Athens of the fifth century B.C.E. represents one of the towering achievements of civilization. It is the crucible in which Western Civilization was given form. It created democracy, not in its modern parliamentary or representative form, but a direct democracy, one in which the Athenian citizen governed himself, which is what democracy means: rule by the people. Along with this gift to civilization came trial by jury, and from there the flowering of a culture whose achievement has led the world ever since: Philosophy, sculpture, architecture, poetry-and by no means least-theater. Of the three supreme tragedians of Classical Athens, Aeschylus, in the first half of the century, took his tales largely from Homer and the Heroic World of war and warriors. Sophokles regarded man more humanistically, and created characters of grand moral integrity. Euripides, the last of the three, created his image of man less heroically, less idealistically. His image of man reflected what Athens became from mid-century onward: a super wealthy world power, a cruel colonist, and an ever-present danger to its Greek neighbors, a threat that precipitated the devastating Peloponnesian War which was to end with the fall of Athens. The glory of Athens, then, from mid-century onward, degenerated fast into a world of collapsing political and moral structure, and this is the world that Euripides mirrors in his characters. His people are no longer the heroes of Aeschylus, the moral giants of Sophokles, but men who are frequently petty, conniving, small minded, out for themselves and their own aggrandizement. They are psychologically drawn, they are conflicted, they are frequently mad-in a word, they are us, if only we look deeply enough. Euripides is the most modern of the Greek tragedians.
Volume I: Alkêstis, Mêdeia, Children of Heraklês, Hippolytos.

Volume II: Andromachê, Hêkabê, Suppliant Women, Êlektra, The Madness of Heraklês.

Volume III: Trojan Women, Iphigeneia in Tauris, Ion, Helen, Cyclops.

Volume IV: Phoenician Women, Orestês, Bakkhai, Iphigeneia in Aulis, Rhesos.
Of Mueller's Aeschylus translations, PAJ has written: "For those who want their Greek alive and kicking , these translations of Aeschylus's extant works will serve as a vital and exhilarating read. But more importantly, they will serve as superb acting texts of the world's earliest playwright for today's directors and designers." And Library Journal writes of his Sophokles co-translations: "These contemporary English translations . . . bring Sophokles dramatically to life and serve to enhance our appreciation of the timelessness of his work."

Reader Reviews

Lee Razer

(3/5)

Dec 23, 2013

Of the plays in this volume, Helen is the most interesting in theory but unfortunate in execution, Cyclops is the dirtiest, and Trojan Women is the most impressive. Euripides based Helen on an alternate and less well known version of the myth in which Helen, instead of being carried off to Troy by Paris, is magically transported to Egypt by Hermes while a 'ghost' Helen is created by the goddess Hera, and it is this fake Helen who is fought over by the Greeks and Trojans. An interesting version,

EJ Daniels

(5/5)

Nov 15, 2016

This volume contains The Trojan Women, Iphigeneia in Tauris, Ion, Helen, and The Cyclops There are two ways to translate Greek drama into English: employ lofty verbiage to convey the exalted nature of the text, or employ casual and common speech to capture the effect of the original Greek on Greek audiences. Dr. Carl R. Mueller has opted for the latter and he achieves it with remarkable success.By rendering Euripides in a very colloquial and plebeian English, Mueller captures that sense of the p...

Michael Lloyd-Billington

(4/5)

May 09, 2018

Raoul

Feb 11, 2021

Ashley

Aug 10, 2012

Axl Berja Cañas

Jan 03, 2020

Steve Morrison

Mar 26, 2009

RL Botelho

(0/5)

Feb 14, 2009

Gonzalo

Apr 21, 2012

Imad Dahmani

Nov 12, 2014

Ethan

Feb 18, 2015

Cynthia

Jun 04, 2015

Pat Winter

Jul 14, 2016

BookDB

Aug 24, 2016

em~thatdemmedelusivemurderess~

Apr 09, 2018

Sophie

May 24, 2018

Cyanobyte

Oct 19, 2019

Colin Small

Feb 28, 2020

Hannah Wilcox

Aug 01, 2021

Sarah {Literary Meanderings}

Jun 03, 2011

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Euripides: The Complete Plays Vol. III

Euripides: The Complete Plays Vol. III

Euripides: The Complete Plays Vol. III

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