A single-volume edition of the major Greek tragedies In a period of sixty-six years, three Athenian playwrights produced a series of tragedies which became a touchstone for drama for the next two and a half thousand years. The six plays in this volume include Aeschylus' Persians (472 BC), the earliest surviving Greek tragedy and only surviving 'history' play; his Prometheus Bound, perhaps the most deeply mythological of all tragedies, presenting an archetype of the human condition; Sophocles' Women of Trachis, a deeply poignant piece, portraying Heracles' death through his wife's mistake; his strange Philoctetes, which presents a fascinating moral debate and a young man's realisation of the importance of loyalty to his own ideals; Euripides' Trojan Women, the greatest anti-war play ever written; and his intangible Bacchae, a play full of paradoxes which functions at many different levels.The volume is edited and introduced by Marianne McDonald, Professor of Theatre and Classics, University of California, San Diego, and J. Michael Walton, Professor of Drama at the University of Hull.

The work of these three Athenian playwrights became the touchstone for drama for the next two and a half thousand years. This volume contains the earliest surviving Greek tragedy, an archtype of the human condition, a jealous wife's mistake, a moral debate, an anti-war play and a play of paradoxes.

About the Author
Frederic Raphael has translated the plays of Aeschylus and Euripides, the complete poems of Catallus and Petronius' Satyricon. He is the author of a number of volumes of short stories, seventeen novels, essays, screenplays and biographies of Somerset Maugham and Lord Byron.


Book Information
ISBN 9780413772565
Author J. Michael Walton
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Methuen Drama
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 360g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 19mm