my mother would read than great greek tragedy. And the first half of the play was uneventful.
On the other side there are certainly good things in this play. Obviously the idea of alternative stor of Helen is big plus, the trick they[Helen and Menalaos] used to escape was quite clever and I really loved the idea of prophetess in the house that knews almost everything and you're at her mercy, at her decision what she'll tell or hide.

The Phoenician Women 4/5
Iwas suprised by amount of plot in this play, this piece is packed with action.
Well not really, all action scenes are only described by some messenger like is usual for ancient plays. But indeed these "things to describe" are great in number and lots of is going on here unlike in other great tragedies. Many suplots, suicides and events.
Nevertheless there are still long and sophisticated argumentations between characters and great revealing monoloques. 
I especialy liked idea to portrait this Theban tragedy from the viewpoint of passing-by women that have no interest or role in Theban problems and reminds that it's not only about house of Laius but that consequences are far reaching. On the other side, this aspect of play could have been developed more. 
Certainly my favourite "Theban play". Only important minus is that despite of great number of deaths and suicides it misses the dark feeling of uncoming tragedy that Seven Against Thebes had. But yes, good, complex and dark play. 

Orestes 5/5
This play has everything that I love about greek tragedies and much more. Once again its readable but deep. One can feel the atmosphere of preceeding tragedies and tragedies yet to happen. Plot is quite complex, not lacking of action and many scenes starts your imagination and fills you with emotions (Orestes' fever, bombastic final scene, description of a court...)
And most importantly its full of argumentation lead in suprising level of sophistication. Once again Euripides takes problem from all sides, different people present their different opinions and explain bases for their opinions. In library they should put it right next to Plato's dialoques.
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iamgemini
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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4****

A name may be in many places, though a body in only one.

As I have read the other two plays previously in other editions, I only read “Helen” from this book.

This play by Euripides follows the story of Helen as a phantom/illusion sent to Troy, while the real (physical) Helen was sent to King Proteus of Egypt, to be taken care of.

At this point it has been 17 years (I believe) since the start of the Trojan war. 7 years since the war at Troy ended, and Menelaus and Helen have not seen, nor heard from each other in all this time.

Of course, during these 17 years King Proteus has died, and his tyrannical son wants Helen as his wife instead.

In this play we get to see Helens perspective from having been made to stay in Egypt, her absence from Menelaus, and hear about all the Greek hate she is getting aimed at her for something she had no control over. It was so interesting to see Helen depicted in this way and not villainous.

We also get to see, again, a more cunning female character that is apparent in some of Euripides plays (example: Elektra, Medea). I also enjoyed how we got to see both Menelaus and Helen plotting together to get out of a dangerous situation and be together, to sail, finally, home.

I also really enjoyed the use of prophecy in this one and the introduction of Theonoe as priestess with divination.
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oyakume
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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This are the crazy plays -- at least to modern sensibilities. Readers who have only read the "major" Greek plays will be surprised. The end of Orestes sounds like something from Tarentino with (of course) a deus ex machina.
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