The Bacchae and Other Plays

Author Euripides
Translated by Philip Vellacott
Paperback
$13.00 US
5.1"W x 7.7"H x 0.6"D  
On sale Oct 30, 1954 | 256 Pages | 9780140440447
Grades 9-12 + AP/IB
The plays of Euripides have stimulated audiences since the fifth century BC. This volume, containing Phoenician Women, Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulis, Orestes, and Rhesus
completes the new editions of Euripides in Penguin Classics.
  • Features a general introduction, individual prefaces to each play, chronology, notes, bibliography, and glossary

Little is known of the life of Euripides. He was born about 485 B.C. on the island of Salamis and may have begun a career as a painter before writing in the drama competitions in 455 B.C. During his lifetime his plays were often produced, but he won the Athenian drama prize only four times. He died in 406 B.C.

Euripides was a prolific writer, the author of some eighty-eight or more plays, of which nineteen have survived under his name. He was criticized by the conservatives of his time for introducing shabby heroes and immoral women into his plays, a practice that they considered degrading to the noble form of tragedy. However, audiences to whom his predecessors were cold and remote found Euripides direct and appealing.

Euripides became immensely popular after he died and his influence altered drama forever. Considered by George Bernard Shaw to be the greatest of the Greek dramatists, Euripides is now regarded by many as the originator of the dramatic sensibility that developed into what we call "modern" European drama. View titles by Euripides
The Bacchae and Other PlaysGeneral Introduction
Chronological Table
Note on the Text
Translator's Note

Preface to Phoenician Women
Phoenician Women

Preface to Orestes
Orestes

Preface to Bacchae
Bacchae

Preface to Iphigenia at Aulis
Iphigenia at Aulis

Preface to Rhesus
Rhesus

Notes
Bibliography
Glossary of Mythological and Geographical Names

About

The plays of Euripides have stimulated audiences since the fifth century BC. This volume, containing Phoenician Women, Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulis, Orestes, and Rhesus
completes the new editions of Euripides in Penguin Classics.
  • Features a general introduction, individual prefaces to each play, chronology, notes, bibliography, and glossary

Author

Little is known of the life of Euripides. He was born about 485 B.C. on the island of Salamis and may have begun a career as a painter before writing in the drama competitions in 455 B.C. During his lifetime his plays were often produced, but he won the Athenian drama prize only four times. He died in 406 B.C.

Euripides was a prolific writer, the author of some eighty-eight or more plays, of which nineteen have survived under his name. He was criticized by the conservatives of his time for introducing shabby heroes and immoral women into his plays, a practice that they considered degrading to the noble form of tragedy. However, audiences to whom his predecessors were cold and remote found Euripides direct and appealing.

Euripides became immensely popular after he died and his influence altered drama forever. Considered by George Bernard Shaw to be the greatest of the Greek dramatists, Euripides is now regarded by many as the originator of the dramatic sensibility that developed into what we call "modern" European drama. View titles by Euripides

Table of Contents

The Bacchae and Other PlaysGeneral Introduction
Chronological Table
Note on the Text
Translator's Note

Preface to Phoenician Women
Phoenician Women

Preface to Orestes
Orestes

Preface to Bacchae
Bacchae

Preface to Iphigenia at Aulis
Iphigenia at Aulis

Preface to Rhesus
Rhesus

Notes
Bibliography
Glossary of Mythological and Geographical Names

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