Product Description

Euripides of Athens (ca. 485–406 BCE), famous in every age for the pathos, terror, surprising plot twists, and intellectual probing of his dramatic creations, wrote nearly ninety plays. Of these, eighteen (plus a play of unknown authorship mistakenly included with his works) have come down to us from antiquity. In this first volume of a new Loeb edition of Euripides David Kovacs gives us a freshly edited Greek text of three plays and an accurate and graceful translation with explanatory notes.

Alcestis is the story of a woman who agrees, in order to save her husband's life, to die in his place. Medea is a tragedy of revenge in which Medea kills her own children, as well as their father's new wife, to punish him for his desertion. The volume begins with Cyclops, a satyr play—the only complete example of this genre to survive. Each play is preceded by an introduction.

In a general introduction Kovacs demonstrates that the biographical tradition about Euripides—parts of which view him as a subverter of morality, religion, and art—cannot be relied on. He argues that this tradition has often furnished the unacknowledged starting point for interpretation, and that the way is now clear for an unprejudiced consideration of the plays themselves.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #867631 in Books
• Published on: 1994-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 432 pages

Review
An excellent 48-page general introduction...The translation...is close to the Greek and reads fluently and well. All in all this is an excellent little volume. (Greece and Rome )

A well-executed and stimulating production. (Classical Review )

Both experts and generalists will benefit from the work of this experienced Euripidean scholar.
--John E. Thorburn (Religious Studies Review )

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Greek

About the Author
David Kovacs is Professor of Classics at the University of Virginia.

Customer Reviews

More Amazonian bungling!
Yet again the folks at Amazon have bungled matters. The other "review" of this book is in fact a review of (or a puff for) the Penn series of translations of Greek tragedy, not of Euripides' "Selected Fragmentary Plays," a scholarly edition offering Greek texts, English translations, and detailed notes on several of Euripides' fragmentary plays. It should also noted that the book in question is the recently published---and long-awaited---second volume of a work whose first volume appeared in 1995. Eventually, there will be a Loeb Classical Library edition of the major fragments of Euripides, but it is unlikely to replace these volumes of Collard et al., for their very full notes will remain invaluable.