What was the name of the dispute from the time of Euripides? Euripides

(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’s father was not rich, he nevertheless gave his son a good upbringing, which was fully 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 Pericles and with other remarkable people of that time, such as, for example, 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 common 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, regardless of 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, the moral meaning of 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 increasingly attracted the younger generation, Euripides, from the time of the Peloponnesian War, began to meet little by little with more and more approval, and soon his tragedies became the common property of the 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 by his fellow citizens for a long time 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 withdrew 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 a large 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. 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 have 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 mark; I assure you that women are 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 delusions and depravity of character were portrayed in such a way bright colors, and moreover, at a time when Attic women really did not stand particularly high morally. 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 Euripides's harsh judgments about 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 not distinguished by 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 from Samos, the famous painter Zeuxis from Heraclea (in Magna Graecia), the musician and author of dithyrambs Timothy from 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 ; after all, beauties are given not only a wonderful spring, but also a wonderful 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. 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 led 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, lived in vicious 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. The hints about modern political relations are also clear here. 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, the unhappy widow of Hector, at the end of the 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 inspired in Euripides by 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.

The Trojan Women, one of Euripides' best dramas, was not a success when it was first staged - around the time of the start of the Sicilian expedition. 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 funeral rites for ex-husband. On this boat, Helen leaves with Menelaus in disguise. They are helped by the priestess girl Theonoya, the only noble person in the play. 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 the events of human life, agitated by passions, the only Right way- the one along which a pure heart, capable of heroic self-sacrifice, leads. Euripides' Iphigenia selflessly offers to be sacrificed; by its free decision, the reconciliation of the heroes arguing among themselves is accomplished. Thus, this tragedy is free from the artificial method of arranging a denouement through the intervention of a deity, although here too this method is somewhat reminiscent of the appearance of the Messenger at the end of the action.

Euripides – “Iphigenia in Tauris” (summary)

“Iphigenia in Tauris” also has 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 national assembly condemns Orestes to Euripides - “Heraclides” (summary) erti, he, together with his faithful friend Pylades, 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; This 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 that make a 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)

“Ion” is a wonderful play in terms of entertaining content and clear characterization 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 over their 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 of the Theban king Pentheus, who did not want to recognize as god his cousin Bacchus-Dionysus, who returned 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, the satirical drama of Euripides “Cyclops” has reached us, 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, thanks to the ease of form and abundance of practical maxims, were constantly read by 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 of 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

CHAPTER
VIII

EURIPIDES

• Biography of Euripides (485/4-406 BC).
• General characteristics of Euripides' dramaturgy.
• "Alceste."
• "Medea".
• "Hippolytus."
• "Hercules".
• "Pleading."
• "And he".
• "Iphigenia in Tauris."
• "Electra".
• "Orestes".
• "Iphigenia in Aulis".
• Satyr drama "Cyclops".
• The significance of Euripides' dramatic activity

BIOGRAPHY OF EURIPIDES (485 4-406 BC)

Euripides was the youngest of the three famous Greek tragedians of the 5th century. BC BC: according to the Parian Chronicle 1, he was born in 485/4 BC. e. (According to other sources - in 480 BC) His father, Mnesarchides, was a small merchant, and his mother, Cleito, was a greengrocer and that, therefore, Euripides did not belong to the noble and wealthy strata of the population. However, some scholars consider this information to be an invention of the comedy poets, citing both the good education received by Euripides and his participation in some festivals available only to people of noble origin. Euripides reveals in his tragedies an excellent knowledge of Greek literature and philosophy; he was well acquainted with the teachings of the philosophers Anaxagoras, Prodicus and Protagoras and, apparently, was on friendly terms with Socrates. According to information dating back to antiquity, Euripides knew painting well, but he did not write music for his plays, entrusting this to the musician Timocrates of Argos, and he did not perform on stage - in contrast to Aeschylus and Sophocles.
Without taking direct part in the socio-political life of his state, Euripides preferred to indulge in poetic creativity in solitude. But this avoidance of socio-political activities did not mean that the playwright was not interested in the affairs of the Athenian state. His tragedies are full of political arguments and allusions; the theater was a real political tribune for Euripides. At twenty-five he took part in the tragic competition, but received only the third award. According to evidence coming from antiquity, throughout his life Euripides won five first victories (one of them posthumously), while from seventy-five to ninety-eight dramatic works were attributed to him.
In 408, Euripides moved to the court of the Macedonian king Archelaus and lived here, surrounded by honor, until his death, which followed in 406 (several months before the death of Sophocles).

1 “Parian Chronicle” - a marble slab found at the beginning of the 18th century. on the island of Paros, on which 93 not entirely complete lines have been preserved. "Chronicle" provides facts from political and cultural history Ancient Greece. So, it contains information about competitions, holidays, and poets.

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GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF EURIPIDES' DRAMATURGY

Seventeen tragedies and one satyr drama have come down to us from Euripides. Almost all of the surviving plays were written by Euripides during the Peloponnesian War. During this period of strong social upheaval, faith in the old gods fluctuates, new trends in philosophy appear, and a number of new questions are raised and discussed. Euripides very clearly reflected this in his work. crucial moment V Greek history. All the burning issues of our time are touched upon by the playwright in his tragedies. But first of all, it is necessary to say that the tragedy itself became different for Euripides than it was for Aeschylus and Sophocles. Euripides brought his heroes closer to real life. According to Aristotle, Euripides portrayed people as they really are. The Athenians did not like this desire of Euripides for a realistic depiction of characters; it seemed to them a violation of the traditional nature of tragedy and was one of the reasons for Euripides’ failures in dramatic competitions. But there were also other reasons. The Athenians were confused by Euripides' free attitude to myths. Taking any ancient myth, Euripides changed it not only in details, but also in essential features. In addition, in a number of Euripides' tragedies it is given

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criticism of old religious beliefs. The gods turn out to be more cruel, treacherous and vengeful than people. Even where there is no direct criticism, the poet’s skeptical attitude towards ancient beliefs is often visible. This is explained by the fact that the work of Euripides was strongly influenced by the philosophy of the Sophists. The thoughts of the sophists on various issues of social life, their criticism of old religious beliefs are reflected in the tragedies of Euripides, and therefore some researchers call him a “philosopher from the stage.” And one more feature passed into the tragedy of Euripides from the sophists: his heroes, for the most part, reason a lot and subtly and turn out to be very skillful in the techniques of sophistic proof.
In his political views, Euripides was a supporter of moderate democracy. He disapproves of the extreme democracy of his time, portraying it as mob rule and calling it a “terrible scourge.” On the other hand, he does not like the aristocracy, which boasts of its noble origin and wealth. In his eyes, the “middle” class is the strongest foundation of the state. And first of all, he is a farmer who cultivates the land with “his own with my own hands" In the tragedy "Electra", a simple farmer who showed hospitality to Orestes and showed himself to be generous is called noble, for, according to Orestes, true nobility lies in the nobility of the soul.
In a number of his tragedies, Euripides expresses ardent patriotic feelings, glorifying Athens, its gods and heroes, its nature, respect for guests and petitioners, justice and generosity. In the plays of Euripides there are constantly allusions to contemporary political events of the playwright. The latter even become a direct impetus for the creation of drama. In connection with the Peloponnesian War, questions are raised about treaties, about allies, a feeling of hostility towards the Spartans is expressed more than once, and at the same time the disasters and suffering caused by the war, and especially the suffering of women, are depicted. In his tragedies, Euripides touches on the question of the position of women, which was very disturbing to Athenian society at that time, and puts, for example, into the mouth of the heroine of the tragedy “Medea” a number of deep thoughts about the female lot.
Euripides' attitude towards slaves is characteristic. They do not occupy a lowly position in his plays and often act as proxies of their masters. Slaves in Euripides acquire the same significance as servants on the modern European stage. In the tragedy “Elena” (Art. 727 and following) the idea, radical for that time, is directly expressed that a good, pure-hearted slave is the same person as a free one.
Euripides' dramatic mastery is characterized by the following features. He not only pits his heroes against each other in acute dramatic conflicts (Aeschylus and Sophocles had already done this before him), but also forces the audience to be present at the subtlest emotional experiences of his heroes. He knows how to choose and vividly depict the stunning moments of each situation and at the same time give an in-depth psychological description of his heroes.
The severity of dramatic conflicts, usually leading to the death of the hero or his loved ones, combined with this in-depth psychological characteristic makes Euripides “the most tragic

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of the poets." This is exactly what Aristotle 1 calls him, pointing out that many of Euripides’ tragedies end in misfortune, although he also reproaches him for the composition of some plays. Indeed, the straightforward development of action in Euripides is sometimes hampered by a number of side episodes that slow down the movement of the drama. Therefore, in terms of unity of action, Euripides is inferior to Aeschylus and Sophocles.
When staging his tragedies, Euripides, like Sophocles, used three actors. However, he also has plays where two actors perform. The chorus in Euripides no longer has such a close connection with the development of action as in Sophocles. At times he is only a passive observer of current events. Sometimes the choir either expresses sympathy for the heroes in the suffering they endure, or tries to reconcile the warring parties, or simply expresses its opinion about the events taking place. At times, in the choral parts, Euripides expresses, without even trying to hide it, his own favorite views and thoughts. In addition to choir songs, Euripides' tragedies also contain monody. They are found already in Sophocles, but only Euripides began to use them widely. One must think that these monodies made a great impression on the viewer and listener, 2 but it is difficult for us to judge their musical merit: we do not know the melody underlying them, as well as the plastic acting of the actors associated with them.
A few more remarks need to be made about Euripides' prologues and denouements. They have a unique character. Sometimes in prologues Euripides gives not only the beginning of the tragedy, but also tells in advance its entire content. It is quite obvious that such a construction of the prologue is less rewarding in purely artistic terms than that of Aeschylus or Sophocles. But Euripides treats myths so freely, removing from them what is known to everyone and, on the contrary, adding his own, that without such an introduction, sometimes even revealing the content of the tragedy, much would simply remain unclear to the viewer.
When studying the prologues of Euripides, the following can be noted. Having put forward a position in the prologue, he returns to it more than once during the tragedy, investing it with more and more new evidence and making it more and more convincing through logical reasoning and purely artistic means.
The endings of Euripides' tragedies also differ in their features. They are not always skillfully constructed, and therefore it is necessary to unravel the tangled tangle of events with the help of a deity appearing on the eorem (“god ex machina”). By resorting to such endings, Euripides probably wanted to pay a certain amount of attention to the deities in his tragedies, since he did not always give them a place in the development of the tragedy itself.

1 Aristotle, On the art of poetry, M., Goslitizdat, 1957, p. 89.
2 We know that arias-monodies from the tragedies of Euripides were also performed in the Hellenistic era.

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"ALKESTA"

In Alcestes, Euripides paints the image of a devoted wife who decided to give her life for the life of her husband. As a reward for the piety of the Thessalian king Admetus, Apollo obtained for him a special favor from the maidens of fate Moira: when the day of his death comes, he will be able to remain alive if one of the people close to him agrees to die in his place. This day has come, but none of Admet’s loved ones was willing to give their life for him, and only his faithful wife Alcesta voluntarily goes to death for the sake of her husband’s life. Apollo talks about this in the prologue, addressing the palace of Admetus, in front of which the action of the play is played out. Apollo is about to leave his dear home so that the taint of death will not touch him. The subsequent appearance of the demon of death in black clothes and with a sword in his hand and the dispute about the life of Alcestes between him and Apollo enhance the drama of the prologue. As Apollo departs, the demon of death enters the palace to take his victim. The character of the heroine and her emotional experiences are vividly depicted in the scene of farewell to loved ones, and her death occurs in this play, contrary to generally accepted dramatic rules, in front of the audience. Admetus leads his wife out of the palace, supporting her in his arms. They are accompanied by a crowd of servants and maids. Alceste’s children are also here - a boy and a girl. Alceste's monody follows; she turns to the sky, daylight, to the clouds running in the sky, to the roof of the palace and to the maiden bed of her native Iolkos. Then she speaks with horror about the vision that presented itself to her; it seems to her that the carrier to the kingdom of the dead, Charon, is hurrying her to quickly set off on the road with him. Alceste, at her request, is lowered onto the bed. She turns to Admet with the expression of her last will. She says that she considers his life more worthy than her own and therefore decided to die for him 1. But she could still enjoy the gifts of youth, marry after the death of Admetus to one of the Thessalians and continue to live happily in her palace. But she does not want to taste happiness in separation from him. In retribution for her sacrifice, Admet should not be allowed into the house. new wife, so as not to give the children a stepmother. The last will is expressed, Alceste gradually loses her strength, and she dies. Admet gives orders for the funeral, everyone must put on mourning clothes. Alceste's body is taken to the palace.
After some time, a new character appears in the orchestra - Hercules, who entered Ferae 2 on his way to Thrace. He will be the culprit of the happy ending of the drama, which Apollo already hinted at in the prologue. Hercules sees signs of mourning, but Admet hides the truth from his friend, telling him that a stranger, although close to the family, has died. From the point of view of the ancient Greek, this was a pious lie, since the duty of hospitality was considered one of the ancient Hellenic institutions. Hercules wants to leave to find another home, but Admetus convinces him to stay. By order of Admetus, a servant leads Hercules through a side door into the guest chamber of the palace.

1 The life of a man, as a father of a family and a warrior, was considered more valuable than a woman’s life. 2 Thera is an ancient city in Thessaly.

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Conventionally, during the period of time during which Hercules was received in this chamber, preparations were underway in another part of the palace for the removal of the body. A little time after the funeral procession leaves the palace and heads, together with the choir of Pheraean elders, to the burial place of Alcestes, Hercules appears in the orchestra with a wreath on his head and a cup of wine in his hands. First of all, he expresses dissatisfaction with the gloomy appearance of the servant who was in charge of his treat, and then preaches a unique philosophy of life: one must rejoice in one’s existence, sing, live for today, leaving the rest to fate, and honor the most pleasant of all goddesses - Aphrodite. For tragedy, as the Greeks understood it, this scene is undoubtedly reduced. The uneven speech of a tipsy man falling into an instructive tone is well conveyed. But how Hercules changes, finally learning from a servant that it was not a stranger who died, but Alceste! There is no trace of intoxication left. When the servant leaves, Hercules pronounces a short monologue in which he addresses his much-tested heart. In gratitude for his hospitality, he must return his wife to Admet. And Hercules talks about his plan: he will go to Alceste’s grave, there he will ambush the demon of death, squeeze him in his mighty embrace and force him to return Alceste.
the last part The play is dedicated to a happy ending. It should have been perceived with especially great interest by the audience, since before that it was shown the deep despair that covers Admetus, who returned from the funeral, at the sight of the empty palace. This is followed by a mystification of Admetus by Hercules, who appears in the orchestra, leading a woman wrapped in a long veil. Reproaching Admetus for deception, Hercules asks him to take this woman into the house until his return; he got it as a reward at public games. Admet does not agree to fulfill this request, since after his wife’s funeral he would not want to see women in his palace, and besides, the stranger’s figure surprisingly reminds him of Alkeste. After persistent insistence from Hercules, Admetus finally, with disgust, takes the woman by the hand to lead her into the palace. At this moment, Hercules pulls off the veil from her - and Admetus sees Alceste in front of him. At first he does not believe his eyes and thinks that there is a ghost in front of him. But Hercules assures his friend that this is his real wife, and tells how he recaptured her from the demon of death at the grave.
This play occupies a special place not only in the surviving heritage of Euripides, but also in ancient drama in general, which was noted already in antiquity. It is known that in the tetralogy it was in fourth place, that is, it was supposed to play the role of a satyr drama. However, there is no chorus of satyrs in it, and it is very far from the relaxed and unbridled fun that this chorus brought to the stage. Nevertheless, one feature is characteristic of Alcestes to a much greater extent than other plays of Euripides: this is a conscious combination of tragic and comedic styles. The scene between Hercules and the servant is on the verge of tragedy and comedy, especially at the beginning. The hoax of Hercules at the end of the play also has something of a comedy about it. However, in general, the dramatic situation between Alceste and Admetus, Admetus and Hercules is interpreted with great

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seriousness and extreme pathos. This especially applies to the scene of Alkesta’s death and to the scene of Admet’s return after his wife’s funeral, when, in the apt expression of I. F. Annensky, “Admet realized through suffering that there is a life that is worse than death.”
Euripides touches on a motif in the play that he will repeatedly touch upon in his other dramas. Women's devotion and self-sacrifice in the play are clearly contrasted with the unconscious egoism and love of life of Admet. In the scene of farewell to Alceste, he begs his wife not to leave him, forgetting that he himself agreed to accept her sacrifice. Admet's unconscious egoism is even more clearly evident in the scene of his argument at Alceste's body with his father Feret. Admetus does not allow his father, who came with funeral gifts, to see Alcestes’ body. There is a sharp explanation between the son and father. Admet considers his parents, who did not want to die for him, to be the true culprits of Alceste’s death.
Feret is also an egoist, but an egoist who is perfectly aware of his love of life. He finds it quite natural - after all, the old man has so little time left to live. And everyone is life-loving, says Feret. The best example of this is Admetus himself, who bought his life at the cost of the death of his wife.
"Alceste" is one of best plays Euripides, both in the fascinating construction of the plot, which develops a motif characteristic of the folklore of many nations (the return to life of a deceased person), and in the charming image of a tender and loving wife, sacrificing herself for the sake of her husband’s life. And the purely spectacular side of the tragedy, closely connected with the development of the plot and the characters depicted in it, already provides a number of means of theatrical expressiveness that Euripides later used in other dramas. These include the scene of the heroine’s death in front of the audience, a funeral ceremony, children shown on stage, and the performance of monody in the most pathetic places.

"MEDEA"

In this tragedy, staged in 431 BC. e., Euripides paints a different female image, very different from the image of Alcestes. Alceste is a devoted wife and tender mother. Her self-sacrifice testifies to her strong will, aimed at preserving the life of the head of the family, giving him the opportunity to raise their children. Medea is not only a strong-willed nature, but also a passionate one, endowed with a stormy temperament and unable to forgive the insult inflicted on her. Having fallen in love with the Argonaut Jason, she helps him get the Golden Fleece and runs with it to Greece. But when after a few
years old, Jason decides to marry the daughter of the Corinthian king and abandons Medea, and the king of Corinth Creon wants, in addition, to expel her and her children from the city, Medea cruelly takes revenge on both her traitorous husband, and Creon, and his daughter. With the help of magical gifts, she first destroys the princess and her father, and then, wanting to take even more painful revenge on Jason, kills her children born of him and flies away with their bodies in a chariot drawn by winged dragons.
The scene depicts the house of Jason and Medea in Corinth. In the prologue, the nurse speaks about the misfortune that befell Medea, whom he left

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Jason. Refusing food, Medea sheds tears day and night on her bed and shouts that her husband has treacherously broken his oath. Even the children became hateful to her. Knowing Medea's character, the nurse expresses fears for the future. Her anxiety increases even more when she learns from the teacher, who appears at the orchestra with two boys, the sons of Medea, that a new misfortune has befallen her mistress: Creon is expelling her and the children from Corinth. Behind the stage you can hear the screams of Medea, calling for death. The nurse advises the children to hide and not show themselves to the mother, who is overcome with anger and rage. Screams are heard again from behind the stage. Medea curses both the children and the father who gave birth to them. A choir of Corinthian women appears in response to Medea's voice. They came to console Medea in her grief. Thus, Euripides very skillfully prepares in the prologue the performance of the choir - a parod. Medea's screams offstage continue after the skit. When, at the request of the choir, Medea leaves the house, the outburst of rage has already passed and she talks more calmly about the misfortune that befell her. With bitterness Medea speaks to the chorus about the plight of a woman who must be a weak-willed slave of her husband and look him in the eyes even when he on the side amuses his heart with love 1. But if the position of a woman is generally sad, then her fate is even sadder and more bitter - Medea: after all, she is in a foreign land, she has no home, no relatives, no friends. Medea asks the chorus only one thing: let him not interfere with her if she finds any means to take revenge on her husband. From this moment on, all of Medea’s actions and deeds are determined by the desire to carry out her revenge. She asks Creon to let her stay in Corinth for at least one day to figure out where to go with the children and how to arrange for them. When Creon gives this permission, Medea, addressing the chorus, says that she needs one day of respite to take revenge.
In the following explanation between Medea and Jason, the characters of both main characters are well developed. The meeting of a husband and his rejected wife is one of the most powerful scenes of the tragedy. Jason very cleverly avoids the main question of the reasons for Medea's hatred. He begins his speech with an attack. For her anger, for her loose tongue, Medea receives, in Jason’s opinion, too little punishment: for such crimes, even exile is a good thing. Calling himself a faithful friend, Jason offers Medea help so that she and the children do not remain in a foreign land without funds. In a strong and vivid speech, Medea accuses Jason of shamelessness. Having caused so much harm to his loved ones, he can still look them in the eyes. Medea remembers everything she did for Jason. She talks about her crimes committed out of love for him. And what? As a reward for all this, he forgot about his vows and betrayed her. She points out to Jason the question of where she should go with the children.
In objecting to Medea, Jason resorts to the most shameless sophisms. In vain does Medea extol her services; he himself believes that he owes everything to Cyprida, who kindled Medea’s love for him. Moreover, he has long been

1 In these reasonings of Medea one can feel the echo of the public debates of that time; the patriarchal family was destroyed, and, perhaps for the first time in history, the women's question arose before Athenian society.

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and more than paid his debt to his wife. Medea now lives not among the barbarians, but in Greece and enjoys fame. As for marriage, he entered into a new marriage in order to settle himself and strengthen the position of his children through their brothers, who would be born to him from his new wife. What greater happiness could befall an exile than an alliance with the princess? Medea refutes Jason's last argument - an honest person would first persuade his loved ones and only then get married, but Jason got married first. Medea indignantly refuses any help that Jason offers her.
After the choir sings about the terrible power of the Eros and the destruction they brought into Medea’s life, a foreigner, the Athenian king Aegeus, enters the orchestra. At first glance, the scene with Aegeus seems to have little connection with the development of the plot of the play. In fact, this is the final push that helps Medea’s revenge plan be finally determined. And the point is not only that Medea now gets a place where she can escape from Corinth. Aegeus is childless, which is why he was in Delphi and asked God to grant him offspring. From the point of view of the ancient Greeks, childlessness was considered the greatest misfortune. And here, in a conversation with Aegeus, Medea has the idea of ​​causing this greatest misfortune to Jason and depriving him of offspring by killing his children. After Aegeus leaves, a triumphant Medea tells the chorus of her plan for revenge. She will call Jason back and pretend that she agrees with Creon's verdict. She will ask Jason to leave their children in Corinth. What about children
will help her kill the princess. She will send gifts with them: poisoned peplos of wondrous work and a diadem. As soon as the princess puts them on, she will be engulfed in flames and die in agony; The one who touches it will also die. Medea will then have to kill the children - she will uproot Jason’s house. The chorus tries to dissuade Medea from her decision. The luminary of the choir asks if she will really decide to kill her children. Medea responds to this with a question:

How can I hurt Jason more? 1

In the scene of the second explanation of Jason and Medea, on the one hand, the imaginary meekness of Medea, as if only now realizing what her good is, and the complacency of Jason, openly rejoicing that an unpleasant matter is coming to a happy ending, are well shown.
The audience learned about what happened behind the scenes from the story of the messenger, who reported the terrible death of the princess and her father from the gifts of Medea. After the messenger's story, Medea decides to immediately kill the children. However, this decision is followed by painful hesitation. Caressing children on stage, Medea either leaves her terrible plan, then returns to it again. But finally, the decision was made. Addressing herself, Medea says:

Today you
Not their mother, no, but tomorrow we cry our hearts
You will satisfy. You're killing them
And you love. Oh, how unhappy I am, wives! -

Medea speaks her last words to the chorus, which during this entire scene reveals amazing passivity. Medea takes the children offstage, where

1 Euripides, Plays, M., “Iskusstvo”, 1960, p. 69.
2 Ibid., p. 84.

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After a few moments, their screams, cries and words are heard:

Rather, for God's sake, they will kill us!..
Iron nets will now squeeze us

Jason quickly enters the orchestra and asks the choir where the villainess Medea is. However, Jason is now thinking not so much about her - she still cannot escape punishment - but about his children. He is afraid that Creon's relatives will take revenge on them for his mother's crime. The chorus tells Jason that Medea killed the children. Jason orders the servants to break down the doors of the palace, but at that moment Medea appears in the air on a chariot drawn by winged dragons, with the bodies of the killed boys. Medea responds to Jason’s curses that by taking revenge on him, she painfully touched his heart, and her own pain is easy for her if now he cannot laugh at her. Jason, cursing the murderer,

1 Euripides, Plays, p. 86.

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begs to give him the children for burial. Medea refuses him this: she herself will bury the children in the sacred grove of the goddess Hera. In vain Jason begs that Medea will at least allow him to hug the bodies of the children. The air chariot flies away.
The significance of this tragedy for the history of the Greek stage was well defined by the famous French scientist of the last century, A. Paten. Calling the performance terrible and heartbreaking, he regards it as a revolution in the Greek theater, changing the face of the Greek stage, since in Medea the place of the old predestination of fate was replaced by the predestination of passion. Indeed, the real basis of action in this tragedy is the passions that dominate the soul of Medea. They are not inspired from above, and in the very course of events there is no divine intervention that could create a situation favorable for the manifestation of human passion or, conversely, preventing this manifestation. The heroine is fully responsible for her actions, which, as she herself is well aware, bring about the complete collapse of her own life.
Developing a mythological plot, Euripides naturally retains a number of such traits in the character of Medea and her actions that the myths gave him: she is a sorceress, she puts the dragon to sleep, commits terrible crimes - she kills her brother while fleeing Colchis and then destroys Pelias in Iolka. All this, however, happens before the start of the play, but in the play itself she carries out her revenge on the princess with the help of magic. At the same time, in the passionate and uncontrollable character of Medea there is something reminiscent of the fact that she is a foreigner, born and raised among the barbarians. However, this is not what the playwright brings to the fore when drawing the image of Medea. Already in the first episode, when Medea comes out to the choir, she is not the sorceress of Colchis, but an abandoned and completely desperate woman, a contemporary of the playwright, and the audience is, in essence, present at a terrible family drama. The suffering of Medea, in whose soul there is a struggle between maternal love and the thirst for revenge, is depicted with great pathos and psychological persuasiveness. In the end, the thirst for revenge overwhelms all others. human feelings, and a crime is committed. However, the viewer, before whose eyes all the vicissitudes of the collision of the main characters of the tragedy have passed, feels compassion for Medea and begins to understand how she could have reached her terrible crime.
This is all the more remarkable because, from the point of view of an ordinary Greek, Jason acted quite consistently and correctly. He decided to strengthen the position of himself and his children and in in this case(and, indeed, in all others) he had every right not to take into account the feelings of the woman he left behind. Jason is presented in the tragedy as a selfish and self-satisfied man who cares partly about himself, partly about the interests of the family and is not at all interested in what is happening in the soul of Medea. And only in the last scene, where he is shown completely broken by Medea’s terrible revenge, does the viewer feel compassion for him.
Medea contains a number of political allusions. Thus, in the words of Stasim the first, “the sanctity of oaths has disappeared...” (vv. 412-413), some researchers see an indication of the political situation on the eve of the Peloponnesian War.

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It was a time of mutual hostility and mistrust, violation of treaties and feverish preparations for war. Tragedy won third prize. The reasons for this assessment are unclear to us. But in later times, “Medea” was recognized as one of the best plays of Euripides.

"Hippolytus"

This tragedy took place on the Athenian stage in March 428 BC. e. It was part of a tetralogy that received the first prize. The play is based on the myth of Hippolytus, the bastard son of the Athenian king Theseus from the Amazon Antiope, and about the unhappy love of his stepmother Phaedra for him. The very date of the production of “Hippolytus” indicates that after “Medea” the playwright was captivated by the idea of ​​​​providing an image of strong human passion - this time love, leading to the death of both Phaedra, overcome by passion, and the one she loves. A comparison of the plots of both plays allows us to establish some similarities between them. Medea's ardent love for Jason gives rise to a feeling of passionate indignation in her after Jason's betrayal, and then a thirst for revenge. In Medea, vengefulness and the experiences associated with its implementation come to the fore, while love for Jason is not revealed in detail, although it is mentioned several times in the drama. In “Hippolytus,” on the contrary, Euripides depicts Phaedra’s love passion, the feeling of boundless despair associated with rejected love, and finally, the fear of exposure and inevitable shame. But Phaedra’s desire to take revenge on Hippolytus and drag him into inevitable death is motivated and depicted extremely briefly.
The myth of Hippolytus became widespread in Greece in the 5th century. BC e. solely thanks to the Athenian theater, since it left almost no traces in previous literature. Lyric poetry apparently does not know him. It is only known that in the picture of the underworld, executed for the Delphic temple (between 480 and 476), Polygnotus depicted Phaedra among criminal women - obviously as the culprit in the death of Hippolytus. On the contrary, in the next century the legend of Hippolytus and Phaedrus became the subject of numerous images. Attic tragedy introduced it into literature and art and immortalized it in the form in which we now know it from the tragedy of Euripides.
The myth of Hippolytus was localized in the Peloponnesian city of Troezen. The author of the “Description of Hellas,” the Greek traveler Pausanias (2nd century AD), saw in Troezen a temple in honor of Artemis, erected, according to legend, by Hippolytus. A beautiful corner with a temple and a statue was dedicated to Hippolytus in Troezen. A priest appointed for life was in charge of the cult of Hippolytus, in whose honor annual sacrifices were made. Local custom also required that young girls dedicate a lock of their hair to him before marriage. The memory of Hippolytus remained closely connected with the memory of Phaedra. In Troezen there was the grave of Phaedra, located not far from the grave of Hippolytus. There was also a temple of Aphrodite in Troezen, from where Phaedra allegedly looked at the young man when he was engaged in physical exercises in the stadium that bears his name and is located

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not far from the temple. Pausanias testifies to the existence of the tomb of Hippolytus near the Acropolis, located in front of the Temple of Themis.
The tragedy takes place in the city of Troezen, where Theseus had to go into a year-long exile for shedding the blood of his relatives. The scene depicted a palace belonging to Theseus; In front of the palace there were two statues - Artemis and Aphrodite. In the prologue, which contains not only the plot of the drama, but also sets out its plot in the main lines, Aphrodite appears. By naming herself, she speaks of the glory of her name both in heaven and on earth. Everywhere she exalts those who bow to her power and punishes her enemies. Among these enemies is Hippolytus. He alone in Troezen calls her the worst of all goddesses, honoring the daughter of Zeus, the maiden Artemis, above all immortals. Hippolytus sinned against Aphrodite and must now be punished. The goddess has already managed to inspire Hippolytus's stepmother Fedra with a passion for her stepson. This love will destroy Hippolytus, as well as Phaedra. Hippolytus will die from Theseus's curse when he learns of his shame.
A hymn in honor of Artemis is heard behind the stage. Hippolytus and his companions return from hunting. Leaving the stage, Aphrodite once again speaks of the inevitable death of Hippolytus. Ippolit is nursing with his companions. Here before us - as far as can be judged from the surviving tragedies - is the only case of a performance in the prologue of the second, side choir, consisting of hunters, comrades of Hippolytus. The choir sings a hymn in honor of Artemis. Hippolytus approaches the statue of the goddess and asks to accept a wreath from him. He picked it in a reserved meadow, which only naturally pure people can enter. The old slave asks Hippolytus to give honor to Aphrodite. Hippolytus's answer sounds insulting to the goddess:

From afar, as if pure, I honor her.

His following words are offensive:

God, worshiped only in darkness, is not dear to me.

The slave after leaving Hippolyta asks the goddess to forgive the young man these daring words:

It’s not like you, the gods, are wiser than us 2.

The slave does not even suspect how bitterly ironic his words sound - the death of Hippolytus is already predetermined by Aphrodite.
The parod cleverly links into the prologue. A choir of Troezen women appears, to whom the news of the queen’s suffering has reached; For the third day she does not eat food, languishing in unknown torment. But then the door of the palace opens. Phaedra appears, supported by her nurse. The maids place a bed near the door on which they lay the queen. In a delirium of love, Phaedra asks to be taken to the mountains,

Where is the pack of predators after the spotted deer?
chases greedily 3.

She would like to throw a Thessalian dart or control four Venetian horses. But little by little, Phaedra comes to her senses, and she becomes ashamed of her words. The nurse tries to find out the causes of suffering

1 Euripides, Plays, p. 101.
2 Ibid., p. 102.
3 Ibid., p. 102.

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Phaedra. But it’s all in vain - Phaedra is silent. However, in the end, after the persistent plea of ​​the nurse, Phaedra reveals to her the secret of her illness: she loves Hippolytus. The nurse, hearing this confession, becomes desperate and wishes herself to die. Addressing the choir, Phaedra says that she tried for a long time to fight her passion, but it was all in vain. Now she has only one thing left to do - die, otherwise she will cover her husband and children with shame.
A wonderful scene ensues when Phaedra is tempted by her nurse, who wants to save her mistress.
Phaedra speaks of honor and pride - the nurse, with the confidence of an experienced sophist, speaks of prudence, which commands not to fight passion, of the flow of Aphrodite, which cannot be stopped. Everywhere, she will ingratiatingly assure, love reigns, to which everything in the world owes its life; loved by both people and gods. And Phaedra does not need to resist love, but should find a successful outcome. We need to quickly find out how Ippolit feels about her feelings, and therefore we need to tell him everything straight out. This is the course of the nurse’s rhetorically constructed reasoning. Phaedra strongly objects, calling them shameful; She also rejects the nurse’s offer to reveal her feelings to Hippolyte. But then little by little she gives in, especially when the nurse reports that she has an effective, harmless remedy that will heal Phaedra without harming her honor. The text in this place (vv. 509-524) allows us to conclude that Phaedra is thinking about a potion that would heal her from a destructive passion, but the nurse’s plan is to tell Hippolytus about everything. The nurse leaves, and the choir sings a song about the omnipotence and cruelty of Eros. With the last words of the song, some voices are heard from the palace. Phaedra listens and then tells the chorus that she clearly heard Hippolytus call the nurse a bawd. The secret of her love is revealed, and Phaedra sees inevitable death ahead of her. An excited Hippolyte comes out to the orchestra, and the nurse runs behind him, clinging to his clothes. She begs Hippolytus not to divulge the secret, since he swore not to tell her what he hears. To this follows Hippolytus’s answer:

The lips swore, but the mind is not bound by an oath

Hippolytus is outraged by the act of Phaedra and the nurse, who dared to offer her son his father’s sacred bed. He delivers a passionate diatribe against women in general. After Hippolytus leaves, Phaedra’s monody follows, in which she sings about her bitter female lot and the fact that there is no way out for her. Phaedra decides to die. She goes into the palace, and after a few minutes filled with the singing of the choir, the nurse’s cries are heard from the palace that Phaedra has hanged herself.
Theseus returns from a pilgrimage, accompanied by his retinue, and learns from the choir about Phaedra’s suicide. He orders the slaves to knock down the locks on the doors. The locks are broken and the doors are finally opened. Inside the palace, Phaedra's corpse is seen on a bed. The maids are standing next to her. While mourning his wife, Theseus notices a letter in her hand. In it, Phaedra names Hippolytus as the culprit of her death, allegedly

1 Euripides, Plays, p. 122. This coined formula, contrasting the spirit of ethics with its letter, enjoyed enormous fame in antiquity, arousing the ire of traditionalists like Aristophanes.

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dishonored her. The indignant Theseus curses his son. He turns to Poseidon, who once promised Theseus to fulfill his three wishes, with a plea to destroy Hippolytus. Hippolytus, who came to his father’s cry, makes excuses in vain; Theseus does not believe him. He accuses Hippolytus of hypocrisy, of hiding his sensuality under the guise of purity. But now he is no longer a mystery to anyone. Theseus orders Hippolytus to immediately leave Athenian soil. Refuting his father’s words, Hippolytus makes a long defensive speech, but, bound by his oath, says nothing about Phaedra’s love for him. After this, Hippolytus goes into exile. The spectators learned about how he died when the horses carried the chariot, frightened by a monstrous bull thrown out by the sea, from the story of the messenger.
Theseus orders his son to be brought to him, although his anger has not yet subsided. The choir sings a second song about the power of Aphrodite. Exodus follows. Artemis appears above. Turning to Theseus, the goddess says that his son is innocent of anything, and tells him the whole truth about Phaedra’s love for Hippolytus. The wounded and tormented Hippolytus is brought on a stretcher. Suffering unbearably, he begs to bring him a sword so that he can give up his life as quickly as possible. Artemis comforts her dying friend. Hippolytus understands that he, Phaedra and his father are victims of Aphrodite. He regrets his father more than himself. In her last word, Artemis threatens to remind Aphrodite of her cruel anger, saying that the day will come - and the one whom Aphrodite loves most will die from the hand of her, Artemis 1. She promises Hippolytus to honor him on eternal times in Troezen: before the wedding, brides will dedicate part of their hair to him. Artemis disappears. Hippolytus dies, forgiving his father before he died.
The tragedy “Hippolytus” was supposed to interest the Athenian audience primarily with its plot, since in it the voice of unbridled passion, hitherto unknown to the Attic stage, sounded for the first time. True, in the denouement of Sophocles' Antigone, love comes into its own, and Haemon commits suicide because of his love for Antigone, but in all previous parts of the play she plays almost no role. And Deianira’s jealousy, so well depicted in “The Trachinian Women.” is the jealousy of a legal wife standing up for her rights rather than a woman in love. In any case, if the Greek tragedy was about love, it was spoken about in very restrained terms. True, the lyrics at one time violated this peculiar prohibition, and Sappho, for example, vividly depicted love experiences. But showing them directly on stage still shocked the Greek audience and seemed indecent to him.
Euripides's bold innovation was the depiction on stage, among other emotional experiences and feelings of love. Apparently, sometimes he managed to overcome the prejudice of his contemporaries in this regard, which is clear from the fact that the trilogy, which included Hippolytus, received the first award by the judges.

1 These words contain a hint of the impending death of Adonis. According to myth, he was a beautiful young man whom Aphrodite fell in love with and whom she mourned when he died while hunting from the tusks of a boar.

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although the tragedy depicted criminal love.
The central figure of this tragedy is not Phaedra, but Hippolytus. The very fact that he was the son of Theseus from the Amazon Antiope left a special imprint on him, in the eyes of the ancient Greek. Like his mother, he is somewhat harsh, tries to become closer to nature and spends all his time in the forests and fields, in the circle of a few selected peers. Hippolytus's greatest desire is to be virtuous, but his virtue is very different from the usual Greek idea of ​​a person who could be called καλός κ"αγαθός 1. He sees it in absolute chastity. This ideal of severe asceticism appears in Hippolytus as a form of his piety. The deity to which he devotes himself, because it meets his ideas of perfect purity, is the virgin goddess Artemis. In the solitude of the forests, he hears with delight the voice of the goddess and enjoys communication with her, which is not given to other mortals. This asceticism of Hippolytus was alien to the vast majority the Greeks of that time, who considered it quite natural to enjoy in moderation all the joys of life, including the gifts of Aphrodite. Aphrodite punishes Hippolytus precisely because he refused to recognize her power, which extends to all living things. The ancient Greek would not have accepted Hippolytus’s departure from public life interests, and in particular from engaging in politics.Meanwhile, for the hero of the tragedy, the only form of connection with society is only participation in pan-Hellenic competitions.
However, this desire to leave society and become closer to nature is a reflection of the social sentiments of that era. In the scene where Hippolytus makes excuses to his father, he asks him the following question: maybe he needed a rapprochement with Phaedra in order to take possession of the kingdom? But, according to Hippolytus, a madman is one who is seduced by higher power. His dream is different - to be first in Hellenic competitions. He would like to live among chosen friends; he does not need the disturbing power of the king. This desire to escape from the surrounding life was an indicator of the approaching crisis of ancient slave society.
However, Hippolytus is not a calm contemplator of nature, in whom there are only some traits of severity. He reacts passionately to everything that seems dishonest to him, and in his indignation he is capable of reaching injustice and cruelty. Outraged by the nurse's confession, Hippolytus attacks all women in general with all his sarcasm and insulting words. All of them turn out to be worthless creatures, and the best among them is the one who is endowed by nature with a lesser mind; at least she will be less deceitful. Hippolytus says all this, as if outwardly addressing his nurse. But Phaedra is also in the orchestra at this time, and it is quite obvious that these words are addressed primarily to her. Phaedra remains silent when Hippolytus insults her, and her silence is one of the most expressive silent scenes in Greek drama. In his unbridled indignation, he does not want to hear even

1 καλός κ"αγαθός literally - beautiful and virtuous, that is, a perfect person in all respects, in whom excellent physical qualities and beautiful appearance are combined with inner nobility and valor.

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something from Phaedra herself and leaves, cursing all women.
At the same time, Hippolytus is convinced that he alone possesses the truth and, in his virtue, stands above other people. In response to his father's accusations, he responds not only with excuses for the wrongdoing attributed to him, but also with an arrogant assertion of his own perfection.

Look around at the ground where you walk
Your leg, in the sun, what's her
Lives, and you won’t find a single soul
More sinless than mine, at least you
And King 1 argued.

The presence of such shortcomings in the character of Hippolytus lowers this image from ideal heights and makes it more original and lifelike.
Before writing her suicide letter, Phaedra appears to be a woman not only with a strong, but also a noble character. Under the power of passion generated by Aphrodite, she strives to remain pure for Theseus and her children. And this is not only due to fear of exposure. Her honor is based on the proud recognition of her purity; she views her involuntary passion as a disgrace deserving punishment. The knowledge of her fall would be unbearable for her. She rejects all secret love and sends a curse to those women who give their lovers criminal embraces. With all the strength of her soul she resists the passion that gripped her. Exhausted in the struggle that she had to wage with herself. Phaedra sees the only way out in death. But then a nurse appears in the form of a demon-tempter - and Phaedra succumbs to her, without even properly understanding what her comforter’s saving grace will be. But how then can we reconcile with this character of Phaedra her dying cruelty towards Hippolytus, whom she basely slanderes? In this regard, some researchers directly speak about the incongruity made by Euripides, which consists in the fact that he forces a woman with a noble character and refined feelings to commit a base act. But they usually forget that Phaedra writes a letter in a fit of despair, a few minutes before her death, seized at the same time by an irresistible desire to take revenge on Hippolytus for the terrible insult that he inflicted on her in the scene of explanation with the nurse, including her in the category of hypocritical women who find happiness in stolen love. Feeling inexpressible shame at the thought that Hippolytus knows her passion, and maddened by undeserved cruel insults, she rushes to the palace, writes a letter in which she falsely accuses Hippolytus, and then immediately kills herself, without leaving a single moment for calm reflection.
The gods in this tragedy appear in an unattractive form. Certainly. Hippolytus sinned against Aphrodite, but the punishment was immeasurably cruel. Aphrodite is not only harsh, but also an avenger devoid of any compassion. In essence, Artemis is also negatively characterized, who, although she rehabilitates her devoted servant before death, does not prevent his death, for among the gods there is a custom not to go against each other. Artemis, however, is shown to be somewhat more humane than Aphrodite, but in the last scene she too is going to take revenge on Afro-

1 Euripides, Plays, M., “Iskusstvo”, 1960, p. 137.

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Go and hit with your arrow the one who will be dearer to this goddess than everyone else.
It is necessary to dwell briefly on the question of fate in Euripides' Hippolytus. Phaedra says that she is dying as a victim of fate. And several more times the tragedy contains mention of fate, only in the sense of fatal passion. True, this passion for Hippolytus is generated in Phaedra by Aphrodite, but in the very course of the tragedy the playwright so vividly depicts the experiences of a woman in love that the question of the divine origin of passion is somehow relegated to the background. The strong one comes to the fore human passion Phaedra. It is this passion that destroys both heroes of the drama - Hippolytus and Phaedra, and in this sense it can be called fatal. Thus, fate in this tragedy of Euripides, as it were, descends to earth, humanizes and destroys its victims through the passion that gripped the soul of the heroine.
How was the appearance of Artemis staged in this tragedy? By analogy with the endings of other plays of Euripides, we can conclude that Artemis appeared in the heights - probably on a special elevation on the roof of the skene. She could not appear below in the orchestra, where other characters are playing, since her appearance and first words addressed to Theseus turn out to be completely unexpected for him. In addition, if Artemis were below, she could approach Hippolytus, but he does not even see her. And finally, at the end of the play, Artemis announces the future to Theseus, and in such cases the gods usually addressed people from the heights of the skene.
Euripides processed the myth of Hippolytus twice. From the first version, only nineteen passages have reached us, making up 50 verses. Seized by her passion, Phaedra herself confessed it to Hippolytus. In ancient times, this version of the tragedy about Hippolytus was called “Hippolytus the Closing,” no doubt because during Phaedra’s love explanation, he covered his head with a cloak out of shame. In contrast to this first version, the tragedy that has come down to us was called “Hippolytus Crowned” (in the prologue, Hippolytus appears with a wreath on his head). The brief summary of the contents of the play that has reached us says that the playwright eliminated in the second drama everything obscene and giving rise to slander. Probably, such moments that outraged the audience in the first drama were Phaedra’s direct appeal to Hippolytus, her words that her ruler is Eros, an invincible god who teaches insolence, etc.
The second "Hippolytus" enjoyed enormous success in ancient times. Monuments of fine art willingly reproduce individual episodes of the drama. Alexandrian critics considered the second Hippolytus one of Euripides's best tragedies. However, the Roman playwright of the 1st century. n. e. Seneca in his tragedy “Phaedra” used the first version of “Hippolytus” by Euripides: in Seneca, Phaedra herself confesses her love to Hippolytus. The popularity of the myth of Hippolytus and Phaedrus in imperial Rome is evidenced by numerous images on sarcophagi and the performance of pantomimes on this plot. But they are all based on the second version of Euripides' Hippolytus. There are numerous borrowings from Hippolytus in Byzantine drama for reading in the 12th century. "Christ the Passion-Bearer."
The plot of “Hippolytus” was borrowed by Racine for the tragedy “Phaedra” (1677).

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As the title itself shows, the main character in Racine was not Hippolyte, but Phaedra. In the preface to Phaedra, he talks about the changes that he made to the plot of the play and to the characters of the characters. He considered it impossible to put slander into the mouth of the queen, who in other respects showed such noble feelings. This baseness seemed to him more suitable for a nurse, who could have slavish inclinations and resort to false accusations only for the purpose of saving the life and honor of her mistress. Like Seneca, in Racine Phaedra herself reveals her passion to Hippolyte. But she makes this confession after she received the news (which later turned out to be false) about the death of Theseus.
While the ancient authors accused Hippolyte of committing violence against his stepmother, Racine, softening this detail, speaks only of an attempt to commit violence. In Racine, Hippolytus is not presented as such a decisive enemy of Aphrodite as in Euripides: he loves the Athenian princess Arisia, the daughter of Theseus’s mortal enemy. Phaedra's experiences, the struggle in her soul between passion and duty, are complicated by jealousy of Arisia. After the death of Hippolytus, Racine's Phaedra commits suicide, taking poison and revealing the whole truth to Theseus before his death.

"HERCULES"

In this tragedy staged, in all likelihood, approx. 423 BC e., is being developed, although with significant changes - old myth about Hercules killing his children in a fit of madness sent down on him by Hero. Thus, like Hippolytus and Phaedra, Hercules is also presented as a victim of the gods. The playwright set himself a difficult task. He shows the hero at the pinnacle of glory, after he has accomplished his last feat, his descent into Hades, but it is at this moment that he is struck by madness. A sick consciousness incites a feeling of resentment against the insignificant Eurystheus, whom Hercules had to serve all his life, to the point of burning hatred, and, thinking that he is dealing with the enemy’s family, the hero kills his children and wife. After an explosion of madness, sobering sets in and the mental torment of Hercules begins. In the tragedy, the playwright’s skill in depicting a person’s emotional experiences emerges with even greater force than before.
Perhaps the newest writer would have nothing to add to the depiction of the state of madness: the playwright gives a vivid and true picture of mental pathology. The moral torment of Hercules after the seizure is also described with the greatest psychological persuasiveness. But there is something else in “Hercules” that allows us to talk about a new moment in the work of Euripides. The tragedy joins a series of heroic and patriotic plays begun by the Heraclides. But compared to the last tragedy, the patriotic theme in “Hercules” receives a more intense and vivid display. The changes that Euripides made to the myth were determined by the playwright’s desire to create a patriotic play, while at the same time enhancing its drama and purely scenic

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possibilities. The most significant of these changes is the introduction to the drama of Theseus. When Hercules, to whom reason returns, finds out that he is the murderer of his family, and as retribution for this terrible act wants to kill himself, the Athenian king Theseus appears, who, out of gratitude and in the name of humanity, saves Hercules’ life and takes him away with him to Athens. Another change in the myth was the introduction into the play of the image of the evil insolent Lik, who was absent in the old mythology. The playwright makes Lycus a Euboean, which is explained by the hostile relations between Athens and Euboea that developed in 424 BC. e.
It is worth dwelling on one more change made by Euripides to the plot of the play. Old myths dated the murder of children to the time before the service of Eurystheus, and the service itself was seen as atonement for this sin. After completing his twelve labors, Hercules emerged from the power of Hera, who was angry with him for being the illegitimate son of Zeus. In Euripides, the murder of children occurs after the completion of all twelve labors and is the last act of Hera’s evil revenge. Having returned to his homeland in an aura of glory, having saved his family and delivered Thebes from the usurper, Hercules, apparently, could count on this.

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that now he will be able to enjoy the happiness he deserves. But almost immediately the hero experiences such a mental collapse, from which, apparently, there is no way out. This is the most striking example of tragic irony.
The tragedy takes place in Thebes in front of the palace of Hercules. On the steps of the altar of Zeus were Hercules’ father Amphitryon, Hercules’ wife Megara and the hero’s three young sons. From the prologue, in which Amphitryon and Megara spoke, the audience learned about the state of affairs. Taking advantage of the absence of Hercules, who was performing his last feat at that time, the Euboean Lycus seized power into his own hands.
Fleeing from his pursuit, Amphitryon, Megara and the children of Hercules seek refuge at the altar of Zeus. The chorus of the tragedy consists of Theban elders. They express sincere sympathy for Amphitryon and Megara, but due to their age they cannot fight the warriors of Lycus, who wants to kill Megara and the sons of Hercules. Lik feels complete impunity, since he believes that Hercules is no longer alive. The tyrant orders the soldiers to light a fire around the altar so that Hercules' family will suffocate in the smoke. Megara declares to Face that she is ready to die, but asks for one favor: that she be allowed to put mourning clothes on the children before their death. Having received the consent of Lycus, Megara leaves with the children and Amphitryon to the palace. The choir sings about the exploits of Hercules, regretting that he did not return after his last exploit - the descent into Hades.
The Face's victims return from the palace; the sons of Hercules are wearing mourning clothes (of course, this dressing was supposed to increase the excitement of the audience). Megara begins a plaintive song. But this is followed by a stage effect - Hercules, who was already thought to be dead, suddenly appears. He frees his loved ones and wants to immediately deal with Lik. However, Amphitryon advises him to wait for the return of the usurper, who must now appear to carry out the execution, and Hercules obeys his father. He tells him about the descent into the underworld and that he brought Theseus out from there, who has now returned to Athens. Hercules tenderly consoles his children, who cling to him and do not want to let him go. Everyone except Amphitryon retires to the palace. Face arrives to claim his sacrifices. Since Amphitryon does not want to take on the difficult responsibility of leading Hercules’ wife and children out of the palace for execution, Lik himself enters the palace, from where his dying cries are soon heard. The choir sings a song of praise in honor of Hercules, considering the death of Lycus deserved. But now there is a turning point in the development of the action. The messenger of the gods, Iris, and the goddess of madness, Lissa, appear in the air above the palace. The latter has the appearance of a Gorgon: she has snakes in her hair. The audience learned from the goddesses that Hera, harboring anger against Hercules, as the son of Zeus and Alcmene, would force the hero to shed the blood of his loved ones. Lissa. considering Hera’s decision to be unfair, but powerless to resist it, speaks of the inevitable drama that will play out in the palace as soon as she gets there.
And indeed, soon the cry of Amphitryon is heard from the palace, and the tragedy reaches its extreme tension. The chorus responds to the cries of an old man defending children against

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their father. Pallas Athena 1 appears in the air for a moment.
A messenger comes and tells about what happened in the palace. Hercules was preparing to cleanse his palace from the shed blood of the tyrant with a sacrifice at the altar of Zeus. Suddenly he stopped and fell silent. His eyes became bloodshot, thick foam began to drip from his lips onto his beard. Then he laughed terribly and began to say crazy words that he would get the head of Eurystheus and then wash the spilled blood from his hands. He began to demand from the slaves that they give him a bow with arrows and a club. Then the madman began to depict how he was riding a chariot. In his delirium, he listed the places he was supposedly passing through, and finally it seemed to him that he was already in Mycenae and should now begin to deal with his enemies. So, in madness, Hercules kills his children. Megara also died saving children from her husband. Only Amphitryon survived. Pallas saved him by throwing a huge stone into Hercules’ chest and then plunging him into a deep sleep. Then the servants in the palace rushed to the aid of Amphitryon and tied Hercules to a column of the palace so that when he woke up he would not be able to commit new misfortunes.
The palace doors open to reveal Hercules sleeping among the ruins, tied to a palace column. Near him lie the corpses of his sons and Megara. When the hero awakens, he does not immediately remember everything that happened. At that moment when he finally understands what he has done and mourns his crime, the Athenian king Theseus appears. Rumors reached him that Lycus was crowding out the family of Hercules, and he came to the aid of his friend. Amphitryon tells Theseus everything. Hercules sits aside at this time, covering his head in shame. Theseus consoles his friend and dissuades him from committing suicide, which he is planning. He invites him to Athens with him, promising to allocate him part of the Athenian land. Hercules remembers how Hera haunted him all his life. What country would want to accept him now after an unheard of crime? In the end, he agrees with Theseus’s persuasion, not wanting anyone to think that he is cowardly fleeing from moral suffering. In a lengthy speech, Hercules says goodbye to the killed, calling them, like himself, victims of Hera. He then embraces Amphitryon, asking him to take care of the burial of the dead, and departs with Theseus.
Some researchers noted the lack of unity of action in this tragedy and pointed out that it splits into two separate plays. The first play depicts the fate of Hercules' family, the plot of the second is the fate and suffering of the hero himself. However, this is not entirely fair. The tragedy of “Hercules,” as some researchers note, provides unity of a “higher order.” Given the apparent bifurcation of the plot of the play, the first part of it is certainly necessary for the second. If in the first part there were not these exhausted children who waited for Hercules for so long, dreamed about him so much, and then, having lost hope, were preparing to die for the honor of their father’s name - his terrible reprisal against them in the second part of the play would not have had such an effect on the audience strong impression and they would not have felt the full depth of the despair that had seized the hero, pushing

1 Her appearance was accompanied by some kind of stage effect, as the chorus says that a hurricane is shaking the house and the roof is collapsing.

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him even to the thought of suicide. The main character connects both parts of the play.
The creation of the image of the heroic Hercules belongs to Euripides. Before him, he appeared in the theater almost exclusively as a comic character - in comedy or satyr drama.
The playwright, with great psychological persuasiveness, showed in the messenger's story the moment of transition from innocent delirium to terrible madness and subsequent crime. Equally expressive is the scene taking place before the eyes of the audience - when the hero gradually comes to his senses. It is difficult to add anything to the excellent analysis of this scene by I. F. Annensky 1. First, the consciousness of life awakens in Hercules. Based on an external sign - the light of the sun - Hercules concludes that he is alive. The first thing he notices near him is a bow and arrows. In the corpses, he does not yet distinguish his victims, but when he sees them, he assumes that he is in Hades. Consciousness gradually returns to him, he begins to understand his surroundings, but memory loss turns his condition into real torture. The scene with the father begins. The atmosphere of sympathy on the part of Amphitryon and the choir brings him back to reality. In a stichomythical conversation with his father, he little by little extracts a terrible secret from him, until he finally finds out that he himself killed his children and wife. Then the judge and avenger awakens in him. His first decision is readiness to die. The arrival of the Athenian king Theseus adds a new drop to the cup of Hercules' suffering. The shame of recent madness becomes even more burning in the presence of a person who has just been saved by him and has recently witnessed his glory. The dialogue with Theseus gradually leads him to a new thought. The thought of suicide struggles in him with the desire to find the highest form of retribution for what he has done. He gradually becomes convinced that he faces the most difficult feat - preserving life as a way of suffering redemption.
In this tragedy, Euripides used the “savior motif”, coming to the aid of someone in distress. Hercules saved Theseus (this is outside the events of the tragedy), Theseus, in gratitude, saves Hercules not only from physical death, but also from the deepest mental crisis.
Attic humanity, friendship and hospitality, embodied in the image of Theseus, are depicted with great dramatic power and warmth. The more terrible and unbearable the disasters into which the deity Hercules plunges, the brighter the human essence of Theseus appears. For the Athenian viewer, this motive of friendship and saving a dying person sounded even stronger than for a modern reader or viewer. Indeed, from the point of view of the ancient Hellene, the very touch of a person who shed blood already threatened with desecration of the toucher. Before his purification, the killer should not even address anyone with a word. Therefore, for the viewer of the 5th century. BC e. Such actions on the stage of Theseus, such as the fact that he reveals his friend’s face, gives him his hand, etc., were presented as a symbol of true Attic friendship. The highest manifestation of hospitality lies in the fact that Hercules not only finds refuge in Athens, but is also promised a portion of the Athenian land as his inheritance.

1 “Theatre of Euripides” in 3 volumes, vol. II, translation with introduction and afterwords by I. F. Annensky, ed. and with comments Φ. F. Zelinsky, M., 1916-1921, pp. 127-128.

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Moreover, Theseus speaks of the honor that will be shown to Hercules after death: the entire Athenian land will honor the hero at the altar, and in turn will gain glory in posterity for helping her famous husband in misfortune. We must remember at the same time what enormous persuasive power the argument had for the ancient Hellene that after his death his memory would be honored.
The tragedy was written towards the end of the Archidamic War, which brought the greatest disasters to both warring parties. Nevertheless, Euripides depicts in Hercules a mythical example of friendship between Attica and the Doric Peloponnese, presenting the Dorian in the same humanly attractive form as the Athenian. Despite the terrible catastrophe that befell Hercules and almost led to his death, the ending of the tragedy sounds enlightened, glorifying Attic humanity and friendship.

"PEOPLEGING"

In this patriotic play, staged on stage, in all likelihood, after the conclusion of the Peace of Nicias in 420 BC. e., the main plot was the myth of the struggle of the sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polyneices, for the Theban throne (the plot used by Aeschylus in “Seven against Thebes” - see above). Eteocles took possession of the throne and expelled Polyneices from Thebes, but the latter found shelter with the Argive king Adrastus, who married his daughter to him. Then Polyneices gathered six friends and, relying on the help of Adrastus, undertook a campaign against Thebes, which ended in the death of all seven leaders, and both sons of Oedipus fell in a mortal duel with each other. However, these events lay outside the tragedy, and the tragedy itself begins with the prayer of the mothers of the fallen heroes addressed to Theseus’s mother Ephra.
The action of the tragedy, unfolding in front of the temple of Demeter in Eleusis, begins with a very colorful scene. At the large altar, to which steps lead, stands Ephra, the mother of Theseus, who came to the sacred enclosure of the temple for a sacrifice before plowing the land. Efra appears in the prologue, setting out the exposition of the drama. It turns out that seven leaders have already found death under the walls of Thebes. The heroes' mothers wanted to bury the bodies of their sons, but the new Theban ruler Creon refused to give them the corpses. And so the women came to Eleusis to beg Theseus to get the Thebans to hand over the corpses. Prostrate on the steps of the altar and wailing, the Argive mothers reach out to Ephra olive branches, entwined with white bandages. Adrastus also lies on the steps of the altar; near him are boys, the sons of fallen heroes, making up a side choir.
Theseus enters. He is amazed at the sight that presented itself to him: the black clothes of the women, their sobs, their hair cut as a sign of mourning - all this is not suitable for a sacrifice in honor of Demeter. Ephra briefly informs Theseus about the request of the Argive mothers and then passes the word to Adrastus, who, rising and stopping his groans, begins to speak. But Theseus coldly greets Adrastus’ request, reproaching him for recklessness and disregard for the will of the gods; he led the Argives

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a campaign, despite bad omens, carried away by several young men, greedy for glory and seeing in war only a means of achieving power and wealth. But then, convinced by his mother’s arguments, Theseus decides to help those asking and achieve the release of corpses, first of all through negotiations, and if this fails, then with the help of weapons. Since the Theban herald presents Theseus with the demand to drive out Adrastus before sunset and refuse to bury the dead, the Athenian king orders, with the consent of the People's Assembly, to prepare for war. Soon a messenger comes from the battlefield and talks about the brilliant victory of the Athenian army. A funeral procession appears in the orchestra; Athenian soldiers carry funeral beds. Mothers and Adrast cry for the dead. Adrastus, at the request of Theseus, talks about the fallen leaders, and his story turns into a real funeral praise. In the characterization of the seven leaders, a hidden polemic with Aeschylus and the influence of the sophistry and rhetoric of that time are clearly felt. In the tragedy “Seven against Thebes,” all the heroes, with the exception of the soothsayer Amphiaraus, are depicted as people filled with exorbitant pride, rushing to storm Thebes in a kind of warlike frenzy. We see something completely different in Euripides. Adrastus begins with the characterization of Capaneus, defeated by the lightning of Zeus. In Aeschylus, he is a huge strongman with superhuman arrogance; he threatens to incinerate the city, and even the lightning of Zeus does not frighten him. In “The Entreaties,” according to Adrastus, Capaneus possessed enormous wealth, but it did not make him arrogant or proud. Capaneus said that virtue lies in simple life, modesty, true friendship, and friendliness to people. Other leaders in the depiction of Adrastus also appear as people endowed with various virtues.
The funeral procession, to the sounds of the mournful song of the choir, moves back behind the stage - conditionally to the place where the bodies of the fallen leaders will be burned. Suddenly, on a rock overlooking the temple and above the bonfire of Capaneus (of course, he was invisible to the audience), his wife Evadne appears in festive clothes, ready to throw herself into the bonfire on which her husband’s body is burned. The tragedy of the situation is further intensified when Evadne’s father, old Iphis, appears in the orchestra. His family is in double mourning, since his son Eteocles (not to be confused with Eteocles, the son of Oedipus!) and son-in-law Capaneus died under the walls of Thebes. Being below, Iphis is powerless to prevent Evadne from fulfilling her intention. Rejoicing that the flames of the fire will unite her with her husband, Evadne throws herself off the cliff. Iphis mourns his cruel fate, the chorus echoes him.
The play ends with a funeral ceremony. The orchestra includes Theseus, Adrastus and boys carrying urns with the ashes of their fathers. Addressing Adrastus and the women of Argos, who are preparing to go home in a funeral procession, Theseus calls on them to forever remain grateful to Athens for the help they received. The goddess Athena appears above. However, her appearance does not serve the purpose of ending the tragedy; rather, it is a political conclusion. Athena instructs Theseus to demand Adrastus. so that he, on behalf of the Argives, would take an oath never to oppose Athens and to remain grateful for the benefit shown to them.

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Even in ancient times, learned critics believed that the tragedy "The Supplicators" was a praise for Athens. This glorification of Athens is largely accomplished through the exaltation of the image of Theseus. Theseus is shown as an ideal ruler who gave the right to vote to the people. All affairs in the state are decided by the People's Assembly and elected officials, replaced through annual elections. There is complete unity between the king and the people, the king is the leader and adviser of his people. Theseus is an excellent warrior, and all Athenian citizens are ready to defend the fatherland. Along with this, his prudence and peacefulness are emphasized: the ruler, like his people, is inclined to resolve matters peacefully - but if it comes to defending a just cause, he is not afraid to go to war. Theseus is also endowed with eloquence - a quality necessary for a leader in a state where the most important matters are decided in the People's Assembly. He enters into a political dispute with the Theban herald about the best form of government and easily defeats his opponent. Speaking against the Theban herald, who defends a one-man form of government, Theseus points out that for the state there is nothing more hostile than tyranny. Under it, the law no longer protects citizens, one person controls everything according to his own will, equality does not exist. On the contrary, in a democracy, both the poor and the rich have the same rights. The people are free: when citizens are asked which of them wants to offer something for the good of the state, anyone can take the floor. He who has nothing to say remains silent. Where else can you find such equality? Where the people rule themselves, they enjoy the services of good citizens. On the contrary, the tyrant, trembling for his power, tries to destroy those whom he considers capable of thinking. Why accumulate wealth and earn bread for your children if you have to work only to enrich the tyrant? Why raise a daughter in chastity in her mother's home if she is destined to serve the whims of a tyrant? It is better to die than to see your daughters given over to reproach.
All these qualities of Theseus the ruler acquire special significance due to the fact that they are associated with his religious and moral views. Theseus is depicted in the tragedy as the bearer of ancient Attic religiosity and morality. At the same time, the Athenian king also acts as a champion of the religious and moral principles of all of Hellas. The general laws of the Greeks are what he defends when defending the Argives. The tragedy emphasizes the deep religiosity of Theseus, who is convinced that man needs divine guidance and must unconditionally submit to it. But if the image of Theseus is interesting in a historical and cultural sense, then it is little expressive from a purely dramatic point of view. Theseus is too flawless and somewhat cold. However, the playwright invested some warmth in his attitude towards Efra, as well as towards the mothers of the fallen heroes.
The role of Efra is the invention of Euripides himself. In the person of Efra, the playwright provides an example of female virtue. This is the heroic Athenian mother. She is filled with a feeling of pity for the Argive mothers. But this is not the only thing that guides her when she begs Theseus to help those who ask. She appeals to the sense of honor, patriotism and the mind of Theseus. She emphasizes the greatness of the task that lies before him

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to accomplish and which surpasses in its religious and moral significance the previous exploits of Theseus. The role of Ephra is of great importance in the development of the action of the tragedy and the character of Theseus himself. It is Ephra who influences Theseus, who was afraid to stand up for people who despised the divine omen, and ultimately leads him to realize the higher role of the defender of human rights. When he takes this point of view, all his doubts disappear, and he only wants the decision that has matured in him to be approved by the people.
Much in the composition of the play is reminiscent of the tragedies of Aeschylus. There is little action in the play; Crying for the dead and complaints from mothers and household members occupy a significant place. The messenger's detailed account of the battle also resembles the features of Aeschylus' epic composition. The battle is depicted on the model of Homeric battles: chariots rush towards each other, whirlwinds of dust rise to the sky, rushing horses drag warriors entangled in the reins, the earth is watered with streams of blood. Everywhere there are overturned or broken chariots, and those who were on them are thrown to the ground or perish under their rubble. The dynamic development of the action is also hampered by the lengthy speeches of Theseus, Adrastus and the Theban herald. However, it must be remembered that the Athenian spectator of the 5th century. BC e., accustomed to the skillful performances of speakers in the People's Assembly, apparently followed with interest the verbal competitions of the characters in the drama in the theater.
All researchers agree that the play reflected the defeat of the Athenians at Delium, a small town in Boeotia, by the Theban troops. The Athenians lost about a thousand heavily armed soldiers in the battle, but Delium still remained in their hands. After the battle, the Athenians sent a herald to Thebes with a request for the release of the corpses of fallen soldiers and a truce for their burial. Only on the seventeenth day did the Athenians manage to carry out their demands, since Delium had fallen by then. It is enough to re-read Thucydides' account of the defeat of the Athenians at Delium to discover great similarities between the facts he reports and the situation of the "Pleaders." Under the fresh impression of the bloody events under Delia, the Theban herald and all the Thebans in general are depicted in a very unsightly light. They are portrayed in the drama as arrogant, intoxicated by their accidental victory, which they do not deserve at all, and trampling on divine laws.

"AND HE"

From the beginning of the 420s. BC e. One feature can be noted in the work of Euripides: he begins to create plays with an intricate plot, which includes a conspiracy. This dramatic technique obviously had the goal of enhancing the stage impact of the tragedy on the audience. An example of such a play is Ion, probably staged in 418 BC. e. This work of Euripides has a number of features compared to others. The main culprit of the dramatic events unfolding in Ion is Apollo, and the action takes place in front of the sanctuary of the god at Delphi. The play to a large extent has the features of everyday

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a drama in which violence against a girl, an abandoned child, and identification of him when he has already become an adult take place. Apollo, who himself does not appear on stage and on whose behalf Hermes and Athena speak, is depicted in “Ion” as the rapist who dishonored the daughter of the Athenian king Erechtheus, Creusa. Having given birth to a boy in the palace and fearing shame, the princess secretly took him to the same grotto where God took possession of her, and there she left him to certain death. Indeed, when she came to the cave the next day, Creusa did not find the child in it and from that time on she was firmly convinced that he had become the prey of predatory animals. In fact, Apollo asked his brother Hermes to take the boy to Delphi and place the basket in which he lay on the threshold of the temple. Here the Pythia found him and, taking pity, took him in and raised him at the temple. When the boy became an adult, the Delphians made him the keeper of the god's treasures and a servant (neokor) at the temple. Creusa, meanwhile, married the foreigner Xuthus, who received her as an honorary reward for the victory he won during the war between the Athenians and the inhabitants of Euboea. All these years, Creus was tormented by double grief: her long-term marriage with Xuthus remained childless and at the same time she was haunted by thoughts of her dead child.
All these events, which occurred even before the tragedy began and which Hermes briefly talks about in the prologue, are very reminiscent of an ordinary everyday and very difficult drama for a woman. Hermes also tells us how the action will unfold further. It turns out that Xuthus and Creusa are in Delphi to receive Apollo's oracle about offspring. When Xuthus enters the prophetic sanctuary, God will give him his own son, but Xuthus will be convinced that he is the father of the young man (in his youth the king had a love affair in Delphi, and the time that has passed since then coincides with the age of the neocor). Thus, without revealing the secret of his paternity, Apollo will give his son a glorious life. All Greece will call him Ion (that is, the Coming One).
When Creusa learns that Apollo has given Xuthus a son, she is overcome with despair. Under the influence of the misfortune that befell her, Creusa decides to reveal her secret to the choir, consisting of her maids, and to the old slave. She is ashamed of her shame, she still has some hesitations, but she soon leaves them. Who can she now compete with in virtue? With your husband? But he betrayed her, she has neither a home nor children, all her hopes, for the sake of which she hid the secret, have disappeared. She will say everything and thus relieve her soul. Calling herself the unfortunate victim of men and gods who acted ignoblely and treacherously towards the women they loved, she accuses Apollo in the face of heaven and then tells her sad story.
Creusa, with the full support of the chorus, decides to poison Ion, considering him an enemy of her home and city, seeking to destroy her and illegally take possession of Athens. Passing the poison to the old faithful slave, Creusa orders him to go to the feast and there try to pour the poison into the young man's cup. However, this attempt ends in failure, and the city authorities sentence Creus to death for attempting to kill a servant of the Delphic temple. She seeks salvation at the altar. Ion and his friends do not dare to grab Creusa, who is leaning towards the altar. The appearance of the Pythia in the last episode

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sets the stage for recognition. The Pythia shows Ion an old basket entwined with bandages in which she once found him and which she kept at the suggestion of Apollo until this hour. The basket contained the child's underwear and noticeable signs. Creusa becomes convinced that this is the same basket in which she once placed her boy. With a swift movement, Creusa leaves his shelter and, running up to Ion, hugs him as if he were his son. Outraged, Ion believes Creusa is lying and asks her questions about the contents of the basket. She lists all the items. Recognition, built with such art, is complete. Ion is convinced that it is his mother in front of him and warmly hugs her.
At the end of the play, Athena appears on high in a chariot, declaring that she has hastily arrived at Delphi from Apollo. He himself did not want to appear for fear that he would be reproached in front of everyone for his past. He sent her to say that Ion was indeed his son from Creusa and that by giving him to Xuthus, he was not transferring Ion to another father, but wanted to introduce him to the most famous family. Divine broadcasts and predictions follow future destiny. Creusa must go with Ion to Athens and place him on the throne of the Athenian kings. He will be famous throughout Hellas.
“Ion” is not only a tragedy about an abandoned woman and the son she abandoned, whom she meets many years later, but also a patriotic, political play.
The fact is that, according to the mythical genealogy of the Greeks, Ion was considered the ancestor of the Ionian tribe, just as Achaeus was the ancestor of the Achaeans and Dor-Dorians. All Greeks thought so. However, Euripides gives a new family tree of the Greek tribes, which places Jonah clearly above his maternal brothers Achaeus and Dorus. Ion was born from Apollo, and Dor and Achaeus - from Xuthus 1. At the same time, thanks to a double union, with god and mortal, the daughter of the Attic king Erechtheus Creus became the ancestor of all Greek tribes, and the play emphasizes the close unity of the Athenians with the Ionians and the predominant importance of their in comparison with other tribes: while the Ionians, descended from Apollo and Creusa, are people of pure Athenian origin, the Dorians and Achaeans are people of mixed blood, descended from the Aeolo-Achaean Xuthus (Euripides makes Xuthus the son of Aeolus) and the Athenian Creusa. This modification of the traditional genealogy of the Greek tribes, which found only weak support in some myths and did not have any impact on further mythological tradition, was necessary for Euripides to justify the claims of the Athenians to hegemony throughout the Greek world. Indeed, the position of the Athenians was greatly strengthened after the conclusion in 420 BC. e. alliance with Argos, Elis and Mantinea. Sparta seemed powerless, and the Athenians hoped to peacefully consolidate their supremacy throughout Greece. Not a single tragedy of Euripides so sharply emphasized the idea of ​​​​a privileged tribe, which should dominate by virtue of its very origin.
The main character of the drama, Ion, is one of the best characters created by

1 According to the old epic genealogy, Dor, Xuthus and Aeolus were brothers. From the marriage of Xuthus with Creusa, Ion and Achaeus were born. Thus, Ion was considered the son of a mortal, not a god.

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nykh Euripides. He is full of piety, zealously and joyfully serving God. The Delphic temple became his home. The very conditions of his life contributed to the early formation of the character of a young man who did not know real childhood. When he tells Xuthus about the difficulties that will inevitably arise in connection with his new position, his reasoning reveals a sober practical mind and a subtle understanding of the human soul. Observation, the ability to understand complex human relationships, a unique everyday tact were the result of the daily communication of this unique ancient “novice” with people who came from different places in Greece to the Delphic temple of Apollo. Ion has developed a certain life ideal: This is service to God, a life of moderation and free from torment and anxiety. He does not crave either power or wealth, since their owners know no peace. His life in Delphi seems to him to be true happiness. He prayed to the gods and interacted with mortals, bringing joy rather than sorrow to those he served. But the most significant thing he sees is that nature and law united together to make him a virtuous servant of Apollo.
Common sense and a certain skepticism do not allow Ion to take on faith everything he hears. Therefore, he directly tells Creusa that her friend’s story (in reality, Creusa is telling about himself) seems suspicious to him. These same properties of the mind do not allow him to close his eyes to Apollo’s behavior, and he almost friendly reprimands his god for his unseemly act. The temple servant makes an ironic remark about love adventures and other gods. In the person of Ion, Euripides brought to the stage an interesting human type a representative of the contemplative life, in which sincere religious feeling is combined with calmness and a clear mind, mixed with a certain amount of skepticism. At the same time, this servant of God has energy, resourcefulness and the ability to take quick and decisive action. All these qualities are manifested at the time of the attempt on his life and in the subsequent accusation and prosecution of Creusa.
However, Ion has his own pain: these are thoughts that he is an illegitimate abandoned child, and longing for his mother’s affection. However, in these experiences of the young man, no, no, and even the egoistic thought penetrates that, perhaps, there is no need to strive to find his mother, since she may turn out to be a slave.
The image of Creusa is very expressive. The poet with great convincingness depicts the experiences of an abandoned lover, an unhappy mother forced to abandon her child, and a legal wife betrayed by her husband. True, the plan of revenge that she conceives with the choir and the old slave cannot evoke any sympathy from the modern reader, but the Athenians of the 5th century. BC e. were more lenient in this case. Creusa's revenge seemed to them an act of self-defense against an encroachment on the ancestral Athenian lands by a foreigner, moreover, a person with a dark origin.
As for Xuthus, he is not at all endowed with a tragic character, but represents an average person, at times almost an everyman.
The tragedy “Ion” occupies a special place in the dramaturgy of Euripides. Her everyday plot, based on the motives

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violence, an abandoned child and subsequent “recognition”, directly anticipates the artistic practice of the so-called new Attic comedy, which was to emerge by the end of the 4th century. BC e.

"IPHIGENIA IN TAURIDE"

Euripides uses a new dramatic technique in Iphigenia in Tauris, Electra and Orestes. The plot of “Iphigenia in Tauris” is borrowed from the myth of the sacrifice of Iphigenia. The exact date of the production is unknown, but, in all likelihood, the tragedy was performed on stage in 414.
The action takes place in Taurida (that is, in the Crimea) - a country that seemed wild and harsh to the Greeks. The skene depicted the temple of Artemis. In front of him was an altar covered in blood stains. Human skulls were attached to the frieze of the temple. The decoration itself, thus, pointed to the cruel customs of the country and the human sacrifices performed here. The plot of the tragedy develops as follows.
Having replaced Iphigenia with a doe during the sacrifice, Artemis takes the girl to Tauris and makes her a priestess in her temple. Here Iphigenia must perform a bloody ritual. The Tauride barbarians have long had this custom: if a Greek appeared among them, he was sacrificed to Artemis. The responsibility to perform this sacrifice lay with Iphigenia, while the actual slaughter of the victim inside the temple was performed by another person. Iphigenia herself talks about all this in the prologue, alarmed by a bad dream, which, as she is firmly convinced, gives her the news of her brother’s death. But it is on this day that Orestes arrives in Taurida, accompanied by his friend Pylades. Orestes arrived in Tauris after the murder of his mother, obeying the oracle of Apollo, who promised to save him from attacks of madness if he kidnapped a statue of Artemis in Tauris and brought to Athens. On the seashore, Orestes and Pylades are noticed by shepherds. They see Orestes going mad. This madness is described in completely realistic and even naturalistic tones. Orestes begins to raise and lower his head, his hands tremble, he groans and then begins to scream furiously at the invisible ghosts, like a dog hunter. It seems to him that snakes are crawling towards him. In a fit of rage, he rushes at the herd and begins to beat them, thinking that he is fighting monsters. Finally he falls exhausted to the ground, his chin covered in foam. All this happens behind the scenes, and the audience learns about it from the messenger's story. The shepherds seize Orestes and Pylades and take them to the king of Tauris, Foant. He sends them to be slaughtered by Iphigenia. And now both young men stand in front of Iphigenia. A situation of extreme drama arises: the sister is ready to send her brother to death, without knowing it. The tragic tension gradually increases, but the scene of recognition is skillfully removed. When asked by Iphigenia where he comes from, Orestes replies that he is an Argive, but does not say his name, calling himself “unhappy.” Having learned that the stranger is from Argos, Iphigenia begins to ask him about the fate of Troy and the fate of her relatives. Orestes reluctantly

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After answering her, Iphigenia learns that Agamemnon was killed by Clytemnestra and that she, in turn, was killed, avenging the death of his father, by Orestes, who returned to his homeland. Finally, Iphigenia asks if the son of the murdered father, Orestes, is alive. Orestes answers in the affirmative. Iphigenia expresses a desire to send a letter to Argos. He will be carried by one of the captives, who will be given life as a reward for this. But the second prisoner will have to die. As Iphigenia leaves for the temple, a chorus of young Greek slaves laments the fate of whichever of the two youths is destined to die. There is a competition between Pila and Orestes in their noble readiness to accept death. Orestes proves that Pylades has no right to die, since he received his sister Electra as his wife; she will bear him children, and the house of Agamemnon will not fade away. Iphigenia emerges from the temple. Before handing over the tablets of writing to Pylades, she reads the contents of the letter aloud in case it is lost. Addressing Orestes in this letter, Iphigenia reports that she is alive, although in Greece they consider her dead: the goddess threw a doe in her place at the very moment when her father plunged his sharp knife into the victim. Iphigenia asks Orestes to save her from bloody sacrifices and return her to her homeland. She gives the letter to Pylades, who gives it to his companion, calling him Orestes. But Iphigenia still doubts that this is her brother. And only when Orestes informs her about the family feud between Atreus, the father of Agamemnon, and Thyestes, about the cloak she wove and about the strand of her hair that she gave to Clytemnestra, Iphigenia is finally convinced that she sees her brother Orestes. This is how the scene of recognition unfolds in this tragedy. After the heartfelt outpourings caused by recognition, the pathos from the tragedy disappears, and the rest of it, which tells about the theft of the statue of Artemis and the flight of Orestes, Pylades and Iphigenia from Tauris, approaches to some extent a comedy. Iphigenia comes up with a way to deceive the barbarian king Foant. She will tell Foant that it is impossible to sacrifice these Hellenes, since one captive is wearing the blood of his mother, and the second was his assistant. The victims must first be washed in the sea. There they must also wash the statue of the goddess, which they desecrated with their touch. Having received Foant's consent, they will go to the seashore, where Orestes' ship is hidden, and sail on it from Tauris. This plan is almost being implemented. But as soon as the ship leaves the harbor into the open sea, the wind blows it back to the shore, since Poseidon, hostile to Atridam, decided to betray Orestes and Iphigenia into the hands of Foant. Foant sends his people to the seashore; They manage to capture both the ship and the fugitives. But at the top of the skene the goddess Athena suddenly appears. She orders Foant to release the fugitives, saying that Orestes came to Tauris, obeying the orders of Apollo. To please Athena, Poseidon decides not to create any obstacles to the safe navigation. Foant must send the Greek captives back to their homeland. Athena commands Orestes, who is already far away but hears her voice, to found a temple in honor of Artemis Tavropola1.

1 That is, Artemis Bull. However, the word “tauros” could mean not only a bull, but also a Taurian: in this case, Artemis Tauropolis means Artemis Tauride.

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Iphigenia should become a priestess in the Attic house of Bravron. Foant obeys the order and goes to the palace. The chorus expresses its joy over the rescue of Iphigenia, Orestes and Pylades and the upcoming release from captivity.
The appearance of the goddess Athena at the end of the tragedy not only helps to formalize the denouement purely technically, but also solves certain political problems. Euripides wanted to give the old Argive myth an Athenian character. And in this tragedy - as in others - he takes the opportunity to glorify Athens, its political institutions and its festivities.
The play, especially its second half, has a noticeable adventure character: this should have been vividly felt by the Greek audience, who had a rather vague idea of ​​Tauris. The kingdom of Foanta seemed to him a wild country, full of all kinds of dangers. According to the development of the plot, “Iphigenia in Tauris” reveals a close relationship with “Helen”: both plays are about the salvation of the Greeks from a barbaric country. Greek intellect and ingenuity triumph over the primitive consciousness and naivety of the barbarians. Iphigenia is depicted as a stern priestess, this is what her service to the goddess made, demanding human sacrifices. However, these priestly duties are difficult for her, and she treats the Greeks with compassion, whom she is forced to send to death. But on this day, it seems to her, the feeling of pity will leave her: Orestes is no longer alive, and her soul has become hardened. When she sees the captive Greeks in front of her, who also seem to her to be noble people, she is again overcome with compassion for her victims. The playwright depicts the heroine’s emotional experiences with psychological persuasiveness and authenticity. It is noteworthy that here there is a protest against the cruel cult that she serves. Iphigenia says that she does not understand Artemis. If any of the people touches blood, a corpse or even a woman in labor, he is considered unclean, he is forbidden to approach the altar of the goddess, and meanwhile she finds joy in human sacrifices. Iphigenia cannot imagine that Latona could give birth to such a monster from Zeus; she thinks that the bloody inhabitants of the country transferred their own cruelty to the goddess, since she does not allow any god to be bad. The inner essence of the conflict of the tragedy boils down to the fact that the idol of Artemis, which fell from the sky, must be transferred to Athens, where it will be honored not according to the custom of the barbarians, but according to the custom of the Greeks, and the heroine herself, who has always kept the memory of her homeland, must also return to Hellas, having got rid of participation in the bloody cult of the goddess in Tauris. In the implementation of these goals, the main role belongs to Orestes, who came to Tauris on the orders of Apollo. It is with the appearance of him and Pylades that the development of the action begins. True, it was not he who came up with the escape plan, but Iphigenia, but Orestes has people and a ship to carry out this plan. And if in the future, in order for the ship to sail safely to the shores of Greece, the intervention of a deity is still required, then this intervention corresponds to the plan conceived by people. The external side of the clash between the three Hellenes and the king of the barbarians is conveyed with great expressiveness both in the story of the messenger Foant and in the action itself, since the beginning of the implementation of the escape plan occurs in the main

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gasp from the audience. In the presence of Foant Iphigenia with a statue of Artemis in his hands, bound captives, guards and servants of the king head to the seashore, where the ritual of purification was to take place. Everyday features are interjected into the messenger's story about what happened on the seashore.
It turns out that there was a real brawl near Orestes’ ship, fists were used, so some of Foant’s men return with bruises.
“Iphigenia in Tauris” was very popular in ancient times. Aristotle in his Poetics praises it for its well-constructed recognition. Numerous images of episodes from this tragedy have been preserved on sarcophagi, on vases, and in paintings; taken together they illustrate almost the entire play.

"ELECTRA"

The play was staged, in all likelihood, in 413. For Electra, Euripides takes a plot that his great predecessors had already used. The way he develops it shows the difference in Euripides' creative approach to this topic compared to Sophocles and Aeschylus. First of all, Euripides transfers the action from the city to the village. Proskenius depicts the front wall of a poor village hut. The action begins at dawn. The tragedy opens with a prologue by the farmer, Electra's husband, who talks about the events in the house of Agamemnon, about the fate of Orestes and Electra. It turns out that Electra lives in a remote village, on the border of Argos, married by Aegisthus to a simple farmer. With this marriage, Aegisthus wanted to humiliate Electra, and, in addition, the children from such a marriage could not challenge the power he had seized from him. But in fact, this marriage turns out to be fictitious. A noble farmer would consider it dishonorable to be the husband of Electra only because chance gave her to him as his wife.
Leaving the hut, Electra takes a jug and goes to get water. The farmer goes to work in the field. When Electra and the farmer leave the orchestra, Orestes appears on it with Piladus (a character without words) and several servants accompanying them. Obeying the oracle of Apollo, Orestes, accompanied by Pylades, comes to Argos to punish the murderers of his father. He has already heard about his sister's marriage and now wants to find her in order to involve her in his plans. However, at first Orestes does not identify himself as Electra, and the appearance of Electra with a jug of water on her shoulder forces Orestes and his companion to take cover. Electra's monody, which Orestes hears from his hiding place, reveals to him who is in front of him.
A choir of Argive girls enters and invites Electra to take part in the festival of Hera. She refuses, citing the fact that she is constantly grieving for her dead father and her living brother, wandering like a beggar somewhere in a foreign land. She also points out that her clothes are in tatters and her hair is in disarray. Orestes comes out of his hiding place. The frightened girls are ready to flee from the unknown stranger, but, turning to Electra, Orestes poses as an ambassador from her brother. Hearing that her brother was alive, Electra

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turn tells the imaginary messenger about his marriage and about his life. The farmer who appeared at the orchestra, having learned from Electra that the strangers were messengers from her brother, cordially invites travelers to his place, but he does not have any food at home, and Electra is embarrassed by this. She convinces her husband to go quickly to Agamemnon’s old uncle and borrow supplies from him. The old man himself brings Electra a lamb and other food and says that he had just been to the grave of Agamemnon and saw traces of a sacrifice there. He also found a lock of golden hair on the grave. Wasn't it Orestes at the grave? The old man asks Electra to put a lock of hair on her hair. The footprint of the sandals could also be compared. But Electra says that the hair of a man practicing in the palaestra cannot be as soft as that of a girl. There are no traces left on the stone, and even if there were, the feet of the brother and sister still cannot be the same size. Here one can clearly feel the cry-

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tics of Aeschylus' dramatic techniques. In Euripides, recognition occurs differently: the old man recognizes Orestes by the scar under his eyebrow, received by Orestes in childhood, when he fell while chasing a heifer with his sister one day. Having recognized each other, brother and sister decide to take revenge on Clytemnestra and Aegisthus with the assistance of their uncle. The first to die, as in Aeschylus, is Aegisthus. Orestes strikes him during a sacrifice in a garden outside the city. The Messenger describes the murder in harrowing and vile detail. Electra rejoices at this news. When the corpse of Aegisthus is brought to the orchestra, she desecrates the defeated enemy. Now it’s the turn of Clytemnestra, whom Electra summoned to her by deception, informing her that it was already the tenth day since she gave birth to her grandson. Orestes experiences horror when he hears his mother approaching. He doesn't know how he will raise a sword against her. It seems to him that some evil spirit, acting under the guise of Apollo, gave this terrible command. Electra encourages Orestes, and he retires to the hut.
A rich chariot with Clytemnestra enters the orchestra. But in Electra she is not at all the man-killer woman, stunning in her cruelty, that Aeschylus depicts in Agamemnon. In Aeschylus, Clytemnestra is not ashamed of her crime and herself informs the people about it. In Euripides, she is afraid to appear in front of the citizens of Argos, because she knows that they hate her. According to her, she would be ready to forgive Agamemnon for his sacrifice of Iphigenius if he was forced to do it for the sake of saving his homeland or his home and other children. But Iphigenia was sacrificed for the sake of the vicious Helen. In addition, upon his return from Troy, Agamemnon brought a captive, Cassandra, and began to keep two wives. She killed her husband, turning to the help of his enemies, and thinks that he deserved death. Electra gives a sharp rebuke to her mother, accusing her of ruining the most famous man in all of Hellas. The pretext was the desire to take revenge on Agamemnon for the death of his daughter. But she, Electra, knows her mother like no one else. Even before the sacrifice of Iphigenia, as soon as Agamemnon left the palace, the mother was already sitting in front of the mirror and styling her blond curls. Why would she display her beauty outside the palace if she did not strive for something else? In addition, she was the only Greek woman who rejoiced at the successes of the Trojans and was saddened by their failures. Because of her passion for Aegisthus, she did not at all want Agamemnon to return from Troy. If murder should entail retribution and punishment for the killer, then it is necessary that the children of Clytemnestra, avenging the death of their father, put her to death. Clytemnestra calmly responds to Electra's accusation. This calm is explained by the fact that after marrying her daughter to a poor farmer and removing her from the palace, Clytemnestra has nothing to fear from Electra; a boy born from such a marriage cannot become a contender for royal power. The argument ends and Electra invites her mother to enter the hut. Soon, Clytemnestra's cry is heard from off stage, begging for mercy. Orestes and Electra, splashed with blood, emerge from the hut and inform the choir about how the murder itself occurred. Just like Aeschylus. Clytemnestra bares her breasts. But there are other details: Clytemnestra crawls on her knees in front of her son - and Orestes drops his sword. Raising

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him, he hides his face in the folds of his cloak and plunges the blade into his mother’s chest. Electra says that she and her brother lifted his sword.
Castor and Pollux appear above - the divine twins of Dioscuri (“Youths of Zeus”), brothers of Clytemnestra and Helen. Their judgment about the revenge carried out by Orestes is interesting: Clytemnestra was worthy of punishment, but not from Orestes. Next, the Dioscuri twins express their judgment about Apollo:

About Apollo
As about my king, I will keep silent,
Or can a wise man not transgress his mind? 1

Now Orestes must obey fate and Zeus. He must marry Electra to Pylades. After the murder of his mother, he himself can no longer remain in Argos: the terrible Kera 2 will persecute him. Arriving in Athens, he will have to fall before the sacred idol of Pallas. She will protect him from the persecution of the Erinyes. Orestes will be acquitted by the court of the Areopagus and will then settle in Arcadia on the banks of the Alpheus. The chorus asks the Dioscuri if it is possible to address them with a word. Orestes also asks about this. The Dioscuri allow the choir and even Orestes, defiled by murder, to ask them a question:

Apollo raises the blame
And blood and evil 3.

A truly insidious question follows:

You are gods and you were brothers
Murdered wife...
Why didn’t you save her from Ker?..
- The heavy weight of fate shackled
Bad speech for prophetic lips 4 -

Castor answers.
After these words, Electra and Orestes say goodbye to each other, and the Dioscuri go to the Sicilian Sea; - save sailors from storms. The last words probably contain an allusion to the Sicilian expedition.
The tragedy, which begins in the atmosphere of a certain bucolic environment, ends, as in Aeschylus and Sophocles, with a terrible bloody revenge. In its implementation, like Sophocles, main role Elektra plays. She reveals herself to be immeasurably more cruel and vindictive than Orestes. Euripides' Electra is a more effective character than both of his predecessors. And this is understandable, since in Euripides Orestes from the very beginning is opposed to the order given to him by Apollo to kill his mother. Aeschylus in his “Oresteia” raises and resolves the issue of the struggle between paternal and dying maternal rights. Orestes is acquitted by the human court of the Areopagus after being persecuted and persecuted by the Erinyes. Sophocles in his “Electra” gives the tragedy of retribution committed by a son for the terrible crime of his mother, and does not even raise the question of Orestes’ guilt: the latter only carried out the orders of Phoebus. As for Euripides, in his tragedy he definitely wants to emphasize the enormity of the crime of Orestes and Electra. Describing the murder of Clytemnestra, Euripides even seems to deliberately exaggerate the colors, using purely naturalistic methods of description to make the crime even more disgusting. Orestes thinks

1 Euripides, Plays, p. 277.
2 Kera - goddess of death, as well as goddess of retribution.
3 Euripides, Plays, p. 278.
4 Ibid., pp. 278-279.

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Is it not an evil spirit, instead of Apollo, who commanded him to accomplish this truly terrible deed? The Dioscuri already directly criticize the command of Phoebus, calling it “unreasonable.” Although Clytemnestra’s punishment is fair, it was still not Orestes who should have judged her. This motif is later repeated in the tragedy “Orestes”, where Clytemnestra’s father, Tindar, sharply condemns the bloody massacre, even for no matter how terrible the crimes. Euripides reveals a kind of rationalism in his approach to the myth itself and shifts the focus to the question of whether Orestes had the right to kill his mother - and, based on the ethical standards of his time, gives a negative answer to this.

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In “Electra,” the playwright’s desire to portray old Argos in sympathetic terms is clearly felt. All the sympathetic characters of the tragedy - Agamemnon's uncle, the farmer, the girls of the choir (not to mention Electra and Orestes) - are all original Argives. Perhaps this reflects the poet’s desire to emphasize the need for an agreement between Athens and Argos for the success of the Sicilian expedition.
True, in “The Trojan Women” Euripides expresses his negative attitude towards this expedition, but since it nevertheless began and lasted for about two years, he could not help but think about its successful completion.

"ORESTES"

The tragedy was staged on stage in 408. In terms of its content, it is, as it were, a continuation of Electra. The play takes place in Argos, in front of the palace of Menelaus, on the sixth day after the murder of Clytemnestra. From Electra, who speaks in the prologue, the audience learns that Orestes is experiencing terrible torment: he does not eat anything and does not refresh his body by washing. At times he is attacked by madness. After the seizures, Orestes usually falls asleep. So it is now - Orestes is sleeping, and Electra sits at his head, afraid to wake up her brother. It is possible that in this play a curtain was used, which initially hid Electra and Orestes from the audience. But then Orestes wakes up, and this time, in front of the public, he again begins to have a fit of madness. As he passes, Orestes reproaches Apollo for pushing him to commit the most wicked act.
Meanwhile, it is on this day that the fate of Orestes and Electra in the People's Assembly should be decided. Clytemnestra's father, Tyndar, appears. He insists that they both be given the death penalty. However, Tindar also condemns Clytemnestra for killing her husband. Menelaus, presented as a coward in the play, does not want to interfere in this matter or help Orestes and Electra in any way. Pylades arrives, determined to share the fate of his friends. He carries Orestes, who cannot move due to weakness, to the People's Assembly. Orestes and Pylades return from the National Assembly, which sentenced their brother and sister to death. A turning point occurs in the development of the action. If until now the action of the play unfolded along the lines of everyday drama, now the tragedy takes on the features of an adventurous play. Electra, Orestes and Pylades decide to take revenge on Helen for all the evil that she caused to Greece. Orestes and Pylades will now have to enter the palace, hiding their swords in the folds of their cloak, and kill Helen there. After this, they will capture Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus and Helen, and, raising their swords over her, will demand that Menelaus swear an oath not to prosecute them for the murder of Helen. Orestes and Pylades manage to capture Hermione, but then the tragedy turns into, in essence, a tragicomedy. A Phrygian slave, a eunuch, scared to death, runs out of the palace. From the story of this comic character, viewers learned what exactly happened in the palace. At that moment, when Orestes and Pylades swung their swords at Helen, she mysteriously disappeared somewhere.
The last scene was probably very impressive in terms of entertainment

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shenii. On the roof of the palace, Orestes and Pylades hold swords over Hermione. Orestes demands from Menelaus, who is below, a guarantee that they will not be put to death. Their excited explanation is interrupted by Apollo, who announces that Helen has been taken to heaven and has become a new constellation. Menelaus must take another wife, and Orestes must go to Athens, where the gods will judge him on the hill of Ares. He will get Hermione as his wife, and Pylades will marry Electra. Apollo ends his speech with a call to honor the Goddess of Peace - the most beautiful of all goddesses.
In Orestes, Euripides still appears as a subtle connoisseur of the human soul. The suffering of the matricide and the experiences of Electra caring for her brother are conveyed very vividly. But in some places this tragedy is reduced to the level of an everyday drama. Here in front of us is Helen, who asks Electra to make a libation at the grave of Clytemnestra. She herself does not want to go there, fearing hostile attacks from the people.
But at first she does not want to send her daughter there either, since it is inconvenient to let the girl into the crowd. In Orestes, in addition, one notices the desire to introduce an adventurous element into the development of the action, and at times to give the tragedy some melodramatic features, for example, in the episode with the capture of Hermione. All these features will be found later in the new domestic comedy, which borrowed them precisely from the theatrical heritage of Euripides, which turned out to be very effective in changed historical conditions.

"IFIGENIA IN AULIDA"

The plot of this play is based on the famous myth of Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia. Euripides made some changes to the traditional myth. He introduced the role of Achilles and strengthened, and perhaps even introduced, the role of Clytemnestra. But the most important change affected the image of the heroine. Both the epic poets and, in all likelihood, Aeschylus and Sophocles presented the sacrifice of Iphigenia as a violent act. Euripides depicted her going to her death voluntarily. The text of the tragedy has reached us in a greatly damaged form. Apparently, Euripides himself did not have time to finish it, and “Iphigenia in Aulis” was finalized and staged after the death of the playwright by his son, also Euripides. At a later time, this play underwent further changes. Despite bad condition text, there is no doubt that the basis of the play itself is purely Euripidean and that this tragedy should be considered one of his best works.
The action of the tragedy begins before dawn in Aulis, from where the Achaean army must sail to Troy, near the camp tent of Agamemnon. Unlike those prologues of Euripides, where the beginning of the drama is given in a monologue by one of the characters, the prologue to “Iphigenia in Aulis” is of a dramatic nature. From Agamemnon’s dialogue with the old slave, the audience learned that some time ago the king wrote a letter to Clytemnestra with the order to bring Iphigenia to Aulis in order to marry her to Achilles. However, marriage was only a pretext. In fact, in

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blaming the soothsayer Kalkhant, Agamemnon must sacrifice Iphigenia to Artemis. But now he changed his mind and wrote a new letter in which he asks his wife not to come with her daughter to Aulis. Handing the letter to the old slave, Agamemnon tells him to quickly hit the road and hand the letter to Clytemnestra. A choir performance follows, consisting of Chalcidian women who came to look at the Greek camp. The first part of the parod gives a picture of the life of the Greek camp, the second contains a list of ships that went to Troy 2.
Meanwhile, Agamemnon's letter is intercepted offstage by Menelaus. Between the brothers, already in front of the audience, a stormy explanation takes place, accompanied by mutual reproaches. At this time, a messenger appears and informs Agamemnon that Clytemnestra with Iphigenia and baby Orestes has arrived at the camp. Agamemnon and Menelaus are depressed by this message. Menelaus repents of the offensive words he has just spoken. He proposes to disband the army and leave Aulis. Agamemnon’s answer sounds tragic hopelessness. He praises his brother’s words, but says that necessity forces him to commit the brutal murder of his daughter: the soothsayer Kalkhant and Odysseus know about the promise to sacrifice Iphigenia, and through them the army learns about the prophecy, and it, having killed Agamemnon and Menelaus, will still bring Iphigenia to sacrifice.
After the song of the choir, glorifying those who use the gifts of Aphrodite moderately and chastely, and also recalling the insane passion of Paris and Helen, a chariot enters the orchestra. Clytemnestra stands on it, in her arms is a sleeping Orestes (a face without speeches), next to her is Iphigenia. Agamemnon, surrounded by warriors, comes out of the tent to meet them. A scene of Agamemnon’s meeting with his wife and daughter, strong in its truthfulness and theatrical expressiveness, takes place. Iphigenia’s love for her father and the joy of meeting him are perfectly shown. On the contrary, Agamemnon is embarrassed and depressed by this meeting. He makes a number of remarks indicating his difficult mental state. Some of his words are ambiguous. So, he tells his daughter that separation awaits them, meaning her death; Iphigenia thinks that her father is preparing her for marriage. Having sent his daughter to his tent, Agamemnon asks his wife to return to Argos and take care of their daughters; It is indecent for a woman to be in a camp among the army; he himself will raise the wedding torch of Iphigenia. Clytemnestra responds to this with a decisive refusal; she, according to custom, will attend her daughter's wedding. Clytemnestra goes into the tent. Agamemnon retires towards the camp, wanting to consult with the soothsayer Kalkhant. An extremely painful situation arises. What will Agamemnon do now, who failed to send his wife back to Argos? Will he be able to resist the demand of the army when the sacrifice is already ready? How will the deceived Clytemnestra behave? What will Achilles do, whose name has been so abused? Achilles and Clytemnestra recognize at the same time

1 Chalcis is the most significant city of Euboea near the Euripus Strait, opposite Amida. 2 This list of ships is considered a later interpolation, representing an imitation of Song II of the Iliad.

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about Agamemnon's deception. This is given in a lively scene, not without some touch of comedy. Achilles comes to ask the king when the Greek army will finally march on Troy. His soldiers raise a murmur: they demand that Achilles either lead them to Troy, or let them go home. At the voice of Achilles, Clytemnestra comes out of the tent. She identifies herself and, when Achilles wants to leave, she warmly extends her hand to him. But Achilles does not dare to touch her hand; decency does not allow him to do this, since she is the wife of Agamemnon. “But you are wooing my daughter,” the queen objects in surprise. Amazed Achilles says that he never wooed Iphigenia and the Atrides never spoke to him about this marriage. Clytemnestra is amazed by Achilles' answer. An old slave coming out of the side door of the tent reveals the whole truth to Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra begs Achilles to save Iphigenia. Achilles is indignant at Agamemnon for using his name for the sake of his deception, but out of pity for Clytemnestra and her daughter, he promises her to save Iphigenia, but gives advice to first try to persuade Agamemnon not to sacrifice his daughter.
One of the most powerful and scenically expressive moments begins. Clytemnestra comes out of the tent. From her words, the audience learns that she has already told Iphigenia everything. Agamemnon appears from the right crowd. He still continues to lie and talk about the upcoming wedding of Iphigenia and Achilles. Then Clytemnestra calls her daughter from the tent. A crying Iphigenia comes out dressed in a wedding dress; she takes Orestes with her. Clytemnestra asks Agamemnon if he is thinking of killing his daughter. At first, Agamemnon tries to avoid answering, but then he is forced to confirm what his wife and daughter already know. Clytemnestra persuades Agamemnon to abandon his intention. Why kill your own daughter? So that Menelaus gets Helen back? But how can you ransom a dissolute woman at the cost of the lives of her own children? Clytemnestra's speech even contains hidden threat revenge on Agamemnon (v. 1178 and following). Then follows the plea of ​​Iphigenia herself. This is one of best scenes throughout the tragic legacy of Euripides.
The magic lips of Orpheus 1 were not given, my Father, to your daughter, so that the rocks would crowd around her and the songs of people would touch people’s hearts... Then I would begin to speak, but nature judged me one art - tears, and I bring this gift to you... 2.
Iphigenia remembers the time when she was still a baby. She was the first to say “father” to him, and he was the first to say “daughter” to her. She climbed onto his lap with affection. He wanted to see her as a happy bride in the future. She remembers all her father’s words, but he forgot everything and wants to kill her. But Agamemnon doesn’t answer her and doesn’t even look at her. Iphigenia asks to look at her tenderly and kiss her, so that when she dies, she can take with her the memory of this caress, if it is impossible to heed her words. She turns to Orestes for help, who silently begs his father. Both of them touch their faces with their hands

1 Orpheus is a mythical singer who tamed wild animals with his singing and set trees and rocks in motion.
2 Euripides, Plays, pp. 420-421.

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Agamemnon. Her plea ends with these words:

What else can I think of to say?
It's good for a mortal to see the sun,
And it’s so scary underground... If anyone
He doesn’t want to live - he’s sick: the burden of life,
All torments are better than the glory of a dead man.

Showing his daughter all the ships and army, Agamemnon tells her that it is impossible for the Greeks to take Troy unless Iphigenia is sacrificed.

Don't change your will
Like a slave, I create... Hellas tells me
To kill you... your death pleases her,
Whether I want it or not, she doesn’t care;
Oh, you and I are nothing before Hellas;
But if blood, all our blood, child,
Her freedom needs her to be a barbarian
He did not reign in it and did not dishonor his wives,
Atrid and daughter Atrid will not refuse 2.

After these words, Agamemnon leaves.
The next episode shows Iphigenia at the moment of the highest heroic ascent, when the decision to give her life for the glory of her homeland matures in her. Achilles appears at the head of a detachment of armed warriors. He informs Clytemnestra about a mutiny that has begun in the Greek army, which demands that Iphigenia be brought to slaughter; he came to save Iphigenia, but he faces a fierce struggle. Hearing these words, Iphigenia intervenes in the conversation. She refuses Achilles' help, saying that he will still die uselessly in the fight against his squad. She has already decided to die for the glory of Hellas, and her death will be a punishment for the Trojans. If Artemis wants her death, then it is not appropriate for her to argue with the goddess. Iphigenia's decision to sacrifice her life entails a complete change in Achilles' attitude towards her. Until this moment, while defending Iphigenia, he was guided only by a feeling of pity and indignation at the unworthy play on his name; now, when he sees a kindred spirit in front of him, he experiences an ardent desire to call Iphigenia his wife. He wants to help her and take her to his home. Iphigenia tells Achilles that she is determined to save Hellas. Achilles calls Iphigenia’s decision noble; her feelings testify to a courageous soul. He now abandons the thought of immediately protecting the girl from the Achaean army, since her will to self-sacrifice is irresistible, and leaves, saying, however, that if there, at the altar, Iphigenia changes her mind and her heart trembles, then he and his people will help her.
Iphigenia appeals to her mother with a request not to mourn for her. She is happy that she is saving Hellas. She hugs Orestes for the last time and asks her mother not to hate her father for his action. Then follows a scene of a tragic dance, which Iphigenia performs together with the choir. This dance seems to depict the ritual of the upcoming sacrifice. Iphigenia sings that she is the conqueror of Troy. Saying goodbye to life, she praises the goddess Artemis and asks her to safely deliver the Greek army to the Trojan land. Having finished her ritual dance, Iphigenia leaves for the slaughter.
The exodus that has reached us (the final part of the tragedy, the “exodus”) contains the story of a messenger who witnessed the sacrifice. The messenger tells about a miracle that happened at the very moment of the slaughter. In the meadow, near Alta-

1 Euripides, Plays, p. 422
2 Ibid., pp. 422-423.

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Roaring, the doe lay shuddering, blood flowing from it, and Iphigenia miraculously disappeared. After the messenger’s story, Agamemnon comes, who tells Clytemnestra that Iphigenia now lives among the gods.
It is now generally accepted that this exodus could not have been written by Euripides himself: in addition to errors in the language and versification in it, contrary to Art. 1337-1432, a very active role in the ritual of sacrifice of Iphigenia is assigned to Achilles. The exodus was written by some learned Byzantine. Several verses preserved by Aelian 1 indicate the existence in antiquity of another outcome, in which Artemis appeared and informed Agamemnon or Clytemnestra that she had replaced Iphigenia with a doe on the altar during the sacrifice. However, it is unknown whether this exodus belonged to Euripides himself or was written later.
In this tragedy, Euripides gave a vivid, unforgettable image of a girl sacrificing herself for her homeland. And what is most remarkable is that with amazing artistic persuasiveness he showed the growth of heroism in Iphigenia. At first, the viewer sees a gentle girl, almost a child. She brought with her only love for her father. She would like to always be with him and therefore naively asks to leave the war and return to Argos. And when she finds out that she is about to die, she just as touchingly and naively asks to be spared. It's so joyful to see the sun and so scary to die. What does she care about Paris and Helen! But then, before the eyes of the audience, from a gentle girl begging for mercy, she grows true heroine. Refusing Achilles' help, Iphigenia tells her mother that she has experienced a lot in her soul. All of Hellas is looking at her. Her death means everything for the Greeks: a fair wind and victory over Troy. And the war itself between the Greeks and the Trojans seems to her to be a struggle of Greek freedom against Trojan slavery. Thus, the pathos of love for the father turns into the pathos of love for the homeland. And the playwright did not sin against the psychological truth: it is in young and pure natures like Iphigenia that such spiritual transitions occur rapidly and violently.
The remaining characters in this play, in many of their character traits, resemble average people - the contemporaries of Euripides. Such is Agamemnon with his constant mental fluctuations, with his ambitious plans and very low diplomacy to achieve them, with his lies in relation to Clytemnestra and Iphigenia. In a dialogue with Menelaus, speaking about the inevitability of sacrifice, he points to a fatal coincidence of circumstances: Iphigenia will be torn out even from the walls of Argos. In the scene with her daughter, when she begs not to kill her, another motive sounds: Hellas demands the death of Iphigenia. and the father is obliged to comply with this demand. In the mouth of Agamemnon, these words turn out to be somewhat unexpected and the transition to a new understanding of his duty to Hellas is not entirely motivated. The voluntary decision of Iphigenia, who performs not only a patriotic feat in the Panhellenic sense, but also a feat of daughterly love, relieves her hesitant father of all responsibility for her death. In the negative characteristic that

1 Claudius Aelianus - writer of the 2nd century. n. e., Italian by origin, wrote in Greek.

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When Menelaus gives Agamemnon, certain features of contemporary playwrights of demagogues undoubtedly appear.
Menelaus is also an ordinary person, sometimes openly selfish, sometimes repenting of his selfishness. He has extraordinary eloquence and delivers a skillful indictment against Agamemnon, without, however, saying a word that he himself is an interested party and that his main aspirations are aimed at regaining Helen. The main dramatic function of the image of Menelaus is to more sharply emphasize the helplessness and spinelessness of Agamemnon. After the first episode, Menelaus disappears and does not appear on stage again.
Clytemnestra in this play does not in any way resemble the superhuman image of the tragedies of Aeschylus. In normal living conditions, she still retains her royal dignity. But when misfortune befalls her, all her pride disappears, and the audience is left with just a suffering woman who throws herself at the feet of Achilles with a plea to save her daughter. Nevertheless, in the tragedy there are hints of her future revenge on Agamemnon.
We can agree with I.F. Annensky that “Achilles is the palest of the faces of the play.” 1. He little reminds us of the hero we know from the Iliad. In his speech, in which he consoles Clytemnestra, there is a lot of rhetoric, reasoning and some dozens of everyday experiences. There is something cold in his very nobility. He himself says about himself (vv. 919 and following) that sorrows and joys moderately agitate his soul and that his mentor is reason. But his teacher, the centaur Chiron, brought up in him the integrity of his soul. He believes that Clytemnestra and her daughter have suffered unspeakable suffering, and is ready to fight to avert it as much as he can. In this place (vv. 933 and following) his speech sounds sincere, and his anger against Agamemnon and the oath to prevent the sacrifice of Iphigenia are reminiscent of the epic Achilles in their passion. In the dialogue with Iphigenia in the fourth episode, when she declares her readiness to die and refuses Achilles’ help, the hero’s cold nobility again comes to the fore. He praises Iphigenia for judging sensibly, following her duty, that he cannot object to her decision, and leaves, promising once again, if necessary, his help at the altar. In this entire scene, Achilles is presented rather palely. In the characterization of Achilles, the influence of sophistic philosophy is felt in this tragedy; his nobility is fundamentally rationalistic and harmonizes well with Achilles’ desire to develop peace of mind in himself. The stamp of the spirit of the times also lies on this character, from whom the epic in its time made the embodiment of heroic integrity.
In “Iphigenia in Aulis” the playwright’s attitude towards the Trojan War is noticeably different than in Euripides’ previous plays - “Andromache”, “Hecuba”. "The Trojans" It now becomes the first link in a long chain of clashes between Greeks and barbarians, turning into a great Pan-Hellenic enterprise for the liberation of Greece and the overthrow of Trojan arrogance. The play expresses the idea of ​​the justice of the rule of the Greeks over the barbarians, since the Greeks are

1 “Theater of Euripides”, vol. III, p. 18.

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free people, and barbarians are a people of slaves. In such a reassessment of the Trojan War, one should probably see the influence of political events contemporary to the poet. Perhaps, towards the end of the Peloponnesian War, Euripides began to fear that the mutual exhaustion of Athens and Sparta would lead to the strengthening of Persia. In emphasizing the superiority of the Greeks over the barbarians, there is hidden, perhaps, an indirect censure of both warring parties, each of which sought to win over the Persians, that is, to make the very same barbarians with whom the Greeks once victoriously fought as judges in their cases.
In ancient times, there were many works of fine art dedicated to the sacrifice of Iphigenia. Since the exodus of the tragedy has reached us in a greatly damaged form, it is difficult to say to what extent these works have their source in the play of Euripides. The design of one of the Pompeian frescoes dates back, in all likelihood, to the famous painting of Timanthos in antiquity (beginning of the 4th century BC). In this picture, which has not reached us, according to the testimony of the ancients, the sadness of Kalkhant is perfectly shown, and Agamemnon is depicted with his head covered with a cloak, hiding his grief from prying eyes.
Euripides' tragedy “Iphigenia at Aulis” was later imitated by the Roman playwright Ennius (see below). He came up with the original idea of ​​​​replacing the choir of women with a choir of warriors complaining about their aimless stay in Aulis.
In 1674, Racine wrote Iphigenie. In the preface to the play, he says that he could not end it either with the murder of the virtuous girl, or with the appearance of the goddess on the machine and the transformation, which could be believed in ancient times, but which no one would believe in today. Therefore, Racine introduced a new character: Eriphyle, daughter of Theseus, rival of Iphigenia, seeking the love of Achilles, and an intriguer. The oracle of Calhant falls on her, and she commits suicide on the sacrificial altar.

SATYROUS DRAMA “CYCLOPS”

This is the only satyr drama that has come down to us in its entirety. Only on the basis of “Cyclops” and “The Pathfinders” of Sophocles, significant passages from which were preserved for us by the Oxyrhynchus papyrus, found in 1912, can we get an idea of ​​this dramatic genre Ancient Greece.
The date of production of "Cyclops" is unknown to us. Scholars differ widely on this issue, but some place the date of the production at approximately 428 to 422. It is also unknown which tetralogy this play was included in. The plot of "Cyclops" is borrowed from Canto IX of the Odyssey. However, Euripides changes it somewhat compared to Homer. Thus, in the Odyssey, the country of the Cyclops is not named and they live somewhere at the edge of the world. Euripides transfers the action to Sicily. In addition, Homer's Cyclopes are very far from human appearance, while in Euripides they have a number of purely human traits. Euripides, in addition, introduced a new character into his drama - the father of the satyrs, Silenus.
The drama takes place on the seashore at the foot of Etna, in front of a cave

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Cyclops. In the prologue, Silenus speaks, telling how he and his children, the satyrs, were captured by Cyclops. Having learned that Dionysus has been kidnapped by Tyrrhenian pirates, Silenus and his sons set off in search of the god, but a storm takes them to Sicily and they are captured by Cyclops. In the parody on the orchestra, in front of the cave of the Cyclops, satyrs appear, driving sheep and goats into the fence. The choir's parody, which is a kind of work song, is distinguished by its amazing lightness and grace. The singing was obviously accompanied by facial movements, showing how the satyrs were trying to drive the herd into the cave. The long epic contrasts the happy past, when the satyrs served their master Dionysus, and the difficult present, when they are enslaved by the Cyclops. Since the choir had to remain on stage, the work of the satyrs was completed, obviously, by an additional mute choir of servants, whom the satyrs ordered to drive the sheep under the arch of the rock (v. 83). Silenus suddenly sees a ship landing on the shore. Odysseus enters with his companions. They are looking for food supplies, which they are completely running out of. Odysseus has a wineskin hanging over his shoulders. He tells Silena his name, says that an opposing wind blew him here when returning from Troy, and also asks about the inhabitants of the country and their morals. Odysseus asks Silenus and the satyrs to sell them food. He gives Silenus a bottle of fine wine, and he begins to drink greedily. The satyrs, in turn, question Odysseus about the fate of beautiful Elena, making at the same time several indecent remarks about her.
Baskets of food are already being taken out of the cave, but Odysseus fails to take them, since at that moment the terrible owner of the cave himself returns. He mistakes Odysseus and his companions for robbers who wanted to steal his property. Strong out of cowardice confirms Cyclops' guess. The satyrs themselves are outraged by the shameless lies of their father. In a dignified speech, Odysseus asks Cyclops to show hospitality to the unfortunate wanderers. At the same time, he refers to the fact that the gods themselves prescribed the law of hospitality to people. But this well-constructed speech is followed by a rude response from Cyclops. He says that he has nothing to do with the gods, he himself does not consider himself weaker than Zeus, and for the wise there is only one god - wealth. Cyclops even develops a unique philosophy of life, the meaning of which boils down to the fact that it is necessary to please your womb in every possible way. He forces Odysseus and his companions into the cave, intending to eat them. A little later, Odysseus runs out of there in horror and tells the chorus about the death of his two companions. He tells the satyrs his plan of revenge, which is to gouge out Cyclops' eye with a club burned in a fire, and convinces them to help him in this matter.
Cyclops appears from the cave. Having tasted a hearty lunch, he was in a good mood. He asks Odysseus about his name and receives the answer, like Homer: “Nobody.” A very lively comic scene follows. Cyclops is constantly drinking the cup of wine that Odysseus gave him, but Silenus very cleverly does the same thing, taking advantage of the slowness and intoxication of Cyclops. The completely intoxicated Cyclops finally goes into the cave.

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and takes Silenus with him, intending to have fun with him with unnatural love. This kind of obscenity was apparently integral part satyr dramas, as can be judged by the reviews of some ancient writers. Finally, Cyclops falls asleep in his cave, and the hour of revenge begins. But the cowardly satyrs with comic horror refuse their promise. Odysseus has to carry out his plan himself. After a little time, Cyclops runs out of the cave with a bloody face. Without a doubt, the actor who played the role of Cyclops changed his mask before this scene. Odysseus reveals his real name to Cyclops. The satyrs congratulate each other on the fact that now they have no other master than Dionysus. Thus, the drama, having begun with the name of Dionysus, returns again to him.
Euripides made a bright comic character out of the terrible Polyphemus. We had to rework the image created by Homer. Euripides's Cyclops became somewhat humanized. Although he is still a terrible giant, heaping tree trunks on his fire and filling a huge crater of ten amphorae for his meal, he is no longer the wild hermit of the Odyssey. Euripides's Cyclops is talkative; he knows something, for example, about the abduction of Helen and the Trojan War; he is not even averse to philosophizing. One might think that in the image of Cyclops a caricature is given of the degenerate representatives of sophistry and rhetoric, who, having drawn extreme conclusions from Protagoras’ position on the relativity of human knowledge, began to assert that individual he himself establishes what is for him the truth, the law and the norm of social behavior. From here it was one step to preaching naked self-will, regardless of any social institutions. It must be said that such views did not remain only in the sphere of abstract reasoning, but penetrated into politics, meeting sympathy among supporters of the oligarchy. From this side, the play not only amused, but also acquired certain satirical and accusatory features.
The father of the satyrs, Silenus, is well depicted in the drama, a liar, a coward and a drunkard, ready to give up the entire herd of Cyclops for a cup of wine. Silenus combines cowardice with unbridled flattery and servility towards the Cyclops, which find lively comedic expression. When Cyclops says that he has already eaten enough meat from lions and deer, but has not eaten human meat for a long time, Silenus helpfully notes that the same dishes every day get boring and a new dish in this case is very pleasant. Odysseus retains all his virtues tragic hero: he remembers his merits at Troy and considers it shameful to shy away from dangers. His serious tone is perfectly contrasted by the ironic attitude towards the events of the Trojan War by Silenus, satyrs and Cyclops, who calls the war over one woman shameful. The chorus of satyrs takes a large part in the development of the play. He is very active and expressive even at the moment when he avoids helping Odysseus, that is, from action: the Horevians begin to limp and rub their eyes, complaining that they are covered with dust or ash that has come from somewhere.
"Cyclops" required three actors to perform it.

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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EURIPIDES' DRAMATURGIC ACTIVITY

Almost all of Euripides' tragedies that have come down to us were written during the Peloponnesian War. With its beginning, that general crisis was revealed, in which all the contradictions of Hellenic life, growing in the previous period, came out with full force: slave uprisings, an intensification of the struggle between supporters of democracy and oligarchy, clashes within democracy itself between its right and left wings, as well as complications relations between Athens and its allies. It is quite natural that this crisis manifested itself most strongly in the leading Greek state - Athens. The social crisis is also reflected in the spiritual life of society. The usual views and concepts of society are destroyed or questioned: religious, philosophical, legal. Belief in the old gods fluctuates; in philosophy, many sophists defend the principle of subjectivism in morality, from which others draw extreme conclusions. The right of the strong was proclaimed as the basis for the activities of the individual. It is interesting that this principle was also often transferred to the field of politics; Thus, based on it, the Athenians, as Thucydides repeatedly testifies, justified their dominance over their allies. The long war at times gave rise to a feeling of fatigue and a desire for peace in Athenian society. This feeling was especially felt by the peasants, whose fields were systematically devastated by the Spartans. The war gave rise to strong bitterness between the fighting parties against each other. The movement among the allies was suppressed by the Athenians with cruelty not justified by considerations of state necessity. Thucydides repeatedly spoke about the dulling of the feeling of pity and the manifestations of extreme bitterness during the war.
Some of these contradictions in Euripides' contemporary life were directly reflected in his works. In a number of his tragedies, a hostile attitude towards Sparta is clearly heard. All contemporaries were well aware that the Trojan Women depicted the disasters caused by war. Euripides was not afraid here to condemn the cruelty of the Athenians towards the allied island of Melos. Democracy is defended against tyranny with great skill in The Supplicants. If we remember that during the Peloponnesian War - especially in the second half - there was a lively activity of aristocratic secret societies (heteria), one cannot help but recognize these disputes about the form of government as very relevant for that time, and not only for Athens.
However, by the very nature of his talent, Euripides is more interested in the spiritual world of his heroes. The dramaturgical activity of Euripides is closely connected with the new direction in philosophy (the poet remained, however, free from the extremes of sophistry with its arbitrary play with concepts) and in general with the cultural life of Athens in the second half of the 5th century. Following this direction, Euripides seeks to transform Athenian tragedy, to force it to descend from ideal heights to the world of everyday life. The sound of the heroic theme in the tragedies of Euripides decreases, but at the same time, attention to the psychological world of man and the phenomena of the life around him increases.

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Aristotle’s testimony was already given above that Sophocles himself, assessing the dramaturgy of Euripides, said that the latter depicted people as they are in life. In Aristophanes’ comedy “Frogs,” Euripides puts into his mouth the words that his goal is to teach the audience about everyday affairs; he gives in tragedies an image of the ordinary and everyday, so that the audience can more easily judge their own affairs. Of course, Aristophanes presents Euripides' views on the tasks of tragedy in a caricatured form, but the fact that Euripides set as his task the reproduction of everyday life is captured correctly.
Ancient Greek historian, writer and critic of the 1st century. BC e. Dionysius of Halicarnassus in his treatise “On Imitation” also attributes to Euripides the desire to reproduce life, which also captures her negative sides. “When depicting the passions, Sophocles was distinguished by his respect for the dignity of persons. Euripides, however, was given pleasure only by the truthful and corresponding to modern life, which is why he often bypassed the decent and elegant and did not correct, as Sophocles did, the characters and feelings of his characters in the direction of nobility and sublimity. There are traces of a very accurate depiction of the obscene, sluggish, cowardly” 1.
Speaking about the depiction of the poet’s contemporary life, it is necessary to make a reservation that applies, however, to all Greek tragedians. Modern life is reflected in them through a mythological plot, which undoubtedly constrains the completeness of its image in the sense of the events themselves. Greater scope opened up in the depiction of characters and the world of human spiritual experiences, and it must be said that Euripides achieves greater perfection here compared to Sophocles.
In accordance with his views on the tasks of his poetry, Sophocles gave heroic characters raised above reality, while Euripides, in the generalized images of his tragedies, showed contemporary people with their thoughts, feelings, aspirations, sometimes contradictory in the same person, with their subtlest spiritual experiences . For Euripides, myth became only the material or basis that gave his contemporaries the opportunity to speak out. This ability of Euripides to give an in-depth psychological characterization of his contemporaries, which in many respects is of keen interest to us, makes him more intelligible and understandable for the modern reader. And on the contrary, the closeness of Euripides’ heroes to life outraged some defenders of the old tragedy, as can be seen from the criticism of Aristophanes in “The Frogs.” However, it can be assumed that contemporaries were more confused by the playwright’s skeptical attitude towards the old religion and myths. It is possible that there were considerations of a political nature here: during a period of difficult military trials, the manifestation of free-thinking in relation to such foundations of the state as traditional religion and old myths. When analyzing individual tragedies of Euripides, it was already pointed out that in a number of cases the gods were depicted in him in a very unattractive form. In non-

1 Quote from “The History of Greek Literature”, vol. I, edited by S. I. Sobolevsky et al., M., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1946, p. 416.

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In the play “Bellerophon” that has come down to us, the hero on a winged horse rises to heaven to find out whether there are gods there or not: whoever sees violence and evil on earth, Bellerophon notes, will understand that there are no gods and that everything told about them is an empty fairy tale (phragm 286). True, Bellerophon is punished, he falls to the ground and breaks, but the viewer heard in the theater echoes of the same thoughts that were expressed by contemporary philosophy. Of course, Euripides was not an atheist in the modern understanding of the word, but there is no doubt about his skeptical attitude towards old religious beliefs.
The variety of characters created by Euripides, the stunning dramatic situations in which his heroes find themselves, and the depiction of their subtlest experiences were discussed when analyzing individual tragedies of the playwright. True to his desire to truthfully depict life, Euripides was not afraid to introduce into the tragedy characters who act as representatives of rough physical strength or personal egoistic aspirations. Such, for example, is the Face in the tragedy “Hercules” or Eurystheus in the tragedy “Heraclides”, who cruelly persecutes his children after the death of Hercules, Menelaus, who was brought out as a low man in the tragedy “Orestes”, and others.
It would be wrong, however, to equate tragedy in the form it received in the hands of Euripides with everyday drama without reservations. Characters such as Iphigenia (“Iphigenia in Aulis”), Hercules in the tragedy of the same name, Hippolytus, Pentheus in “The Bacchae” and others are truly tragic characters. The reduction of the heroic theme in the work of Euripides does not at all mean the transformation of tragedy into everyday drama, although some of his plays very much resemble it.
The new nature of Euripides' drama often required new means of theatrical expression, which before him were either not used at all or were used much less frequently. First of all, Euripides began to use modes in theatrical music that had not been used before, such as “mixed Lydian.” The Lydian mode was generally perceived as plaintive, mournful and intimate. From this fret, as well as from others, some derivative frets were also built. Unfortunately, we cannot - due to insufficient knowledge of ancient Greek music in general - appreciate the musical side of Euripides' tragedies. However, it apparently made a strong impression on his contemporaries, since it used new and more consistent means with the spirit of his plays. musical expressiveness. In the Hellenistic era, solo arias and duets between soloists and chorus from the tragedies of Euripides were performed separately.
The new content of Euripides' tragedies required a new style. Indeed, this syllable in the dialogical parts and stories of the messengers is very close to the colloquial speech of that time. Aristotle in Rhetoric praises Euripides for composing his speeches from expressions taken from everyday life. The Agones, in which Euripides so well confronts opposing opinions and aspirations, especially clearly reveal the influence of sophistry and rhetoric. To us, however, these speeches sometimes seem dry, rationalistic, straying into “commonplaces.” Some of Euripides' contemporaries, as far as one can judge from the attacks

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Aristophanes, they seemed to be woven from intricacies with the help of which individual characters in the tragedy tried to justify their bad actions, passing off the false and immoral as true and moral. But, on the other hand, there is no doubt that such speeches were very popular with people who went towards the new philosophical movement in Athens of that time, sometimes perceiving the negative features of sophistry and rhetoric (for example, the belief in the possibility and permissibility of proving the truth with the help of formal arguments or the falsity of any provision). Euripides also shows great skill in the use of so-called stichomythia (dialogue in which each remark occupies one verse). These stichomythies achieve greater theatrical expressiveness than those of Sophocles. We are struck by their extremely skillful display of various human experiences, the passion of tone, the ability to hit the enemy where it hurts, the psychologically justifiable inconsistency of the thoughts of a given character, etc.
The spectacular side of Euripides' tragedies, as far as we can get an idea of ​​it based on the text of the plays themselves, was closely connected with the combination of events and with the characters depicted, took into account the requirements of the stage and helped to more fully reveal the main idea of ​​the work through specifically theatrical means. The spectacular part of Euripides' tragedies includes some scenes that before him were either not shown at all in the theater in front of the audience, or were shown much less often. These include, for example, scenes of death, depictions of illness, physical suffering, scenes of madness, mourning ceremonies, bringing children onto the stage, dressing up characters, showing on stage the feelings and experiences of a woman in love, ending tragedies through the use of a flying machine or the appearance of gods and much more.
During his lifetime, Euripides, as already mentioned, was not successful. He was an innovator, striving both in content and form to take his dramas out of the narrow framework inherited by tradition. This innovation was apparently unacceptable to many of his contemporaries. And indeed, during his lifetime, Euripides could not compare in glory with either Aeschylus or Sophocles. But as soon as he went to his grave, he eclipsed the glory of both of them. Aeschylus for the next century becomes a majestic, but no longer fully understood giant of drama. Sophocles was always admired, but he was too much of an Attic poet and belonged entirely to the age of Pericles. He gave ideal images that could not retain their significance in the Hellenistic era, which placed completely different demands on drama. Euripides, an artist in whose work realistic tendencies found a more vivid expression, was to gain fame in all parts of the civilized Mediterranean world. Starting from the 4th century. BC e. and until the fall of the ancient world, Euripides was more admired and studied than any other playwright. However, even during his lifetime, Euripides found many imitators. He is eagerly imitated by Greek and subsequently Roman tragedians; he is quoted and commented on at a later time. Euripides also had a great influence on the new Attic (everyday) comedy.

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This is directly evidenced by evidence going back to antiquity. Euripides' tragedies were performed long after his death and in the countries of the East. Thus, Plutarch (“Crassus,” ch. 33) reports the execution in 53 BC. e. at the court of the Armenian king Artavazd II in Artashat, an excerpt from Euripides’ tragedy “The Bacchae”. In the 17th century The playwrights of classicism take a lot from Euripides. When creating his tragedies Phaedra, Iphigenia and Andromache, Racine was strongly influenced by the plays of Euripides. Euripides was highly praised by Goethe and Schiller. Byron, Shelley, Grillparzer, Lecomte de Lille, Verhaeren and many other poets were also keen on it. A complete translation of the tragedies of Euripides (except for “The Entreaties”) and the satyr drama “Cyclops” was given by the outstanding Russian poet I. F. Annensky, who was in love with the acuteness of Euripides’ psychologism and imitated it in his own original work (for example, the tragedy “Thamira-kifared”, etc. ). A modern variation on the motifs of Euripides’ “Medea” is given by “Medea” by the modern French playwright J. Anouilh.

(484 BC - 406 BC)

Ancient Greece gave humanity three great tragedians - Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Euripides is the last and youngest in their line. By the time of his appearance, the work of Aeschylus had already established tragedy as a leading literary genre. The mocker Aristophanes said that Aeschylus “was the first of the Greeks to pile up the majestic
words and introduced the beautiful hype of tragic speech."

Euripides simplified the language of tragedy, modernized it, brought it closer to colloquial speech, which is why, apparently, it was more popular among subsequent generations than among his own, who were accustomed to “great words.”

Start creative activity Euripides fell during the period of the highest prosperity of the Athenian state, which led the union of many small states and islands of the Aegean archipelago under the reign of Pericles in 445-430 BC, and the second half of his life coincided with the beginning of the crisis at the time of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). AD), when democratic Athens faced another powerful association - oligarchic Sparta. The Athenians' hatred of Sparta became the emotional content of Euripides' tragedy "Andromache", where the Spartan king Menelaus, his wife Helen, the culprit of the Trojan War, and their daughter Hermione were turned out to be treacherous and cruel people.

In the “age of Pericles,” Athens became the main cultural center of the entire Greek world, attracting creative people from all over. This was facilitated by Pericles himself, an unusually educated man for his time, an excellent orator, a talented commander, a subtle politician. Athens was rebuilt under him, the Parthenon was erected, the wonderful sculptor Phidias led the construction work and decorated the temple with his sculptural works. The historian Herodotus, the philosopher Anaxagoras, the sophist Protagoras (who owns the famous formula: “Man is the measure of all things”) lived in Athens for a long time. At that time, Hippocrates began to create medicine, Democritus and Antiphon developed mathematical science, and oratory flourished.

Athens was called the “school of Greece”, “Hellas of Hellas”. It is not surprising that patriotic inspiration was reflected in many works of art of that time, among them were the tragedies of Euripides, especially marked by a patriotic feeling - “Heraclides”, “The Petitioners”, “The Phoenicians”.

The ancient Lives of Euripides claim that he was born on the day of victory in the Battle of Salamis (where the Phaenic fleet defeated the Persians) in 480 BC. e. on the island of Salamis. Aeschylus took part in this battle, and sixteen-year-old Sophocles performed in the choir of young men glorifying the victory. This is how the ancient Greek chroniclers presented the succession of the three great tragedians - too beautiful to be true, the Parian Chronicle calls the date of birth of Euripides 484 BC. e., which seems more reliable to researchers.

The Lives say that Euripides was the son of the shopkeeper Mnesarchus and the vegetable seller Clito. And scientists question this information, since it is taken from the comedy of Aristophanes (“Women at the Festival of Thesmophoria”), known for his attacks on the tragedian: he hinted at his low origins from a simple greengrocer, and at the infidelity of his wife, etc.

According to other sources, which are considered more reliable, Euripides came from a noble family and even served at the temple of Apollo Zosterius. He got great
education, had one of the richest libraries of his time, was friends with the philosophers Anaxagoras and Archelaus, the sophists Protagoras and Prodicus. This is more like the truth - for the excess of scientific reasoning in his tragedies, contemporaries called Euripides “a philosopher on stage.” The latest biographical version is also confirmed by the Roman writer Aulus Gellius in “Attic Nights,” where he says that Euripides had the means and studied with Protagoras and Anaxagoras.

Euripides is described as a closed, gloomy person, prone to solitude, and also a misogynist. He is also depicted as gloomy in surviving portraits. If we translate the ancient characteristics of Euripides into the language of our concepts, we can say that he was extremely ambitious (however, this is one of the conditions for creativity), an extremely impressionable and touchy person. Can we consider him a misogynist? It seems unlikely (and here Aristophanes could not be spared). Euripides even allows the “demonic” Medea to utter words that for many centuries anticipated Nekrasov’s theme of “a woman’s share”:

Yes, between those who breathe and who think, We women are no more unhappy. We pay dearly for our husbands. And if you buy it, then he is your master, not a slave, and the second is greater than the first. And the main thing is that you take it at random. Is he vicious or honest, how do you know? Meanwhile, leave - shame on you, And you don’t dare remove your spouse.
(Translation by I. Annensky)

Euripides had plenty of reasons for his gloomy state of mind. His works rarely enjoyed success with his contemporaries. In the competitions of poets accepted in Ancient Greece, Euripides won only three times (and two after his death - for the tragedies "The Bacchae" and "Iphigenia in Aulis", staged by his son). For the first time his tragedy ("Peliades") appeared on stage in 455 BC. e., and he won his first victory only in 441. For example, Sophocles emerged victorious eighteen times.

Euripides maintained close relationships with the outstanding minds of his time, welcomed all innovations in the field of religion, philosophy and science, for which he was attacked by moderate social circles. The exponent of their views was Attic comedy, the most prominent representative of which was the contemporary of the tragedian Aristophanes. In his comedies he ridiculed and public views, and artistic techniques, and the personal life of Euripides.

Perhaps these circumstances explain the fact that in his declining years, in 408 BC. e., Euripides accepted the invitation of the Macedonian king Archelaus and moved to Macedonia. There he wrote the tragedy "Archelaus" in honor of the ancestor of his patron, as well as "The Bacchae" - under the impression of the local cult of Dionysus. He died in Macedonia in 406 BC. e. Even his death was
surrounded by rumors and gossip. According to one version, he was allegedly torn to pieces by dogs,
on the other - by women. Here one can hear echoes of the same comedy by Aristophanes, “Women at the Thesmophoria.” In its plot, women, angry with Euripides because he makes them look too unattractive in his tragedies, conspire to kill him. In the comedy, lynching did not take place, but it “decorated” the biography of the tragedian.

Euripides wrote 90 tragedies, of which 18 have come down to us. Researchers determine the chronology of their appearance on stage approximately: “Alcestis” (438 BC), “Medea” (431), “Heraclides” (about 430- th), "Hippolytus" (428), "Cyclops", "Hecuba", "Hercules", "Suppliants" (424-418), "Trojan Women" (415), "Electra" (about 413), "Ion", "Iphigenia in Tauris", "Helen" (about 412), "Andromache" and "Phoenicians" (about 411), "Orestes" (408), "Bacchae" and "Iphigenia"
in Aulis" (405). Euripides, like his predecessors, drew plots for his tragedies from the tales of the Trojan and Theban cycles, Attic legends, myths about the campaign of the Argonauts, the exploits of Hercules and the fate of his descendants. However, unlike Aeschylus and Sophocles, he Already a completely different interpretation of the myth.He moved away from the tradition of sublime, normative images and began to depict mythological characters as earthly people - with all the passions, contradictions and delusions.

Euripides also developed new principles for depicting a person, showing the psychological motives of actions, and not the typologically provided ones, as was before: the hero acts heroically, the villain acts villainously. He was the first to present a psychological drama, when the struggles and confusion of the characters' feelings are conveyed to the audience and evoke sympathy, and not just condemnation or admiration.

Perhaps this is most clearly expressed in the tragedy "Medea".

"Medea" is based on a plot from the myth of the Argonauts' campaign. Jason obtained the golden fleece in Colchis with the help of the daughter of the Colchis king, the sorceress Medea. A bright, strong, uncompromising personality, she, under the influence of passion for Jason, leaves her home, betrays her father, kills her brother, dooms herself to an intolerable existence in a foreign country, where she is despised as the daughter of a “barbarian” people. Meanwhile Jason
owes her both life and throne. When he leaves Medea to marry
to the heiress of the Corinthian king Glaucus, resentment and jealousy blind Medea so much that she conceives the most terrible revenge - the murder of their children. The torment of Medea, frantically tossing between maternal feelings and the power of a vengeful impulse, is so terrible that it involuntarily evokes sympathy. Here is tragedy, fate in its purest form - Medea is doomed, she has no way out. She cannot return home and cannot stay in Corinth, from where Jason expels her due to his new marriage. She is also not sure about the future of her children, even if she leaves them with their father, because for the Greeks they are the children of a “barbarian”. And Medea makes a decision:

So I swear by Hades and all the underground power, That the enemies of my children, abandoned by Medea to mockery, will not be seen...

"Medea", an unsurpassed tragedy in all world literature, still does not leave the stage. One of the brightest modern performers of Medea is the wonderful actress Lyubov Selyutina at the Moscow Taganka Theater, where this tragedy invariably plays to full houses. Fame came to Euripides, alas, after death. His contemporaries failed to appreciate him. The only exception was the island of Sicily. The ancient Greek historian Plutarch, in his “Comparative Lives,” talks about how individual Athenian warriors, captured and enslaved during the unsuccessful Sicilian campaign, managed to escape to their homeland: “... some were saved by Euripides. The fact is that the Sicilians probably , more than all the Greeks living outside Attica, the talent of Euripides was revered... They say that at that time many of those who returned home warmly greeted Euripides and told him how they received freedom by teaching the owner what remained in their memory from his poems , or how, wandering after the battle, they earned food and water for themselves by singing songs from his tragedies.There is, therefore, nothing incredible in the story that in Kavno some ship was first not allowed to take refuge in the harbor from pirates, and then was allowed in him, when, after questioning, they made sure that the sailors remembered the poems of Euripides by heart" ("Nikiy and Krasse").

A century later, Euripides' tragedies began to enjoy great success in his homeland, while Aeschylus and Sophocles began to lose popularity. Later, Roman playwrights repeatedly turned to the tragedies of Euripides. For example, “Medea” was revised by Ennius, Ovid, and Seneca. In the era of classicism, Euripides influenced Corneille ("Medea"), Racine ("Phaedra", "Andromache", "Iphigenia", "The Vaida, or the Enemy Brothers"). Voltaire wrote Merope and Orestes based on his tragedies. Schiller based on Euripides' "Phoenician Women" created "The Bride of Messina." In Russia, interest in Euripides arose a long time ago - “Andromache” by P.A. Katenin is known, as well as numerous translations. One of the best translators Innokenty Annensky also wrote several imitations of Euripides, using the plots of tragedies that have not reached us.

The gloomy Euripides, who once suffered so much because of his rare victories in poetry competitions, won the main victory - over time, and to this day his tragedies decorate theater stages.

Ancient Greek playwright, the largest (along with Aeschylus and Sophocles) representative of classical Athenian tragedy. He wrote about 90 dramas, of which 17 tragedies and the satyr drama “Cyclops” have come down to us.
The ancient Lives of Euripides claim that he was born on Salamis, on the day of the famous victory of the Greeks over the Persians in a naval battle, September 23, 480 BC. e., from Mnesarchus and Cleito. An inscription on the Parian marble identifies the year of the playwright's birth as 486 BC. e., and in this chronicle of Greek life the name of the playwright is mentioned 3 times - more often than the name of any king. According to other evidence, the date of birth can be attributed to 481 BC. e.
Euripides' father was a respected and, apparently, rich man; Cleito's mother was engaged in selling vegetables. As a child, Euripides was seriously involved in gymnastics, even won competitions among boys and wanted to get to the Olympic Games, but was rejected due to his youth. Then he took up drawing, without much success, however. Euripides received an excellent education - he was probably a student of Anaxagoras, and also knew Prodicus, Protagoras and Socrates. Euripides collected books for the library, and soon began to write himself. The first play, Peliad, appeared on stage in 455 BC. e., but then the author did not win due to a quarrel with the judges. Euripides won the first prize for skill in 441 BC. e. and from then on until his death he created his creations. The playwright's social activity was manifested in the fact that he participated in the embassy in Syracuse in Sicily, apparently supporting the goals of the embassy with the authority of a writer recognized throughout Hellas.
Euripides' family life was unsuccessful. From his first wife, Chloirina, he had 3 sons, but divorced her because of her adultery, writing the play “Hippolytus,” where he ridiculed sexual relations. The second wife, Melitta, turned out to be no better than the first. Euripides gained fame as a misogynist, which gave the master of comedy Aristophanes a reason to joke about him.
In 408 BC e. the great playwright decided to leave Athens, accepting the invitation of the Macedonian king Archelaus. It is not known exactly what influenced Euripides' decision. Historians are inclined to think that the main reason was, if not bullying, then the resentment of a vulnerable creative personality towards his fellow citizens for non-recognition of his merits. The fact is that out of 92 plays (75 according to another source), only 4 were awarded prizes at theater competitions during the author’s lifetime, and one play posthumously.
Archelaus showed honor and demonstrative respect to the famous guest to such an extent that signs of favor caused the death of the king himself. Aristotle, in his work “Politics,” reports about a certain Decamnichus, who was handed over to Euripides for scourging for an insult to him, and this Decamnichus, in revenge, organized a conspiracy, as a result of which Archelaus died. This happened after the death of Euripides himself in 406 BC. e. The death of such a remarkable personality gave rise to legends set forth in the Court:
“Euripides ended his life as a result of the conspiracy of Arrhidaeus from Macedonia and Crateus from Thessaly, poets jealous of the glory of Euripides. They bribed a courtier named Lysimachus in 10 minutes to unleash the royal hounds he was watching on Euripides. Others say that Euripides was torn not by dogs, but by women, when he hurried at night on a date with Craterus, the young lover of Archelaus. Still others claim that he was going to meet Nikodika, Aref’s wife.”
The modern version is more down-to-earth - the body of 75-year-old Euripides simply could not withstand the harsh winter in Macedonia.
The Athenians asked permission to bury the playwright in their hometown, but Archelaus wished to leave Euripides' grave in their capital, Pella. Sophocles, having learned about the death of the playwright, forced the actors to play the play with their heads uncovered. Athens erected a statue of Euripides in the theater to honor him after his death. Plutarch conveyed a legend: lightning struck the tomb of Euripides, a great sign that only Lycurgus among the famous people was awarded.
Of the 92 plays attributed to Euripides in antiquity, the titles of 80 can be reconstructed. Of these, 18 tragedies have come down to us, of which "Res" is believed to have been written by a later poet, and the satirical drama "Cyclops" is the only surviving example of this genre. The best ancient dramas of Euripides are lost to us; Of the survivors, only “Hippolytus” was crowned. Among the surviving plays, the earliest is “Alceste” (var. names: “Alcestes”, “Alcestis”), and the later ones include “Iphigenia in Aulis” and “The Bacchae”.
The preferential development of female roles in tragedy was an innovation of Euripides. Hecuba, Polyxena, Cassandra, Andromache, Macaria, Iphigenia, Helen, Electra, Medea, Phaedra, Creusa, Andromeda, Agave and many other heroines of the legends of Hellas are complete and vital types. Motifs of marital and maternal love, tender devotion, violent passion, female vindictiveness alloyed with cunning, deceit and cruelty occupy a very prominent place in the dramas of Euripides. Euripides' women surpass his men in willpower and intensity of feelings. Also, slaves and slaves in his plays are not soulless extras, but have characters, human traits and show feelings like free citizens, forcing the audience to empathize. Only a few of the surviving tragedies satisfy the requirement of completeness and unity of action. The author's strength lies primarily in psychologism and deep elaboration of individual scenes and monologues. The main interest of Euripides' tragedies lies in the diligent depiction of mental states, usually tense to the extreme.