Bacchae of Euripides

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Cambridge University Press, Nov 30, 1979 - History - 150 pages
The Bacchae is the last and greatest of Euripides' plays. Its theme of the cost of resisting the gods who reside in human nature itself is still of immediate interest to audiences and readers and has inspired modern interpretations. Professor Kirk has made a translation which is both accurate and readable. This he supports with an analytic commentary and a substantial introductory essay which provide the Greek-less reader with essential background information and offer interpretation of a kind usually found only in Greek editions. This is a translation for students of Greek tragedy, particularly in courses on classics in translations or classical civilisation. It will also be useful for students of drama and of English and other literatures.

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About the author (1979)

Euripides was born in Attica, Greece probably in 480 B.C. He was the youngest of the three principal fifth-century tragic poets. In his youth he cultivated gymnastic pursuits and studied philosophy and rhetoric. Soon after he received recognition for a play that he had written, Euripides left Athens for the court of Archelaus, king of Macedonia. Fragments of about fifty-five plays survive. Among his best-known plays are Alcestis, Medea and Philoctetes, Electra, Iphigenia in Tauris, The Trojan Women, and Iphigenia in Aulis Iphigenia. He died in Athens in 406 B.C.

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