Plays 2: Cyclops , Hecuba , Iphigenia in Aulis and Trojan Women

by Euripides, J. Michael Walton (Editor), Don Taylor (Translator)

Euripides' searching, poetic voice probes the waste and suffering of war in these plays which are set wake of the Trojan defeat to reflect the playwright's changing attitude to the real war between Athens and Sparta in his own day - 4th century BC. Hecuba is a play of ghosts and shadowy death; The Women of Troy is a searing indictment of the aftermath of defeat; Iphigenia at Aulis shows a human tragedy at the heart of the mechanics of war; and Cyclops is a satyr play which offers a comic antidote to the tragedies.

With an introduction by J. Michael Walton

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm aiming to read through all the Greek tragedies in this series. This is the second book of Euripides' plays, featuring four plays related to the Trojan War. The first two, Hecuba and The Women of Troy, focus on the fate of the Trojan women after the war. The third, Iphigenia at Aulis, depicts a scene while the Greeks are travelling to Troy to begin the war. The fourth, Cyclops, is the only surviving complete Greek satyr, and features an event during Odysseus' journey back to Greece after the war.

Hecuba
The play starts with the ghost of Polydorus, who explains how he was sent by his father Priam, king of Troy, to his friend Polymestor, king of Thrace, to be protected during the war. Upon Troy's defeat, Polymestor killed Polydorus and took his gold. The ghost of Achilles has also demanded that Polydorus' sister Polyxena be sacrificed in order for the Greeks to go home. Queen Hecuba, Priam's wife, is introduced, mourning the deaths of her husband and children. Odysseus comes to fetch Polyxena for the sacrifice. Hecuba begs him not to take her, reminding him of past kindnesses she showed him, but Odysseus dismisses her pleas and takes Polyxena away. The herald Talthybius describes Polyxena's death to Hecuba. Polydorus' body is then discovered. Hecuba realises that Polymestor killed him. She summons him, pretending that she will give him buried treasure, and together with the Trojan women who make up the chorus, blinds him and kills his two sons. Agamemnon arrives and is called to judge between Hecuba and Polymestor. Polymestor pretends that he killed Polydorus for Greece's benefit, but Agamemnon agrees with Hecuba that he killed Polydorus for gold, and banishes Polymestor.

The Women of Troy
Poseidon laments the fall of Troy. Athena, who helped Greece win, is angry at the Greeks for Ajax dragging Hecuba's daughter Cassandra away from Athena's shrine, and the two gods agree to punish the Greeks by destroying their ships on their way home. In the next scene, Hecuba and the Trojan women are mourning their fate. Talthybius arrives and tells Hecuba that her daughter Cassandra, Artemis' virgin prophetess, will be the Greek commander-in-chief Agamemnon's mistress, and Hecuba will be Odysseus' slave. Cassandra is pleased as she foresees that Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra will kill both Agamemnon and Cassandra, though nobody believes her due to a curse. Andromache, wife of Hecuba's deceased son Hector, tells Hecuba that Polyxena was killed as a sacrifice to Achilles, and that she will be the mistress of Achilles' son Neoptolemus. Talthybius arrives again to announce that Andromache's son Astyanax will be thrown from the battlements of Troy to prevent him from growing up to be a warrior like his father. Menelaus then appears, wanting revenge on Helen for leaving him. Helen pleads with him, lying that she tried to escape back to Menelaus, and Menelaus grants her her life. The play ends with the burning of the ruins of Troy.

Iphigenia at Aulis
The Greek army has gathered on the coast of Aulis, preparing to sail to Troy to bring Menelaus' wife Helen back. However there is no wind on which to sail their ships, and the prophet Calchas has told Agamemnon, Greek commander-in-chief and Menelaus' brother, that Artemis demands the sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia before the winds will come. Agamemnon had previously written a letter to ask his wife Clytemnestra to fetch Iphigenia on the false pretext of marriage to Achilles. He now regrets it, and writes a letter to tell Clytemnestra not to come. The letter is intercepted by Menelaus. The brothers argue, and end up convincing each other - Menelaus tells Agamemnon not to sacrifice Iphigenia, but Agamemnon says he has to. Clytemnestra arrive with Iphigenia and her baby brother Orestes, and Iphigenia greets Agamemnon with joy. Clytemnestra bumps into Achilles and they realise Agamemnon's plot. Angry at Agamemnon, Achilles determines to protect Iphigenia to protect his honour. While Clytemnestra pleads with Agamemnon to change his mind, Iphigenia decides that she wants to be sacrificed for Greece's honour. Achilles too is unable to stop the Greek army from demanding Iphigenia's death. At Artemis' altar, just before Iphigenia is sacrificed, Artemis sends a deer to take her place, and Iphigenia is saved.

Cyclops
This is taken from an event in Homer's Odyssey, but with the addition of Silenus and his sons the satyrs. While searching for Dionysus, Silenus and the satyrs ended up in Sicily where the cyclops Polyphemus captured them and made them tend his sheep. Odysseus and his crew stop in Sicily. He gives Silenus wine in exchange for food, and Silenus quickly turns drunk. Polyphemus eats two of Odysseus' crewmen. In revenge, Odysseus makes Polyphemus drunk, then stabs his eye. Polyphemus shouts that he has been blinded by "Nobody", the name that Odysseus first gave him. The satyrs make fun of him and Odysseus' crew escapes (unlike Odyssey, they escape on foot rather than clinging to sheep).

Euripides was disillusioned by war, and the first of these three plays reflect his thoughts on the unnecessary, tragic outcomes that affect innocent individuals in war. Hecuba and The Women of Troy both center on Hecuba. While they have slightly different sequenes of events and they depict different aspects of the fate of Hecuba and her children, both are expressive of the misery and suffering that result from war. The Women of Troy, in particular, questions why the Greeks chose to seek a promiscuous woman whom Menelaus intends to kill, and highlights the meaninglessness and futility of war. In Hecuba (the play), Hecuba (the woman) takes matters into her own hands and gets her revenge on Polymestor, but in The Women of Troy, her circumstances get worse and worse, and the tragic mood deepens progressively. The only hope is the conversation between Poseidon and Athena at the start, which seems out of place, but which tells us that the Greeks will have their own punishment.

In Iphigenia at Aulis, the meaningless tragedy of war is accentuated. Here it is not the defeated Trojans who suffer, but an innocent child, the daughter of the Greek commander. She suffers before the war is even launched, and the only purpose for her suffering is so that the Greeks can fight a war in which they will lose even more men and gain only a promiscuous woman! Although Iphigenia ultimately survives through Artemis' intervention, the damage has been done. Agamemnon has shown himself capable of sacrificing his family for his own ambitious gains, the entire Greek army has shown its immorality, and relations between Agamemnon and his wife and beloved daughter can never be the same again.

In all three plays, the same message surfaces. Why are the Greeks engaging in war for a promiscuous woman? The original perpetrators of the war are not the Greeks, but Paris and Helen, and Aphrodite, who promised Helen to Paris. Paris' and Helen's names are cursed again and again. Helen only appears once, in The Women of Troy, and despite having killed hundreds of both Greeks and Trojans, she is unrepentant. Instead her beautiful looks and honeyed words win Menelaus to grant her a temporary reprieve, and Hecuba predicts that he will eventually spare her (as he does in other stories). All three plays highlight that the aim of the war is not clear. Even Agamemnon, in Iphigenia at Aulis, says that he is leading an army in a war that he does not want to fight. This meaninglessness exacerbates the tragedies that result.

Euripides' plays were disliked by the Greek audience for being too realistic about the tragedy of war, but the realism appeals to the modern audience. His plays contain similes, euphemisms and imagery that contribute to the richness of the dialogues. Some of his characters are surprisingly complex. Talthybius, who appears in both Hecuba and the Women of Troy, shows Hecuba compassion even while he announces the fate of her children. At the same time, seemingly brave men, like Odysseus and Polymestor in Hecuba, and Agamemnon in Iphigenia at Aulis, show themselves capable of terrible excuses to defend their vile deeds.

As with many Greek plays, the influence of the gods is pervasive. Aphrodite promises Helen to Paris and the Trojan war is launched. Athena guides the Greeks to victory, triumphing over Poseidon. Artemis demands Polyxena's sacrifice, and Artemis demands Iphigenia's. But unlike in other plays, the gods are not all-powerful beings whose will must be obeyed. Humans bear responsibility for their decisions too. Helen chooses to run off with Paris, and the Greeks choose to sacrifice Polyxena and Iphigenia. Though the thread of fate runs through all three plays, humans must bear the blame for their wrong actions.

Cyclops is totally different from the three plays that precede it in this book. In the Dionysus festival, playwrights presented their plays in four parts - three tragedies and a shorter satyr, which was a comedy featuring the satyrs and their alcoholic father Silenus. As the only surviving complete satyr, Cyclops gives us an insight into what a satyr might have been, though we have little to compare it to to know whether it was typical of the genre. Filled with song, dance, drinking and bawdy jokes, it is a tribute to the god Dionysus, and a light-hearted way to end a playwright's presentation, while giving him a chance to demonstrate the scope of his abilities.

These are the first translations by Peter D Arnott (who died before the book was published) and Don Taylor that I've read. Their translations are wordier and more detailed than those in the first book of plays. J Michael Walton translated Cyclops, and he combined prose and verse, and included rhymes in the songs. All the translations convey the meaning and mood of the plays well, whether it is the deep dark tragedy of the first three plays, or the merry naughtiness of the satyr play.

[keke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly this was my first time readung a PLAYWRIGHT- and i was torn by the end of it- in a good way… if that makes sense. My review contains spoilers and my own thoughts…. But my words are all my own interpretation!!! I am NOT a professional at ALL- just someone who enjoys greek myth!!🫶🏽



First was Hecuba which righr away gave me what i had to prepare for in the book. Sorrowful, sad, the pain palpable right though the pages… my heart aches for her and I feel like Hecuba plays the same sorr if role as Portia in TMOV (Shakespeare) where theres a string, female heroine. I enjoyed it so much and deserves more analyses and to be talked about. I also think about the talk of how Odysseus used to take orders FROM Hecuba- and now it was the opposite way around, and Odysseus seeming not to be completely phased still haunts me.

The Women of Troy- Holy poop i was crying. Hecuba making an appearance again throughout the entire play, the pure fear of the women and the ruthlessness of men and potentially the gods- it was insane. And with Cassandra waving her torch, telling the prophecy of Odysseus- Andromache and Astynax making an appearance also broke me. 10/10- everyone should atleast read this.

Iphigenia at Aulis OKAY OKAY i reas TSOA first, so between that and IAA, theres more context but NOT what i was expecting- I liked the focus on people who have a higher role in specifically an army- and how they would do anything to keep their spotlight… this being a huge stretch. I like Achilles and Clytemnestra’s exchanges. I think it was a good one!

And finally Cyclops- in this it was centaurs, which i had no idea- but hey good to note now! I found it definitely surprising for the first few encounters with Silenus and Odysseus. i finished it in one sitting- though i knew how the Odyssey goes already- I found it okay.

I got through 4 plays. Euripidies might be proud of me 🥹

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I only read Hecuba.)

grief and rage, that's all there is. my heart aches for Hecuba.