Volume I. Cyclops. Alcestis. Medea

One of antiquity's greatest poets, Euripides (ca. 485-406 B.C.) has been prized in every age for the pathos, terror, surprising plot twists, and intellectual probing of his dramatic creations. He wrote nearly ninety plays, of which eighteen have come down to us (plus a play of unknown authorship long included with his works). In this new Loeb Classical Library edition of Euripides, David Kovacs presents a freshly edited Greek text and an accurate and graceful translation with explanatory notes.

Cyclops is a satyr play, the only complete example of this genre to survive. Alcestis tells the story of a woman who agrees--in order to save her husband's life--to die in his place. Medea is the quintessential tragedy of revenge: Medea kills her own children, as well as their father's new wife, to punish him for desertion.

Series No. 12 / 436 pages / ISBN 0-674-99560-0

  Volume II. Children of Heracles. Hippolytus. Andromache. Hecuba

Hippolytus has been judged to be one of Euripides' masterpieces. Hecuba and Andromache recreate the tragic stories of two noble Trojan women after their city's fall. Children of Heracles celebrates an incident long a source of Athenian pride: the city's protection of the sons and daughters of the dead Heracles.

Series No. 484 / 528 pages / ISBN 0-674-99533-3
  Volume III. Suppliant Women. Electra. Heracles.

Centering on the right of proper burial for those fallen in battle, Suppliant Women reflects on war and on the rule of law. In Electra Euripides gives us his version of the famous legend of the murder of Clytaemestra by her children in revenge for her killing their father--a portrayal interestingly different from that in Sophocles' Electra. Narrating sudden reversals in the hero's fortunes, Heracles testifies to the fragility of human happiness.

Series No. 9 / 456 pages / ISBN 0-674-99566-X
  Volume IV. Trojan Women. Iphigenia among the Taurians. Ion.

Trojan Women, a play about the causes and consequences of war, develops the theme of the tragic unpredictability of life. Iphigenia among the Taurians and Ion exhibit tragic themes and situations (the murder of close relatives); each ends happily with a joyful reunion.

Series No. 10 / 528 pages / ISBN 0-674-99574-0
  Volume V. Helen. Phoenician Women. Orestes
Edited and Translated by David Kovacs
Euripides has been prized in every age for the pathos, terror, surprising plot twists, and intellectual probing of his dramatic creations. In this fifth volume of the new Loeb Classical Library Euripides, David Kovacs presents a freshly edited Greek text and a faithful and deftly worded translation of three plays.

For his Helen the poet employs an alternative history in which a virtuous Helen never went to Troy but spent the war years in Egypt, falsely blamed for the adulterous behavior of her divinely created double in Troy. This volume also includes Phoenician Women, Euripides' treatment of the battle between the sons of Oedipus for control of Thebes; and Orestes, a novel retelling of Orestes' lot after he murdered his mother, Clytaemestra. Each play is annotated and prefaced by a helpful introduction.

0-674-99600-3
 

  Volume VI. Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulis, Rhesus
This is the sixth and final volume of the new LOEB edition of Euripides, edited and translated by David Kovacs. The new LOEB edition of Euripides is an enormous improvement over the old LOEB Euripides which it replaces.

0674996011