The Trojan Women
by Euripides · Τρῳάδες
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 415 BCE
- Form
- Tragedy
- Language
- Greek
- Length
- Short · 70 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendEuripides III (The Complete Greek Tragedies), translated by Richmond LattimoreUniversity of Chicago Press, 2013Lattimore's plain, grieving verse suits a play that is almost all lament.
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Troy has fallen. Outside its burning walls the captured women wait to be allotted to their Greek masters. The old queen Hecuba learns that her daughter Cassandra will be Agamemnon's concubine, that another daughter has been sacrificed on Achilles' tomb, and that her daughter-in-law Andromache goes to the son of the man who killed Hector. Then the Greeks decide that Hector's small son must be thrown from the walls. Helen is brought on and argues for her life. The play ends as the women are marched to the ships. Produced months after Athens massacred the island of Melos.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Trojan Women are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
