Translations of Euripides into Russian. Euripides

What do women desire? What are they really like? This question is asked by men of all centuries and generations. This question did not escape the great ancient Greek playwright Euripides. In his works he often raised the topic of women. He was ambiguous in his judgments. Euripides acquired a reputation among his fellow citizens as a misogynist, as he often spoke harshly about them. This brought Euripides as much glory as it did misfortune. But he could also show a woman as strong, noble, and make men as low creatures. The theme of the weaker sex occupies a dominant place in his works. This can be clearly seen in one of his works, “The Bacchae.”
Basic storyline The work "The Bacchae" is the struggle of Dionysus against the Theban king Pentheus. Dionysus was born from Zeus and a mere mortal, but always wanted to take his rightful place on Olympus. His divine origin has often been doubted. Pentheus and Agave, the sister of the mother of the ancient Greek god and her son, did not believe in his greatness. They thought that Dionysus's mother had made up everything about Zeus. His teaching was seen as debauchery and deception, since women, succumbing to the suggestions of Dionysus, indulged in bacchanalia in large numbers. Pentheus and his mother Agave strictly persecuted the Bacchae, trying with all their might to prevent Dionysus from preaching his divinity. To do this, they took the most different ways. What happened to them? Read about it on the pages of a tragic story that will not leave anyone indifferent.
Euripides was and remains a master in writing tragedies. Our contemporaries study his writing style and highly appreciate his talent. Reading Euripides' books is always interesting, exciting, and one feels intrigue. "The Bacchae" is a prime example of this. The book shows the cruelty of both mortals and gods. Bloody scenes will touch the consciousness of any reader and make them think about the causes and consequences of any injustice. But who is unjust: people or gods? This is up to the reader to find out. The Bacchae is one of Euripides' best tragedies. Starting to read this story, you plunge into a wonderful world of intrigue, anger, injustice, but at the same time love and devotion. Euripides is a worthy representative of his time. Although he was not understood by his contemporaries. Apparently he wrote for future generations. And now it is appreciated.
The books of Euripides are imbued with tragedy, religious views, and the power of passions and occupy a worthy place in the minds of his contemporaries.

On our literary website you can download the book “The Bacchae” by Euripides for free in formats suitable for different devices - epub, fb2, txt, rtf. Do you like to read books and always keep up with new releases? We have big choice books of various genres: classics, modern fiction, literature on psychology and children's publications. In addition, we offer interesting and educational articles for aspiring writers and all those who want to learn how to write beautifully. Each of our visitors will be able to find something useful and exciting for themselves.

Bacchae

Translation by F. F. Zelinsky

The action takes place in the square in front of royal palace in the Theban Kremlin. The façade of the palace is seen at an oblique angle on the left side of the stage; it consists of a central colonnade, in the middle of which there is a large gate leading to the courtyard, and a projecting extension on the left side, in which it is believed that Agave's tower. The annex that once corresponded to it on the right side is a pile of ruins surrounded by a fence; the stones are overgrown with greenery, but at intervals one can see the crimson flames of smoldering beams, from which thick clouds of smoke rise; this is the former tower of Semele. Above it there is a view of the plain of Ismene; strict contours are visible in the distance

Kiferon. It's pre-dawn, the gates and doors are tightly locked. Dionysus stands in front of the ruins of the tower, leaning on his thyrsus and immersed in thought. He is a young man with a ruddy face and languid eyes, dressed in a long-skirted cloak of oriental cut and decorated with a miter over his flowing luxurious curls; In addition to the cloak, he wears a cape in the form of a nebrid, that is, the spotted skin of a forelock deer. He delivers his speech partly as a monologue, partly addressing

to the spectators.

I came here, to the Theban country - I, Dionysus, the son of Zeus, whom Cadmus’ daughter Semele once gave birth to, freed from her burden by the flame of lightning; having exchanged my divine image for the appearance of a man, I came to the streams of Dirka and the waves of Ismen. And here in front of me, near the palace, is the grave of my Perun-stricken mother, the smoking ruins of her tower, the still living flame of Zeus’s fire - this is the eternal stigma of shame imposed by Hera on the memory of my mother. I am grateful to Cadmus for declaring this place inaccessible, making it a shrine to his daughter; I myself surrounded it from everywhere with the fruitful greenery of the vine.

Leaving the golden lands of the Lydians and Phrygians, the sunlit plateaus of the Persians, the strongholds of Bactria, following through the harsh country of the Medes, through happy Arabia and all of Asia, washed by the salty waves of the sea, in the fortified cities of which a mixed, half-Hellenic and half-barbarian tribe live, I visited this city the first among the Hellenic ones, establishing his round dances there and instituting his sacraments in order to testify to his divinity before mortals.

Therefore, I announced Thebes before the rest of Hellas with the sounds of my songs, clothing the inhabitants in unbridled clothes and putting into their hands the thyrsus, an ivy-covered weapon - because my mother’s sisters, for whom it was least fitting, did not recognize me, Dionysus, as the son of Zeus, claiming that Semele, having given herself to a mortal, covered up her sinful love with the name of Zeus, according to the trick invented by Cadmus; as a result of this, they slandered, Zeus killed her - as punishment for false boasting about marriage with him. For this I drove them out of the palace with the sting of rage - they live in the mountains, devoid of reason - and forced them to wear the symbols of my sacraments. With them I expelled the entire female tribe from their houses, as many wives and virgins as the Cadmeans had; now they, together with the daughters of Cadmus, sit homeless on the rocks, under the shade of green fir trees. It is necessary that this city, even against its will, learn what it is like to not be initiated into my sacraments; It is also necessary that I restore the honor of my mother Semele by appearing before mortals as the god whom she bore to Zeus.

True, Cadmus... but Cadmus transferred his rank and his power to the son of his daughter Pentheus; and Pentheus fights against God against me, refusing me libations and not mentioning me anywhere in his prayers. For this I will prove to him and to all the Cadmeans that I am a god; and then, if I manage to arrange things here for the better, I will go to another country, revealing to people who I am; If the Theban people, in their irritation, dare to take the bacchantes from the mountains with weapons in their hands, then I, becoming the head of the maenads, will lead them to battle. For the sake of all this, I took on mortal form, turning into a man. (The first rays of the sun illuminate the palace; steps and people talking are heard inside. Dionysus, leaving the grave of Semele, approaches the right edge of the stage and, raising his voice, addresses the choir hidden behind the stage.)

Listen, my squad - you, who left Tmol, the stronghold of Lydia, the women whom I brought from a barbarian country in order to have in you participants in power and companions: raise the tympanums, native to the inhabitants of Phrygia, my invention and Mother Rhea, and, surrounding royal mansions of Pentheus, make noise before all the people of Cadmus; and I, having retired to the gorges of Kiferon, to the Bacchantes, will take part in their round dances. (Goes to the right.)

The Lydian Bacchantes enter the stage. All of them, over their long-skirted clothes, are dressed in non-brids: some carry thyrsus in their hands, the rest carry tympanums, that is, tambourines, the playing of which accompanies their songs, starting from the third stanza. At the same time, the doors of the palace open, the guards come out, and groups of curious people begin to appear on the left side; but after the first

all extraneous antistrophes are removed again.

Having come from Asian land, having left Saint Tmolus, we bear a pleasant burden in honor of the god Bromius, we serve a sweet service, proclaiming Bacchus.

Antistrophe 1.

Who's on the street? Who's on the street? Who's in the mansions? Let him go away; and let those present keep their reverent lips pure: we speak the words of a faith established for centuries, glorifying Dionysus.

Blessed is he who, by the grace of the gods, honored with their mysteries, maintains purity in life and joins in soul to the host of initiates, celebrating Bacchic festivities in the mountains amid pious purifications; blessed is he who, lifting the symbols of the great Mother Cybele, shaking the thyrsus and crowned with ivy, serves Dionysus. - Forward, bacchantes! Go, Bacchantes! Accompany Bromius, the god-born god Dionysus, returning from the Phrygian mountains to the spacious and cheerful streets Hellas, accompany Bromius!

Antistrophe 2.

He, whom his mother, who was once pregnant with him, in the throes of childbirth, caused by the winged lightning of Zeus, prematurely brought into the world, losing her life under the blow of Perun. And immediately Zeus-Kronid took him into the maternity cavity, placing him in his thigh; he fastened the covers with gold buckles secretly from Hera. And he gave birth to him, when the time was fulfilled by the will of Moir, him, the horned god, and crowned him with wreaths of snakes - as a result of which even now the bacchantes weave this wild prey into their curls.

After this stanza, the movements of the bacchantes become more and more animated, reaching the extreme limits of passion in the epic; The tympanums are being struck more and more often. The square is filled with people again - guards, servants and citizens.

O Thebes, who nursed Semele, be crowned with ivy, adorn yourself with the greenery of the fruitful yew, devote yourself to Bacchus with the branches of oaks or fir trees! covering your chest with motley unbreds, tie them with tufts of white [BUT] wool and, with playful thyrsus in your hands, honor God! Soon the whole earth will resound with round dances when Bromius leads his squads into the mountains, yes, into the mountains! where a crowd of women awaits him, having furiously abandoned the canopy and the shuttles at the behest of Dionysus.

Antistrophe 3.

About the Kuretov's tower! O divine gorge of Crete, which gave life to Zeus! In your caves, the three-helmeted Corybants found for us this leather-covered hoop, added its strict sound to the sweet melodies of Phrygian flutes and gave it into the hands of Mother Pee, so that its noise would once accompany the praises of the Bacchantes. And the mad satyrs begged him from the Mother Goddess and introduced him to the round dances of the trietherides, loved by Dionysus.

We love it in a holy meadow when you run with your entire squad, heading towards the Phrygian or Lydian mountains, and suddenly - chasing a kid to taste its blood and experience the sweetness of raw food - you fall to the ground, protected by the holy cover of the nebrida. And our leader calls out: “Blessed be you, Bromius!” And milk flows from the ground, wine flows, bee nectar flows, eh! And now Bacchus himself, raising on his thyrsus a burning crimson flame, smoking like Syrian incense, strives towards us, prompting us, amazed, to run and dance, inciting us to enthusiastic cries, throwing luxurious curls into the ether - and amid our rejoicings he exclaims : “Forward, bacchantes! forward, bacchantes, beauty of the golden Tmol! To the sounds of buzzing tympanums, sing Dionysus, honoring the blessed god with praises and Phrygian exclamations and shouts!” - We love it when the sweet-sounding sacred flute sings the holy melodies that accompany our run to the mountains, yes, to the mountains! - and cheerfully, like a stallion left with a grazing queen, the fleet-footed bacchante frolics.

Bacchae

Translation by F. F. Zelinsky

The action takes place on the square in front of the royal palace in the Theban Kremlin. The façade of the palace is seen at an oblique angle on the left side of the stage; it consists of a central colonnade, in the middle of which there is a large gate leading to the courtyard, and a projecting extension on the left side, in which it is believed that Agave's tower. The annex that once corresponded to it on the right side is a pile of ruins surrounded by a fence; the stones are overgrown with greenery, but at intervals one can see the crimson flames of smoldering beams, from which thick clouds of smoke rise; this is the former tower of Semele. Above it there is a view of the plain of Ismene; strict contours are visible in the distance

to the spectators.

all extraneous antistrophes are removed again.

Having come from the Asian land, having left Saint Tmolus, we bear a pleasant burden in honor of the god Bromius, we serve a sweet service, proclaiming Bacchus.

Antistrophe 1.

Antistrophe 2.

Antistrophe 3.

(Εύριπίδης, 480 – 406 BC)

Origin of Euripides

The third great Athenian tragedian, Euripides, was born on the island of Salamis in 480 BC (Ol. 75, 1), according to legend, on the same day when the Athenians defeated the Persian fleet at Salamis - 20 voedromion or 5 October. The poet's parents, like most Athenians, fled from Attica during the invasion of Xerxes' hordes and sought refuge in Salamis. Euripides' father's name was Mnesarchus (or Mnesarchides), and his mother's name was Clito. There are remarkable, contradictory reports about them, which, perhaps, partly owe their origin to the mocking Attic comedy. Euripides' mother, as Aristophanes often reproached him, was, they say, a merchant and sold vegetables and herbs; the father is said to have also been a merchant or innkeeper (κάπηγοσ); they say that he, for some unknown reason, fled with his wife to Boeotia and then settled again in Attica. We read from Stobaeus that Mnesarchus was in Boeotia and there he was subjected to an original punishment for debts: the insolvent debtor was taken to the market, sat there and covered with a basket. By this he was dishonored and therefore left Boeotia for Attica. The comedians say nothing about this story, although they used everything they could to ridicule Euripides.

Euripides with an actor's mask. Statue

From everything reported, it seems that we can conclude that Euripides’ parents were poor people, from the lower class. But Philochorus, the famous collector of Attic antiquities who lived during the time of the Diadochi, in his work on Euripides, on the contrary, reports that Euripides’ mother came from a very noble family; Theophrastus (c. 312 BC) also speaks about the nobility of the poet’s parents, according to whom Euripides was once among the boys who, during the festival of Phargelia, poured wine for the singers - an activity for which only children from noble locals were chosen childbirth The remark of one biographer that Euripides was the torchbearer (πύρθορος) of Apollo Zosterius has a similar meaning. Therefore we must believe that Euripides came from a noble Athenian family. He was assigned to the district of Phlia (Φλΰα).

The youth and education of Euripides

Even if Euripides’ father was not rich, he still gave his son good upbringing, quite consistent with his origin. The father especially tried to train his son in athletics and gymnastics, precisely because, as legend says, that at the birth of the boy, the father received a prediction from the oracle or from passers-by Chaldeans that his son would win victories in sacred competitions. When the boy's strength was already sufficiently developed, his father took him to Olympia for the games; but Euripides was not allowed to attend the games due to his youth. But later, as they say, he received an award for an athletic competition in Athens. In his youth, Euripides also studied painting; Subsequently, more of his paintings were located in Megara. IN mature age he zealously took up philosophy and rhetoric. He was a student and friend of Anaxagoras of Clazomenos, who, during the time of Pericles, first began to teach philosophy in Athens; Euripides was on friendly terms with both Pericles and others wonderful people of that time, as, for example, with the historian Thucydides. In the tragedies of Euripides one can see the deep influence that great philosopher(Anaxagoras) had on the poet. His tragedies also sufficiently testify to his knowledge of rhetoric. In rhetoric, he used the lessons of the famous sophists Protagoras of Abdera and Prodicus of Keos, who lived and taught in Athens for a long time and were in good relations with the most remarkable people in this city, which then became a gathering point for all outstanding scientists and artists. In ancient biographies, Socrates is also mentioned among Euripides' teachers; but this is simply a chronological error. Socrates was a friend of Euripides, who was 11 years older than him; they had general views and common aspirations. Although Socrates rarely visited the theater, he came there every time a new drama by Euripides was played. “He loved this man,” says Elian, for his wisdom and for the moral tone of his works.” This mutual sympathy between the poet and the philosopher was the reason why comedians, ridiculing Euripides, claimed that Socrates was helping him write tragedies.

Dramatic activity of Euripides and the attitude of his contemporaries towards it

What prompted Euripides to leave his studies in philosophy and turn to tragic poetry is unknown to us for certain. Apparently, he took up poetry not out of inner motivation, but out of deliberate choice, wanting to popularize philosophical ideas in poetic form. He first performed the drama in the 25th year of his life, in 456 BC (Ol. 81.1), the year of the death of Aeschylus. Then he received only the third award. Even in ancient times they didn’t know exactly how many dramas Euripides wrote; most writers attributed 92 plays to him, including 8 satirical dramas. He won his first victory in 444 BC, the second in 428. In general, throughout his long-term poetic activity, he received the first award only four times; the fifth time he received it after his death, for didascalia, which put on stage on his behalf by his son or nephew, also named Euripides.

Euripides. Encyclopedia Project. Video

From this small number of victories it is clear that the works of Euripides did not enjoy special attention among his fellow citizens. However, during the life of Sophocles, who, being the favorite of the Athenian people, inseparably reigned on the stage until his death, it was difficult for anyone else to achieve fame. In addition, the reason for the insignificant successes of Euripides lay mainly in the peculiarities of his poetry, which, having left the solid ground of ancient Hellenic life, tried to acquaint the people with philosophical speculation and sophistry, therefore, took a new direction that did not like the generation brought up on old customs . But Euripides, despite the public’s reluctance, stubbornly continued to follow the same path, and in the consciousness of his own dignity sometimes directly contradicted the public if it expressed its displeasure with some of his bold thoughts, moral sense some place in his works. So, for example, they say that once the people demanded that Euripides delete some place from his tragedy; the poet went on stage and declared that he was used to teaching the people, and not learning from the people. Another time, when, during the performance of Bellerophon, the whole people, having heard the misanthrope Bellerophon praising money above all else in the world, rose from their seats in anger and wanted to drive the actors off the stage and stop the performance, Euripides again appeared on stage and demanded that the audience We waited until the end of the play and saw what awaited the lover of money. The following story is similar to this. In Euripides’ tragedy “Ixion,” its hero, the villain, elevates injustice to a principle and with daring sophistry destroys all concepts of virtue and duty, so that this tragedy was condemned as godless and immoral. The poet objected, and only then removed his drama from the repertoire when he was forced to do so.

Euripides did not pay much attention to the verdict of his contemporaries, confident that his works would be appreciated later. Once, in a conversation with the tragedian Acestor, he complained that in the last three days, despite all his efforts, he managed to write only three poems; Akestor boasted that at this time he could easily write a hundred poems; Euripides remarked: “But there is a difference between us: your poems are written only for three days, but mine are written forever.” Euripides was not deceived in his expectations; as a supporter of progress, which more and more attracted the younger generation, Euripides, since the Peloponnesian War, began to meet little by little with more and more approval, and soon his tragedies became common property Attic educated public. Brilliant tirades from his tragedies, pleasant songs and thoughtful maxims were on everyone’s lips and were highly valued throughout Greece. Plutarch, in his biography of Nicias, says that after the unfortunate outcome of the Sicilian expedition, many of the Athenians who escaped captivity in Syracuse and fell into slavery or were in poverty in another part of the island owed their salvation to Euripides. “Of the non-Athenian Greeks, the greatest admirers of the muse of Euripides were the Sicilian Greeks; they learned passages from his works by heart and gladly communicated them to one another. At least many of those who returned to their homeland from there joyfully greeted Euripides and told him, some how they freed themselves from slavery, having taught their master what they knew by heart from Euripides’ tragedies, others how they, singing his songs, received their own food when, after the battle, they had to wander without shelter.” In this regard, Plutarch tells how one day a ship, pursued by pirates, sought salvation in the bay of the city of Kavna (in Caria): the inhabitants of this city at first did not allow the ship into the bay; but then, asking the shipmen if they knew anything from Euripides and receiving an affirmative answer, they allowed them to hide from their pursuers. The comedian Aristophanes, a representative of the “good old times”, an enemy of all innovations, attacks Euripides especially strongly and very often laughs at passages from his tragedies; this proves how important Euripides was among his fellow citizens during the Peloponnesian War and how famous his poems were.

Personal character of Euripides

The dislike with which Euripides was greeted for a long time by his fellow citizens is partly explained by his personal character and way of life. Euripides was a completely moral person, which can already be seen from the fact that Aristophanes never cites a single immoral incident from his life; but by nature he was serious, gloomy and uncommunicative; like his teacher and friend Anaxagoras, whom no one had ever seen laughing or smiling, he hated all carefree enjoyment of life. And he was also not seen laughing; he avoided contact with people and never left a concentrated, thoughtful state. With such isolation, he spent time only with a few friends and with his books; Euripides was one of the few people of that time who had his own library, and quite a significant one at that. The poet Alexander Etolsky says about him: “The student of the strict Anaxagoras was grumpy and uncommunicative; an enemy of laughter, he did not know how to have fun and joke while drinking wine; but everything he wrote was full of pleasantness and attractiveness.” He was moving away from political life and never held public office. Of course, with such a lifestyle, he could not claim popularity; like Socrates, he must have seemed useless and idle to the Athenians; they considered him an eccentric, “who, buried in his books and philosophizing with Socrates in his corner, is thinking of remaking Hellenic life.” This is how Aristophanes presents him, of course, for the amusement of the Athenians, in his comedy “Acharnians”: Euripides sits at home and soars in the higher spheres, philosophizes and writes poetry, and does not want to go down to talk with Dicaeopolis, since he has no time; Only yielding to the urgent requests of the latter, he orders, for the sake of great convenience, to push himself out of the room. Paying some attention to the judgments of the crowd, Euripides in his "" advises smart people not to give your children an extensive education, “since a wise man, even because he loves leisure and solitude, arouses self-hatred among his fellow citizens, and if he invents something good, fools consider it a daring innovation.” But if Euripides moved away from public life, however, as is clear from his poetry, he had a patriotic heart; he tried to arouse love for the fatherland in his fellow citizens, he vividly felt the failures of his native city, rebelled against the machinations of the unscrupulous leaders of the mob, and even gave sound advice to the people in political matters.

On the island of Salamis they showed a lonely, shady cave with an entrance from the sea, which Euripides built for himself in order to retire there from the noisy light for poetic studies. In all likelihood, the gloomy and melancholic character of this cave, reminiscent of the personal characteristics of Euripides, prompted the Salamis people to name this cave after the poet born on the island. On one stone, which Welker speaks of (Alte Denkmäler, I, 488), there is an image relating to this Euripides cave. Euripides, a plump old man with big beard, stands next to the muse, who holds a scroll in her hand and brings it to a woman sitting on a rock. This woman, as Welker explains, “is a nymph living in this coastal rock, a nymph of this cave, friendly receiving Euripides; the construction of a cave here for the solitary study of wise poetry is indicated by Hermes standing behind the nymph.”

The theme of women in Euripides

The gloomy and unsociable character of Euripides also explains the hatred of women for which the Athenians and especially Aristophanes reproached him in his comedy “Women at the Festival of Thesmophoria.” The women, irritated by Euripides’ bad reviews of them, want to take revenge on him and, having gathered for the festival of Thesmophoria, where complete agreement reigns between them, they decide to arrange a trial of the poet and sentence him to death penalty. Euripides, in fear for his fate, is looking for one of the men who would agree to dress in women's dress, take part in a meeting of women and defend the poet there. Since the pampered, effeminate poet Agathon, whom Euripides asks to provide this service, does not want to be in danger, Mnesilochus, Euripides’ father-in-law, who has fully mastered the philosophical and oratorical techniques of his son-in-law, takes on this role and, dressing in a woman’s dress, delivered by Agathon , goes to the Thesmophorion temple. Here a trial takes place, in which female speakers violently attack the son of a merchant who insults their sex; Mnesilochus ardently defends his son-in-law, but he is soon recognized and, on the orders of Prytan, who was called to the temple, he is tied to a stake, so that he can later be tried for criminal intrusion into sorority. Euripides, who ran to the temple, tries in vain, using various tricks, to free his father-in-law; Finally, he manages to free him when he promises the women never to scold them again, and, with the assistance of a flutist, distracts the attention of the Scythian standing on guard, Carried away by this comedy, later writers already told how historical fact that during the festival of Thesmophoria women attacked Euripides and wanted to kill him, but he saved himself by promising them that he would never say anything bad about them; talking about this, the biographer cites in confirmation several verses from Euripides’ drama “Melanippe”, which say: “The abuse uttered by men against women does not hit the target; I assure you that women better than men" According to another biographer, women attacked Euripides in the Salamis cave; they burst in, says the biographer, and wanted to kill him while he was writing the tragedy. How the poet calmed them down is not said; of course, with the help of the above promise.

Seated Euripides. Roman statue

Euripides paid special attention to the female sex and brought women to the stage much more often than other poets. The passions of a woman's heart, especially love and its clash with moral feelings, were often the subject of his tragedies; Thus, in his tragedies situations could easily appear in which the bad and dark sides of a woman’s heart were sharply outlined. Thus, often in entire plays and in many individual scenes, a woman appears in a bad light, although it cannot be said that these scenes express the poet’s firm conviction. The Athenians could be offended both by the fact that the poet generally depicted a woman on stage with all her innermost feelings and motives, and by the fact that women’s errors and depravity of character were depicted in such bright colors, and moreover, at a time when Attic women really stood morally not particularly high. This is the reason why Euripides acquired a reputation among the Athenians as a hater of women; we must admit that his attitude towards women does him at least as much honor as it does shame. In his dramas we meet many noble women, distinguished high love and self-sacrifice, courage and willpower, while men often appear next to them in a pitiful and secondary role.

Euripides' family relationships

If harsh judgments Euripides's views on women are in most cases explained by character dramatic plot, then some of the sentences of this kind, apparently, were expressed by him quite sincerely. In his family life the poet had to endure difficult trials. According to biographers, Euripides had two wives; the first was Chirila, the daughter of the above-mentioned Mnesilochus, from whom Euripides had three sons: Mnesarchides, who was later a merchant, Mnesilochus, who became an actor, and Euripides the Younger, a tragedian. Since this wife was unfaithful to Euripides, he divorced her and took another wife, Melito, who, however, turned out to be no better than the first and left her husband herself. This Melito is called by others the first wife of Euripides, and Chirilu (or Chirina) - the second; Gellius even says that Euripides had two wives at the same time, which, of course, is not true, since bigamy was not allowed in Athens. Chyrila is said to have had an affair with a certain Cephisophon, an actor who is said to be a young slave of Euripides, and of whom comedians say that he helped Euripides write dramas. Chyrila's infidelity prompted Euripides to write the drama Hippolytus, in which he particularly attacks women; Having experienced the same trouble from his second wife, the poet began to condemn women even more. Under such circumstances, of course, he could quite sincerely put such strange thoughts into Hippolytus’s mouth:

“Oh Zeus! You have darkened people's happiness by giving birth to a woman! If you wanted to support the human race, you would have to arrange it so that we do not owe our lives to women. We mortals could bring copper or iron or costly gold to your temples, and in return receive children from the hands of the deity, each according to his offering; and these children would grow up freely in their father’s house, never seeing or knowing women; for it is clear that woman is the greatest disaster.”

Departure of Euripides from Athens to Macedonia

In the last years of his life, Euripides left his hometown. This was shortly after the presentation of Orestes (408 BC). What prompted him to do this we do not know; Perhaps troubles in the family, or the constant bitter attacks of comedians, or the turbulent situation in Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War, or perhaps all this together made his stay in his homeland unpleasant. He first went to Thessalian Magnesia, whose citizens received him very hospitably and honored him with gifts. However, he did not stay there long and went to Pella, to the court of the Macedonian king Archelaus. This sovereign was no different moral qualities; he paved his way to the throne with a triple murder; but he was very zealous about introducing into his country Greek culture and morals, especially about giving your court more shine by attracting Greek poets and artists. At his court lived, among others, the tragedian Agathon of Athens, the epic Chiril of Samos, famous painter Zeuxis of Heraclea (in Magna Graecia), musician and dithyrambist Timothy of Miletus. At the court of the hospitable and generous king, Euripides enjoyed pleasant leisure and, in honor of the Macedonian royal house, wrote the drama "Archelaus", which depicts the founding of the Macedonian kingdom by the descendant of Hercules Archelaus, the son of Temen. In Macedonia, Euripides wrote the drama “The Bacchae,” as can be seen from the allusions to local circumstances in this play. These plays were presented in Dion, in Pieria, near Olympus, where the cult of Bacchus existed and where King Archelaus staged dramatic competitions in honor of Zeus and the muses.

Probably, the poet Agathon also took part in these competitions, who left Athens and arrived in Pella almost at the same time as Euripides. As a joke, a story was invented that the handsome Agathon in his youth was the lover of Euripides, who was then about 32 years old, and that Euripides wrote his “Chrysippus” to please him. The story of how the old Euripides once, drunk at dinner with Archelaus, kissed the 40-year-old Agathon, deserves just as little faith, and when asked by the king whether he still considers Agathon his lover, he answered: “Of course, I swear by Zeus ; because handsome men are given not only beautiful spring, but also a beautiful autumn.”

Legends about the death of Euripides

Euripides did not live long at the court of Archelaus. He died in 406 BC (Ol. 93, 3), 75 years old. There are various stories about his death, which, however, have little credibility. The most widespread news was that he was torn to pieces by dogs. The biographer tells the following: In Macedonia there was a village inhabited by Thracians. One day the Molossian dog Archelaus came running there, and the villagers, according to their custom, sacrificed it and ate it. For this, the king fined them one talent; but Euripides, at the request of the Thracians, begged the king to forgive them for this act. For a long time Later, Euripides was walking one day in a grove near the city, in which the king was hunting at the same time. The dogs, escaping from the hunters, rushed at the old man and tore him to pieces. These were the puppies of the same dog that the Thracians ate; hence the Macedonians’ proverb “dog’s revenge.” Another biographer says that two poets, the Macedonian Arideus and the Thessalian Kratev, out of envy of Euripides, bribed the royal slave Lysimachus for 10 minutes so that he would unleash dogs on Euripides, who tore him to pieces. According to other news, it was not dogs, but women who attacked him on the road at night and tore him to pieces.

The news of Euripides' death was received in Athens with deep sorrow. They say that Sophocles, having received this news, put on mourning clothes, and during a performance in the theater he brought the actors onto the stage without wreaths; the people were crying. Archelaus erected a decent monument to the great poet in the romantic area between Arethusa and Wormiscus, near two springs. The Athenians, having learned about the death of the poet, sent an embassy to Macedonia with a request to hand over the body of Euripides for burial in his hometown; but since Archelaus did not agree to this request, they erected a cenotaph in honor of the poet on the road to Piraeus, where Pausanias later saw him. According to legend, the tomb of Euripides, like the tomb of Lycurgus, was destroyed by a lightning strike, which was considered a sign of the gods’ special attention to mortals, since the place where lightning struck was declared sacred and inviolable. The historian Thucydides or the musician Timothy is said to have decorated his cenotaph with the following inscription:

“The whole of Greece serves as the grave of Euripides, but his body is in Macedonia, where he was destined to end his life. His fatherland is Athens and all of Hellas; he enjoyed the love of the muses and thereby gained praise from everyone.”

Bergk believes that this inscription was not composed by the historian Thucydides, but by another Athenian of the same name from the house of Aherd, who was a poet and, apparently, also lived at the court of Archelaus. Perhaps this inscription was intended for the monument to Euripides in Macedonia.

Let us mention one more circumstance here. Shortly after the death of Euripides, the Syracusan tyrant Dionysius, who gained dominance in the same year, bought from his heirs, for one talent, that belonged to the poet stringed instrument, a board and a slate, and donated these things, in memory of Euripides, to the temple of the muses in Syracuse.

From antiquity to our time, many busts of Euripides have survived, representing him either separately or together with Sophocles. A colossal bust of the poet in Parian marble is in the Vatican Chiaramonti Museum; this is probably a copy of a statue that was placed, by order of Lycurgus, in the theater, next to the statues of Aeschylus and Sophocles. “In the facial features of Euripides one can see that seriousness, gloominess and inhospitability for which the comedians reproached him, that dislike of fun and laughter, with which his love for solitude, for the remote Salamis cave, is so consistent. Along with seriousness, his figure expresses benevolence and modesty - the properties of a true philosopher. Instead of sophistic complacency and pride, something honest and sincere is visible in the face of Euripides.” (Welker).

Euripides. Bust from the Vatican Museum

Euripides and sophistry

For more details, see the article “Sophistic Philosophy” (section “The Influence of Sophistic Philosophy on Euripides”)

Euripides is a complete representative of the time when the Athenians fell in love with sophistry and began to flaunt sensitivity. His penchant for mental pursuits early distracted him from social activities, and he lived among philosophers. He delved into the skeptical ideas of Anaxagoras, he liked the seductive teachings of the sophists. He did not have the cheerful energy of Sophocles, who diligently performed civic duties; he shunned state affairs, shunned the life of society, whose morals he portrayed, and lived in a closed circle. His tragedies were liked by his contemporaries; but his ambition remained unsatisfied - perhaps that is why he left Athens in his old age, where comic poets constantly laughed at his works.

Related to it in tendency, in content, and probably close to it in time is the tragedy of “The Petitioner.” Its content is the legend that the Thebans did not allow the Argive heroes killed during the Campaign of the Seven against Thebes to be buried, but Theseus forced them to do so. There are also clear hints of modern political relations. The Thebans also did not want to allow the Athenians to bury the soldiers killed in the battle of Delia (in 424). At the end of the play, the Argive king enters into an alliance with the Athenians; it also made political sense: soon after the Battle of Delium, the Athenians entered into an alliance with Argos. The chorus of “Petitioners” consists of the mothers of the murdered Argive heroes and their maids; then the sons of these heroes join them; The choir's songs are excellent. Probably, the scenery representing the Eleusinian Temple of Demeter, at whose altars the “petitioners”—the mothers of the murdered heroes—sit down, had a beautiful appearance. The scenes of the burning of those heroes, the procession of boys carrying urns with the ashes of the dead, the voluntary death of Capaneus’s wife, who climbed onto the fire to her husband’s body, were also good. At the end of the drama, Euripides, by deus ex machina, brings the goddess Athena onto the stage, who demands an oath from the Argives never to fight with the Athenians. Following this, the Athenian-Argive alliance was formalized, for the sake of the renewal of which in modern times “The Petitioners” were written.

Euripides – “Hecuba” (summary)

Some of the tragedies of Euripides that have come down to us are based on episodes from the Trojan War, in particular from the terrible events of the destruction of Troy; they depict strong emotions of passion with great energy. For example, in “Hecuba” the mother’s grief is first depicted, from whose embrace her daughter, Polyxena, the bride of Achilles, is torn out. Stopping after the destruction of Troy on the Thracian shore of the Hellespont, the Greeks decided to sacrifice Polyxena on the tombstone of Achilles; she willingly goes to her death. At this moment, the maid, who went to fetch water, brings Hecuba the body of Polydor, her son, who she found on the shore, killed by the traitor Polymestor, under whose protection Polydor was sent. This new misfortune turns Hecuba’s victim into an avenger; the thirst for revenge on her son’s killer merges in her soul with despair over the death of her daughter. With the consent of the main leader of the Greek army, Agamemnon, Hecuba lures Polymestor into the tent and, with the help of slaves, blinds him. In carrying out her revenge, Hecuba shows great intelligence and extraordinary courage. In Medea, Euripides depicts jealousy; in Hecuba, revenge is depicted with the most energetic features. The blinded Polymestor predicts Hecuba's future fate.

Euripides – “Andromache” (summary)

Passion of a completely different kind constitutes the content of Euripides' tragedy Andromache. Andromache, Hector's unhappy widow, upon completion Trojan War, becomes the slave of Achilles' son, Neoptolemus. Neoptolemus's wife, Hermione, is jealous of her. The jealousy is all the stronger because Hermione has no children, and Andromache gives birth to a son, Molossus, from Neoptolemus. Hermione and her father, the Spartan king Menelaus, brutally persecute Andromache, even threatening her with death; but Neoptolemus’s grandfather, Peleus, saves her from their persecution. Hermione, fearing her husband's revenge, wants to kill herself. But Menelaus’s nephew, Orestes, who was previously Hermione’s fiancé, takes her to Sparta, and the Delphians, excited by his intrigues, kill Neoptolemus. At the end of the play, the goddess Thetis appears (deus ex machina) and foreshadows the happy future of Andromache and Molossus; this artificial denouement is intended to produce a calming impression in the audience.

The whole tragedy is imbued with hostility towards Sparta; this feeling was instilled in Euripides modern relations; Sparta and Athens were then at war with each other. "Andromache" was probably staged in 421, somewhat earlier than the conclusion of the Peace of Nicias. Euripides with obvious pleasure depicts in Menelaus the severity and treachery of the Spartans, and in Hermione the immorality of Spartan women.

Euripides – “The Trojan Women” (summary)

The tragedy "The Trojan Women" was written by Euripides around 415. Its action takes place on the second day after the capture of Troy in the camp of the victorious Hellenic army. The captives taken in Troy are distributed among the leaders of the victorious Greeks. Euripides depicts how Hecuba, the wife of the murdered Trojan king Priam, and Hector’s wife, Andromache, are preparing for the fate of slavery. The son of Hector and Andromache, the baby Astyanax, is thrown from the fortress wall by the Greeks. One daughter of Priam and Hecuba, the Trojan prophetess Cassandra, becomes the concubine of the Greek leader, Agamemnon, and in ecstatic madness makes predictions about the terrible fate that will soon befall most of the destroyers of Troy. Hecuba's other daughter, Polyxene, is to be sacrificed at Achilles' tomb.

The role of the chorus in this drama by Euripides is played by Trojan women captured by the Greeks. The finale of “The Trojan Women” is the scene of the burning of Troy by the Hellenes.

As in the case of "The Petitioners", "Andromache" and "Heraclides", the plot of "The Trojan Women" has a close connection with the events of that time. In 415 BC, the Athenians, on the advice of the ambitious adventurer Alcibiades, decided to sharply turn the tide of the Peloponnesian War and achieve pan-Greek hegemony through a military expedition to Sicily. This rash plan was condemned by many prominent people of Athens. Aristophanes wrote the comedy “The Birds” for this purpose, and Euripides wrote “The Trojan Woman,” where he vividly depicted the bloody disasters of war and expressed sympathy for the suffering captives. The idea that even with a successful completion of the campaign, its further consequences will be tragic for the victors who transgressed justice, was carried out very clearly by Euripides in The Trojan Women.

"Trojan Women", one of best dramas Euripides, when first staged - around the time of the start of the Sicilian expedition - was not successful. The “anti-war” meaning of “The Trojan Women” was not liked by the people excited by the demagogues. But when in the fall of 413 the entire Athenian army died in Sicily, their fellow citizens recognized that Euripides was right and instructed him to write a poetic epitaph on the tomb of his fellow countrymen who fell in Sicily.

Euripides – “Helen” (summary)

The content of the tragedy “Helen” is borrowed from the legend that the Trojan War was fought because of a ghost: in Troy there was only the ghost of Helen, and Helen herself was carried away by the gods to Egypt. The young king of Egypt, Theoclymenes, pursues Helen with his love; she runs away from him to the tomb of King Proteus. There she is found by her husband, Menelaus, brought to Egypt by storms after the capture of Troy, appearing in beggarly clothes, since all his ships were destroyed by a hurricane. To deceive Theoclymenes, Helen tells him that Menelaus supposedly died at Troy, and she, having now become a free woman, is ready to marry the king. Elena asks only to be allowed to go out to sea on a boat to perform the last memorial rites for her ex-husband. On this boat, Helen leaves with Menelaus in disguise. They are helped by the priestess girl Feonoya, the only thing noble face plays. Theoclymenes, having discovered the deception, sends a chase after the fugitives, but she is stopped by the Dioscuri, who play the role of deus ex machina: they declare that everything that happened happened by the will of the gods. “Helen” is both in content and form one of the weakest tragedies of Euripides.

Euripides – “Iphigenia at Aulis” (summary)

Euripides also took themes for his tragedies from the legends about the Atrids - the descendants of the hero Atreus, among whom were the leaders of the Trojan War Agamemnon and Menelaus. The drama “Iphigenia in Aulis” is beautiful, but distorted by later additions, the content of which is the legend of the sacrifice of Agamemnon’s daughter, Iphigenia.

Before setting sail for Troy, the Greek army gathers in the harbor of Aulis. But the goddess Artemis stops the fair winds, since she was angered by the supreme leader of the Hellenes, Agamemnon. The famous soothsayer Calhant announces that Artemis’s anger can be softened by sacrificing Agamemnon’s daughter, Iphigenia, to her. Agamemnon sends a letter to his wife Clytemnestra with a request to send Iphigenia to Aulis, since Achilles allegedly makes it a condition for his participation in the campaign to Troy that he receive Iphigenia as a wife. Iphigenia arrives in Aulis with her mother. Achilles, having learned that Agamemnon used his name for deceptive purposes, is terribly indignant and declares that he will not allow Iphigenia to be sacrificed, even if this means fighting with other Greek leaders. Iphigenia responds by saying that she does not want to become the cause of a fight between her compatriots and will gladly give her life for the good of Hellas. Iphigenia voluntarily goes to the sacrificial altar, but the messenger who appears at the end of Euripides’ tragedy reports that at the moment of the sacrifice the girl disappeared and instead a doe was under the knife.

The plot of “Iphigenia in Aulis” was borrowed by Euripides from the tales of the Trojan War, but he gives the legend such a form that a moral conclusion is drawn from it. In the confusion of events human life agitated by passions, the only true path is the one that leads pure heart capable of heroic self-sacrifice. Euripides' Iphigenia selflessly offers to be sacrificed; by its free decision, the reconciliation of the heroes arguing among themselves is accomplished. So this tragedy is free from artificial way arrange a denouement through the intervention of a deity, although here too this method is partly reminiscent of the appearance of the Messenger at the end of the action.

Euripides – “Iphigenia in Tauris” (summary)

"Iphigenia in Tauris" also has a high artistic merit; its plan is good, its characters are noble and beautifully depicted. The content is borrowed from the legend that Iphigenia, who escaped the sacrifice in Aulis, subsequently became a priestess in Tauris (Crimea), but then ran away from there, taking with her the image of the goddess she served.

Artemis, who saved Iphigenia in Aulis, took her from there to Tauris on a wonderful cloud and made her her priestess there. The barbarians of Tauris sacrifice to their Artemis all the foreigners who fall into their hands, and Iphigenia is entrusted with performing a preliminary rite of purification over these unfortunates. Meanwhile, the Trojan War ended, and Iphigenia's father, Agamemnon, who returned to his homeland, was killed by his own wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. Avenging his father, Iphigenia's brother, Orestes, kills his mother Clytemnestra and is then subjected to terrible torments of repentance, sent by the goddesses Erinyes. Apollo announces to Orestes that he will get rid of torment if he goes to Tauris and brings from there the idol of Artemis captured by the barbarians. Orestes arrives in Tauris with his friend Pylades, but the local savages capture them and condemn them to sacrifice. They are brought to the priestess Iphigenia, sister of Orestes. Euripides describes an exciting scene in which Iphigenia recognizes her brother. Under the pretext of performing a cleansing ritual, Iphigenia takes Orestes and Pylades to the seashore and runs with them to Greece, taking away the image of Artemis. The barbarians of Tauris give chase, but the goddess Athena (deus ex machina) forces them to stop.

Euripides’ Iphigenia is not as ideal a face as Goethe’s, but still she is a pious girl, faithful to her duties, passionately loving her homeland, so noble that even the barbarians respect her; she instills in them humane concepts. Although the barbarians sacrifice people to the goddess she serves, Iphigenia herself does not shed blood. The scene in which Orestes and Pylades each want to be sacrificed in order to save their friend from death is dramatic. Euripides managed to add touchingness to this dispute between friends without resorting to excessive sentimentality.

Euripides – “Orestes” (summary)

In both tragedies, with the title Iphigenia, the characters are energetic and noble, but about the tragedy “Orestes” one of the ancient scholiasts already said that all the characters in it are bad, with the exception of Pylades alone. And indeed, this is both in content and form one of the weakest works of Euripides.

According to the decision of the Argive court, Orestes should be stoned for the murder of his mother, Clytemnestra, although she herself had previously nearly killed him along with his father, Agamemnon. The baby Orestes was then rescued by his sister, Electra. Now Electra is being tried together with Orestes, for she participated in the murder of their common mother. Orestes and Electra hope for the support of the brother of their father killed by Clytemnestra, the Spartan king Menelaus, who arrived in Argos during the trial. However, due to cowardice and selfishness, he does not want to save them. When the people's assembly condemns Orestes to smpEuripides - “Heraclides” (summary) ert, he, together with true friend Pylademos takes hostage the wife of Menelaus, the culprit of the Trojan War, Helen. But divine power carries her through the air. Orestes wants to kill Helen's daughter, Hermione. At the decisive moment, Deus ex machina appears - Apollo plays this role here - and orders everyone to reconcile. Orestes marries Hermione, whom he recently wanted to kill, Pylades on Electra.

The characters of the characters in this drama of Euripides are devoid of any mythical grandeur; these are ordinary people, without tragic dignity.

Euripides – “Electra” (summary)

Electra suffers from the same shortcoming, but even more so than Orestes, in which the sublime legend is remade so that it becomes like a parody.

Clytemnestra, in order to get rid of constant reminders of the murder of her husband, passes off her daughter, Electra, as a simple peasant. Electra lives in poverty, doing menial housework herself. For the same purposes, Clytemnestra expels Orestes as an infant from the capital of Agamemnon, Mycenae. Having matured in a foreign land, Orestes returns to his homeland and comes to his sister. Elektra recognizes him by the scar left from a bruise he received as a child. Having conspired with Electra, Orestes kills the lover of their common mother and the main culprit in the death of their father, Aegisthus, outside the city. Electra then lures Clytemnestra into her poor hut under a pretext. as if she had given birth to a child. In this hut, Orestes kills his mother. This terrible denouement plunges Electra and Orestes into insanity, but the Dioscuri, who miraculously appeared, excuse them by saying that they acted at the behest of Apollo. Electra marries Orestes' friend, Pylades. Orestes Dioskouri himself is sent to Athens, where he will be acquitted and cleansed of sin by the council of elders - the Areopagus.

Euripides – “Hercules” (summary)

"Hercules" (or "The Madness of Hercules"), a play designed for effects, has several scenes producing strong impression. It combines two different actions. When Hercules goes into the underworld, the cruel Theban king Lycus wants to kill his wife, children and old father, Amphitryon, who remained in Thebes. Hercules, who unexpectedly returned, frees his relatives and kills Lik. But then he himself exposes them to the fate from which he saved them. Hera deprives Hercules of his sanity. He kills his wife and children, imagining that they are the wife and children of Eurystheus. He is tied to a fragment of a column. Athena restores his sanity. Hercules feels bitter remorse and wants to kill himself, but Theseus appears and keeps him from doing this, taking him to Athens. There Hercules is cleansed of sin by sacred rites.

Euripides – “Ion” (summary)

"And he", - wonderful play in terms of entertaining content and clear characteristics of individuals, full of patriotism. There is neither greatness of passions nor greatness of character in it; the action is based on intrigue.

Ion, the son of Apollo and Creusa, the daughter of the Athenian king, was thrown into the Delphic temple by his mother, ashamed of the casual affair, as a baby. He is raised there, destined to be a servant of Apollo. Ion's mother, Creusa, marries Xuthus, who was chosen by the Athenian king for his heroism in the war. But they don't have children. Xuthus comes to Delphi to pray to Apollo for the birth of a descendant and receives an answer from the oracle that the first person he will meet at the exit from the temple is his son. Xuthus meets Ion first and greets him as a son. Meanwhile, secretly from Xuthus, Creusa also comes to Delphi. Hearing how Xuthus calls Ion and his son, she decides that Ion is the side offspring of her husband. Not wanting to accept a stranger into his family, Creusa sends a slave with a poisoned chalice to Ion. But Apollo keeps her from committing villainy. He also detains Ion, who, having learned about the insidious plan against him, wants to kill Creusa, not knowing that she is his mother. The priestess who raised Jonah comes out of the Delphic temple with the basket and swaddling clothes in which he was found. Creusa recognizes them. Apollo's son Ion becomes heir to the Athenian throne. Euripides' play ends with Athena confirming the truth of the story about the divine origin of Ion and promising power to his descendants - the Ionians. For the pride of the Athenians, the legend was pleasant that the ancestor of the Ionians came from the line of ancient Achaean kings and was not the son of a foreign stranger, the Aeolian Xuthus. The young priest Ion depicted by Euripides is sweet and innocent - an attractive face.

Euripides – “Phoenicians” (summary)

Later, “Jonah” was written by Euripides, the drama “The Phoenician Women”, and which has many beautiful passages. The name of the play comes from the fact that its chorus consists of captive citizens of Phoenician Tyre, who were sent to Delphi, but were delayed in Thebes along the way.

The content of The Phoenician Women is borrowed from the myth of the Theban king Oedipus, and the drama is replete with many different episodes from this cycle of legends. Euripides' reworking of the myth is limited to the fact that Oedipus and his mother and wife Jocasta are still alive during the campaign of the Seven against Thebes, when their sons Eteocles and Polyneices kill each other. Jocasta, who, together with her daughter Antigone, tried in vain to prevent the single combat of her two sons, kills herself in the camp above them. dead bodies. Blind Oedipus, expelled from Thebes by Creon, is led by Antigone to Colon. Creon's son, Menoeceus, in fulfillment of the prophecy given by Tiresias of Thebes, throws himself from the Theban wall, sacrificing himself to reconcile the gods with Thebes.

Euripides – “The Bacchae” (summary)

The tragedy of The Bacchae probably dates back to an even later time. It was apparently written by Euripides in Macedonia. In Athens, The Bacchae was probably staged by the author's son or nephew, Euripides the Younger, who also staged Iphigenia at Aulis and Euripides' tragedy Alcmaeon, which has not reached us.

The content of “The Bacchae” is the legend about the Theban king Pentheus, who did not want to recognize his god as cousin Bacchus-Dionysus, returning from Asia to Thebes. Pentheus saw in the ecstatic cult of Dionysus only deception and debauchery and began to strictly persecute his servants, the bacchantes, contrary to the opinion of his grandfather, the hero Cadmus, and the famous soothsayer Tiresias of Thebes. For this, Pentheus was torn to pieces by his mother Agave (sister of Dionysus's mother, Semele) and the maenads (Bacchantes) who accompanied her. Dionysus sent all the Theban women into a frenzy, and they, led by Agave, fled to the mountains to indulge in bacchanalia in deer skins, with thyrsus (staffs) and tympanums (tambourines) in their hands. Dionysus told Pentheus of an insane desire to see the Bacchantes and their service. Dressed in a woman's dress, he went to Kiferon, where it took place. But Agave and the other bacchantes, at the suggestion of Dionysus, mistook Pentheus for a lion and tore him to pieces. Agave triumphantly carried the bloody head of her own son to the palace, imagining that it was the head of a lion. Having sobered up, she was cured of madness and was struck by repentance. The end of Euripides' "The Bacchae" is poorly preserved, but, as far as can be understood, Agave was condemned to exile.

This tragedy is one of Euripides's best, although the verse in it is often careless. Its plan is excellent, the unity of action is strictly observed in it, consistently developing from one basic given, the scenes follow one after another in an orderly order, the excitement of passions is depicted very vividly. The tragedy is imbued with a deep religious feeling, and the choir’s songs especially breathe it. Euripides, hitherto a very free-thinking man, in his old age seems to have come to the conviction that religious traditions must be respected, that it is better to maintain piety among the people and not deprive them of respect for ancient beliefs by ridicule, that skepticism deprives the masses of the happiness that they find in religious feeling.

Euripides – “Cyclops” (summary)

In addition to these 18 tragedies, we have reached satirical drama Euripides' "Cyclops", the only surviving work of this branch of dramatic poetry. The content of “Cyclops” is an episode borrowed from the Odyssey about the blinding of Polyphemus. The tone of this play by Euripides is cheerful and humorous. Its chorus consists of satyrs with their leader, Silenus. During the course of the play, the Cyclops Polyphemus launches into confused but bloodthirsty reasoning, praising extreme immorality and selfishness in the spirit of the theories of the sophists. The satyrs subordinate to Polyphemus are eager to get rid of him, but out of cowardice they are afraid to help Odysseus, who is in danger of being killed by the Cyclops. At the end of this play by Euripides, Odysseus defeats the Cyclops without anyone else's assistance. Then Silenus and the satyrs, in a comic tone, attribute Odysseus’s merit to themselves and loudly glorify their “courage.”

Euripides' political views

Evaluation of Euripides' work by descendants

Euripides was the last great Greek tragedian, although he was inferior to Aeschylus and Sophocles. The generation that followed him was very pleased with the properties of his poetry and loved him more than his predecessors. The tragedians who followed him jealously studied his works, which is why they can be considered the “school” of Euripides. The poets of modern comedy also studied and highly respected Euripides. Philemon, the oldest representative of the new comedy, who lived around 330 BC, loved Euripides so much that in one of his comedies he said: “If the dead really live beyond the grave, as some people claim, then I would hang myself if only just to see Euripides." Until the last centuries of antiquity, the works of Euripides, due to their ease of form and abundance of practical maxims, were constantly read educated people, as a result of which so many of his tragedies have come down to us.

Euripides. World of passions

Translations of Euripides into Russian

Euripides was translated into Russian by: Merzlyakov, Shestakov, P. Basistov, N. Kotelov, V. I. Vodovozov, V. Alekseev, D. S. Merezhkovsky.

Theater of Euripides. Per. I. F. Annensky. (Series “Monuments of World Literature”). M.: Sabashnikovs.

Euripides. Petitioners. Trojan women. Per. S. V. Shervinsky. M.: Khud. lit. 1969.

Euripides. Petitioners. Trojan women. Per. S. Apta. (Series “Ancient Drama”). M.: Art. 1980.

Euripides. Tragedies. Per. Inn. Annensky. (Series " Literary monuments"). In 2 vols. M.: Ladomir-Science. 1999

Articles and books about Euripides

Orbinsky R.V. Euripides and his significance in the history of Greek tragedy. St. Petersburg, 1853

Belyaev D.F. On the question of Euripides’ worldview. Kazan, 1878

Belyaev D. F. Euripides’ views on classes and states, internal and foreign policy Athens

Decharme. Euripides and the spirit of his theater. Paris, 1893

Kotelov N.P. Euripides and the significance of his “drama” in the history of literature. St. Petersburg, 1894

Gavrilov A.K. Theater of Euripides and the Athenian Enlightenment. St. Petersburg, 1995.

Gavrilov A.K. Signs and action - mantika in “Iphigenia Tauride” by Euripides

After some dates before the Nativity of Christ, our article also indicates dating according to the ancient Greek Olympics. For example: Ol. 75, 1 – means the first year of the 75th Olympiad

Bacchae

Translation by Innokenty Annensky

CHARACTERS

Dionysus (II) Servant (III)

Choir of Bacchantes, Lydian women Herald-Shepherd (III)

Tiresias, blind old man, soothsayer (II) Messenger-Servant (III)

Cadmus, former king Theban (III) Agave, daughter of Cadmus, mother

Pentheus, youth, grandson of Cadmus, new king of Pentheus (I)

Theban (I)

The action takes place in Kadmeia, a Theban fortress, north of Thebes, in front of the palace of Cadmus. The facade of the palace is in the Dorian style, with columns and triglyphs. The middle door acts as the main gate leading into the room. At the right periakta (scenes) there is a heap of wooden fragments, fenced and entwined with greenery

grapes At the beginning of the play, Dionysus enters the stage from the left in the form of a worshiper of Bacchus: in addition to his long, motley chiton, reaching to the very heels, he has a saffron-colored cape, which is pulled together by a wide motley belt; on the cape hangs from the shoulders a nebrid - a deer skin; from the head, from under a soft miter and a plush wreath, delicate, light-golden hair falls in luxurious curls onto the shoulders, covering the ears and part of the cheeks. a pampered handsome man with an effeminate face; the cheeks are white, with a thick blush (the eyes are glazed); V

in his right hand is a thyrsus, a stick the size of a man, entwined with ivy.

The son of Zeus, Dionysus, I am with the Thebans.

Here once was Semele, daughter of Cadmus,

She brought me into the world untimely,

She was struck by the fire of Zeus' thunderstorm.

From a god to a human appearance,

I approach the streams of my native rivers.

(He sees debris covered with grapes.)

Here is my mother's burned memory

There are ruins of a house near the palace

They still smoke, they still live in them

Heavenly fire, proud Hera

Unquenchable anger towards my mother...

10 How good it is that you made him unapproachable

Cadmus's daughters sanctuary; his

From all sides I hid the grapes

Wrapped with tassels of delicate greenery.

I left the rich Lydia plain

And Phrygia and Persia fields,

Burnt by the midday rays,

And the walls of Bactria and the Medes

Having experienced the winter cold, I am the Arabs

I visited and walked around the happy ones

All of Asia, along the sea coast

Salty prostrated: in the cities

The wall towers rise beautifully,

And there the Greek and the barbarian live together.

I introduced holidays and dances in Asia

And from people, like God, he is respected everywhere.

20 Here I trample the soil of Greece for the first time.

From the cities of Hellas before everyone else

I will fill you, Thebes, with rejoicing,

I'll throw the non-brids on my shoulders and, in return,

Spears, I will give you a thyrsus entwined with ivy:

Mother's sisters are here - who would have expected?

They didn’t recognize me as Zeus’ son,

And they claimed that, having sinned

With a mortal, mother Zeus attributed

30 His feminine sin, which he cleverly composed

That fable of Cadmus, and as if Zeus Semele

He killed for a daringly fictitious marriage.

I declared them out of their houses with rage

Made me run away, losing my mind

They have now gone to Quisreron

In bacchanalian garb, with a thirst for orgies

In the chest, and how much there is in Thebes

To the women's people, everyone with them

I forced them to leave the hearths.

And under the tents of fir trees, at random,

Homeless people sleep on bare rocks.

Yes, city, you will feel now,

40 That until now he shunned the orgies of Bacchus.

Semele's mother I protect the memory

I am a powerful god, the son of Zeus.

Cadmus gave honor and power to the king here

Pentheus, son of Agave's daughter.

He is a God-fighter and I have never

He did not offer a libation in prayer either.

Doesn't want to mention it. Let the king

And the other Thebans will be convinced

That I am definitely God. Here's how I'll teach you

To serve myself, I will go to other lands.

50 And if the Thebans advance with an army,

To return women from Kiferon,

My maenads will start a fight with them.

So that’s why, having changed my appearance,

From a god I became seemingly a man.

(Addressing the choir, which had just performed at Fimela.)

And you, who left Tmol with me,

You, Lydia's pets, friends

On the way and in the parking lot, you, tympanum

Raising the Phrygian above his head,

A gift from Rhea-mother and mine,

60 Crowd around the palace of Pentheus:

Let the loud beats gather

The Thebans come here. I'm on Kiferon

I’ll go now to my new bacchantes,

And I will weave into light round dances.

when pronouncing the 63rd line, it passes along the paraskenia, descends to the fimela (a platform in the orchestra, slightly below the stage) and is located on the left side of the audience, in a quadrangle of five in a row; The middle one in the first row is a luminary. The flutist (more precisely, the clarinetist) precedes the choir and remains with them on the fiddle throughout the play. The choir consists of 15 Lydian women: they are in long robes, barefoot, with unbred hair on their shoulders, their heads covered with ivy or yew; in the hands of long thyrses in ivy or light short staves; in others, instead of a thyrsus, in the hands

tympanum (a kind of tambourine). At the end of the prologue, Dionysus goes to the right. The choir sings in unison. The first eight lines are performed by one luminary. Mimic movements, and perhaps dance movements, accompany this opening song.

Stanza I Lands of Asia, where are you?

Tmol sacred, you are abandoned! Sweet is my work.

I lift Bromius to the glory of languor,

To the god Bacchus I cry: Evoe!

Antistrophe I Get out of the way, out of the way!

Hide in your houses and speak reverently

70 Let them close together: I will sing Dionysus,

How I praise him everywhere and always.

Stanza II Oh, how happy you are, mortal,

If, in peace with the gods,

You will know their mysteries,

If, rejoicing on heights,

Bacchus of pure delights

You will fill a timid soul.

Happy if you are included

Orgy of Mother Cybele;

80 If, shaking the thyrsus,

Ivy is crowned with greenery,

In the world you serve Dionysus.

Go, Bacchantes, go!

You, God and God's son,

Bring Dionysus home!

From the Phrygian mountains to the Hellas mountains

Take Bacchus home.

Antistrophe II Zeus thundered

The pangs of childbirth have arrived:

90 Without informing, she vomited

Bromia mother from the womb

And under the lightning strike

She ended her life untimely.

But he accepted the ejected

Zeus immediately into his bosom

And, melting from Hera's son,

He has it at the hip skillfully

Gold pinned with a buckle:

When the time had come for him,

100 He gave birth to a horned god,

He made a wreath for him from a snake:

Since then, this animal food

The maenad wraps around her brow.

Stanza III You, cradle of Semele,

Thebes, be crowned with ivy!

Dress yourself in delicate foliage,

Purple yew berries!

Bacchus is fulfilled, city

110 With the greenery of oak and spruce!

And white-fleeced tassels