Euripides: Orestes

Despite the outstanding popularity of this play in antiquity and its importance as a link between classical Greek tragedy and later theatrical developments, this new edition (first published in hardback in 1986) is the first in English since 1895. The introduction attempts to reinstate theplot of the drama as its central feature, to which the treatment of character, themes, and formal elements is subsidiary. The play as a whole is a tour de force of dramatic and 'mythopoetic' ingenuity. The text reproduced is that of Murray, but many changes are discussed and some new conjecturesoffered in the commentary, a special feature of which is the detailed attention to the lyric metres. Produced more frequently on the ancient stage than any other tragedy, Orestes retells with striking innovations the story of the young man who kills his mother to avenge her murder of his father. Though eventually exonerated, Orestes becomes a fugitive from the Furies (avenging spirits) of his mother's blood. On the brink of destruction, he is saved in the end by Apollo, who had commanded the matricide. Powerful and gripping, Orestes sweeps us along with a momentum that, starting slowly, builds inevitably to one of the most spectacular climaxes in all Greek tragedy. Despite its great popularity in antiquity, and its importance as a link between classical Greek tragedy and later theatrical developments, this is the first English edition of Euripides' play published since 1895. The text is accompanied by explanatory notes which emphasize the lyric metres. Euripides ; With Introduction And Commentary By C.w. Willink. Introduction And Commentary In English; Text In Greek. Includes Indexes. Bibliography: P. Xi-xix.