The Trojan Women and Other Plays

by Euripides, Edith Hall (Contributor), James Morwood (Translator)

This volume of Euripides' plays offers new translations of the three great war plays Trojan Women, Hecuba , and Andromache , in which the sufferings of Troy's survivors are harrowingly depicted. With unparalleled intensity, Euripides--whom Aristotle called the most tragic of poets--describes the horrific brutality that both women and children undergo during war. Yet, in the war's aftermath, this brutality is challenged and a new battleground is revealed where the women of Troy evince an overwhelming greatness of spirit.
We weep for the aged Hecuba in her name play and in Trojan Women , while at the same time we admire her resilience amid unrelieved suffering. Andromache, the slave-concubine of her husband's killer, endures her existence in the victor's country with a stoic nobility. Of their time yet timeless, these plays insist on the victory of the female spirit amid the horrors visited on them by the gods and men during war.

About the For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Genres: Classics, Plays, Drama, Fiction, Mythology, Poetry, Theatre

167 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 2001

About the author

Euripides (Greek: Ευριπίδης) (ca. 480 BC–406 BC) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him, but the Suda says it was ninety-two at most. Of these, eighteen or nineteen have survived more or less complete (Rhesus is suspect). There are many fragments (some substantial) of most of his other plays. More of his plays have survived intact than those of Aeschylus and Sophocles together, partly because his popularity grew as theirs declined—he became, in the Hellenistic Age, a cornerstone of ancient literary education, along with Homer, Demosthenes, and Menander.
Euripides is identified with theatrical innovations that have profoundly influenced drama down to modern times, especially in the representation of traditional, mythical heroes as ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. This new approach led him to pioneer developments that later writers adapted to comedy, some of which are characteristic of romance. He also became "the most tragic of poets", focusing on the inner lives and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown. He was "the creator of ... that cage which is the theatre of William Shakespeare's Othello, Jean Racine's Phèdre, of Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg," in which "imprisoned men and women destroy each other by the intensity of their loves and hates". But he was also the literary ancestor of comic dramatists as diverse as Menander and George Bernard Shaw.
His contemporaries associated him with Socrates as a leader of a decadent intellectualism. Both were frequently lampooned by comic poets such as Aristophanes. Socrates was eventually put on trial and executed as a corrupting influence. Ancient biographies hold that Euripides chose a voluntary exile in old age, dying in Macedonia, but recent scholarship casts doubt on these sources.

Reviews

[Naomi Hurtley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried, I literally cried

[Michael Canoeist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever see those newsreels of the last days for U.S. forces in Vietnam? Evacuating some of the local citizens who had helped us, but, without enough room for them all, leaving some behind to fend for themselves at the hands of the Viet Cong. Horrible stuff. That's what The Trojan Women reminded me of; all the last horrible details at the end of a war, seen from the losing side. Hecuba, queen of Troy, suddenly widowed, now facing a life of slavery to the Greeks and the unpleasant futures of her children -- she stands vividly depicted here, every inch a queen, every bit a woman, and thoroughly tragic and too intelligent to let the audience avoid even one little bit of the grim and grisly aspects her fate. Sounds rough, and it is, but also so bright with truthful characterizations and conflicts that it is still an excellent read. That Euripides was able to have this play performed at one of the Athens festivals just before the city-state was committing to a terribly misjudged assault on Sicily is remarkable. Also remarkable is that this play was written over 2,400 years ago and is still convincing and gripping. Customs have changed (a little), but people have not.

[Eddie Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-chosen collection of three plays set in the aftermath of the Trojan war, focusing on the women victims of the war. Hecuba is portrayed as a defeated, passive victim in ‘The Trojan Women’; in the eponymous ‘Hecuba’, even though a prisoner of war in Agamemnon’s camp, she takes an active, grisly, and highly effective revenge against a false friend. I enjoyed ‘Andromache’ particularly, although it seems the least “well made” from a modern point of view: perhaps some of the ancient cultural references have got lost in the last several thousand years. Andromache’s debates with Hermione, Menelaus and Peleus are entertaining; the gender politics however are a bit challenging for a modern reader and the ending a bit unfocused.

[Mathilde Paulsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting reading! I might have benefited from reading Euripides before reading modern retellings of what happened to the Trojan women, but it was still very exciting to read their stories. This collection of plays includes: Hecuba, The Trojan Women, and Andromache and it tells the dark story of what happens to women after war. We see the women fall into slavery and be given as prized slaves to the men who slaughtered their families. We see the atrocities the women had to live through. But at the same time, the plays are about the victory of the female spirit. They are about the community of women, women's resilience and survival. I highly recommend reading these plays if you're a fan of Greek mythology and/or the Trojan war! I'm definitely reading more of Euripides soon, I have Alexandros, Electra, and Iphigenia in Aulis high on my list.

[joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

HECUBA. Yet if god had not turned
the world upside down, we would vanish
into obscurity. We would never have
given men to come the inspiration to sing
of us in their song.

interesting collection, with plays that obviously complement one another well. a lot of misery and a surprising number of argumentative speeches. this translation is fairly straightforward in that it reads in a very literal manner and has a lot of explanatory notes including in places where a greek word with certain connotations has been swapped out for a more simplistic english word (e.g. various animals translated as just 'child' or 'girl). think my ranking is trojan women > hecuba > andromache,

[wiliam · Rating 3 out of 5]

**3.5

greek plays are really praised when they’re literally

chorus: here comes meneleaus, to unleash his wrath on the wretched hermione

meneleaus: *gives two page soliloquy about how angry he is over his daughter just existing*

[char · Rating 5 out of 5]

such a beautiful telling of what the women caught up in the trojan war experienced. these stories are filled with so much tragedy, but simultaneously a lot of heart and love. i was practically in tears at the end of the trojan woman, and continued to be throughout the whole story. the translation did this a lot of justice, and worked all of the pain in these stories very seamlessly into words.

[mo · Rating 3 out of 5]

OKAY SO BASICALLY ITS FINALLY FINISHED!!!!

Read for school - now was it good, yes, was it exciting and a good read, yes, was it made 10x funnier reading it with a class full of people that know nothing about Greek mythology 100% yes- especially when certain people read Andromache as ‘And-ro-mash’ BUT like all play scrips I read I cannot give higher then a 3 stars due to the fact that I feel all plays should be preformed not read.

This was rather spectacular and interesting however INFURIATING again to read it with a class full of Paris supporters which broke my heart multiple times- but but but I also felt very superior in said class when ever I whipped out an “umm actually 🤓☝️” moment with my extreme classical knowledge 😜

The play was very moving I felt so many emotions while reading, love all the characters and their arch’s but Hecuba rlly pissed me off like miss girl was way to self obsessed.

Anyways 10/10 recommend was fun to study (I am so NOT looking forward to writing 40 mark essays on this tho)

[Beth N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three of Euripides' timeless masterpieces are presented in this short and thematically linked collection from James Morwood and Edith Hall. Through Hecuba, The Trojan Women, and Andromache, Euripides considers the tragic aftermath of the Trojan War on the women of that city.

The translation is fluid and (for Classics) modern, while the commentary is comprehensive enough that a complete novice in Greek mythology would easily understand what is going on. I particularly enjoyed the introduction which provides some contextual insights that made me completely re-imagine the contemporary staging of these plays.

While the plays themselves are weaker than some of Euripides' others, this book would be a fantastic starting point for newcomers to Greek tragedy and even contains revelations for those long familiar with the genre.

[Reilley Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic collection of plays depicting the gruesome and timeless experience women face during the fallout of war. Mothers lamenting the murder of their sons and the theft of their daughters. Wives who witness the slaughter of their husbands and children. Their cities burned and themselves sold into slavery and taken to foreign lands. Revenge and bloodshed and lamentation in an endless cycle.

Greece has suffered a pestilence, yes, a pestilence
It crossed over the sea from Troy, yes, to our fertile fields,
And fell like a thunderbolt, dripping bloodshed on the Greeks.

[Gemma Lily Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for university applications, but these plays will stick with me for a long time.
This specific translation marks when actors would likely be singing during moments of high emotion, which is a nice touch.

[Ceinwen Langley]

Hecuba! Helen! Cassandra! Polyxena! Andromache! Thank you, Euripides. I am nourished.

[Julia Novaes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having recently re-read Aeschylus' Agamemnon, it is hard for me to judge Euripides on his own terms.

These, however, are not his strongest works. All three plays repeat the common Greek wisdom that one must not count a man as fortunate until his death, and demonstrate this incessantly – which is fine, but they are not equally successful at making it interesting.

Hecuba is the best of the three, for me. The plot structure is more traditional, as well as the themes of loyalty, betrayal and revenge. Hecuba shines as the protagonist, as the most wretched and unfortunate woman of all, and the criticism directed at the Greek army and its generals is more incisive because the characterization of Agamemnon and Odysseus is original. Hecuba's temporary alliance with Agamemnon and her act of revenge against the less powerful enemy, Polymestor, is a brilliant portrayal of the imposed reversals of human relationships. The sacrifice of Polyxena obviously mirrors Iphigeneia's and Euripides deals very well with the intertextuality.

The Trojan Women has been recognized as one of the most - if not the most - pathetic plays. There is basically no plot, in the Aristotelian sense of enchained actions, simply the piling up of misfortunes. For this reason, the greatest moments are the rhetorical performances by Cassandra, Hecuba and Helen. The prologue with Poseidon and Athena and their plot to punish the Greeks for their impiety impacts the way we read the new "barbaric" decisions taken by the army. The gods however are not integrated in the rest of the plot.

Finally, Andromache. It's a no from me, dog. I can understand that Euripides is an innovative playwright, and that he experimented with the plot structure in this one. But the parallel between suppliant Andromache and suppliant Hermione is not enough to unify the episodes, and while Neoptolemus' arrival as a corpse is a good reversal of the expectation set up from the beginning, Orestes comes from nowhere, as well as Thetis (yes, deus ex machina, but still). What annoyed me the most in this play, however, is the invasion of a sort of bourgeois, prosaic morality regarding marriage, which is really the biggest theme here. You can see why Nietzsche accused Euripides of killing tragic theater and bringing forth the New Comedy. Furthermore, it's anachronistic, maybe, to complain about misogyny in Greek theater, but Euripides just fails to make it interesting. There are mainly gratuitous quips about promiscuous and deceitful women which the author ties to the ever-present absent figure of Helen. Just, no.

3/5 because Hecuba is actually good.

[Poppy · Rating 4 out of 5]

honestly, i wasn't expecting to enjoy this and was just reading it to feed my superiority complex, but it was honestly so good?

hecuba and andromache were phenomonal, trojan women was slightly less good (but still great), but cassandra's speech is just *chef's kiss*.

i cannot for the life of me work out if euripedes was a feminist (for his time) or misogynist, because honestly there are such contradictory messages??

it was actually really entertaining. hermione and andromache's dialogue was really funny, i thought (probably wasn't meant to be, oh well), and the stories are really good, centring on the impact of war and obviously some bad ass morally grey women (my favourite kind).

anyway, i would read again, and i'm probably going to try some more euripedes soon. this was my first attempt at an ancient greek text, but this translation wasn't difficult to understand. a solid 4 star read, maybe 4.5

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the three plays, I'd say Andromache was my favorite. Very good plays- fulfills the reader's/audience's craving for tragedy, but also introduces the power and manipulation of women.

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uni Read!

[Seolhe · Rating 5 out of 5]

These three plays all explore the aftermath of the fall of Troy for the women who survived it. These are bleak, harrowing tales, even by the standard of Greek tragedy, and they have some beautifully crafted female characters (with the exception of one play, but we'll get there).
An excellent collection.

Well... for the most part.

Hecuba
★★★★★
Hecuba tells the story of the former queen of Troy, Hecuba, and the death of two of her children. The first half of the play shows us the horrific sacrifice of her daughter Polyxena at the tomb of Achilles, the second the aftermath of the cruel and senseless murder of her youngest son, Polydorus, at the hand of the Trojan royal couple’s old guest-friend, Polymestor, the king of Thrace. It’s a harrowing tale of trauma and greed, of senseless violence and broken trust, and how all these things turn humans into beasts. It’s a tale where old friends become bitter enemies and enemies become reluctant allies.
Odysseus in this play is a vile toad, Agamemnon a spineless wimp, whereas Hecuba and her Trojan women get to be total BAMFs. Of course I’m a fan.

The Trojan Women
★★★★★
Unquestionably the bleakest play of the three, The Trojan women, like Hecuba before it, is set immediately after the fall of Troy, as the captive women of the city are awaiting their fates.
Once again, Hecuba is at the very center of the story, but we also see the fates of Cassandra, Polyxena, Helen, Andromache and, perhaps most famously, Andromache’s baby son, Astyanax.
Helen gets a pretty incredible defense speech, and of course I love that for her. Still, I think one of my favourite moments comes, once again, from Cassandra, whose wild and shockingly jubilant “celebration” of her impending “marriage” to Agamemnon at first seems wildly out of place and inappropriate, but turns into such a darkly satisfying moment once you realize the reason for her triumphant attitude.

Andromache
★★☆☆☆
I… genuinely don’t know what to make of this one.
Although named after her, the plot seems to forget about Andromache about halfway through the play. There’s not really much of a cohesive plot, and while I can see some of the things Euripides is doing with the format, it did not work for me at all.
Hermione’s character makes no sense, especially with the sudden 180 she does from catty, jealous would-be-murderess into tragic heroine. Both Hermione and Menelaus are such cartoony villains, and it means that the stakes just don’t feel as high, especially when compared to the first two plays of the collection. Also, I’m sorry, but you can not make me feel an ounce of sympathy for Neoptolemus as a tragic hero. Especially not in a story centering Andromache.
This one was just a massive letdown, and does not come anywhere close to Hecuba or The Trojan Women.

Now, I do feel like it'd be unfair to knock of a star just because of Andromache, so I'm gonna give this 5 stars for the first two plays and just... pretend the third one didn't happen.

[Ruby Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Euripides is my favourite Greek playwright - I wrote my undergraduate thesis about Medea and The Bacchae, and I’ve read a few of this other plays. The Trojan Women and Other Plays was a collection I had yet to get to, and I’m so happy I finally have.

This collection includes Hecuba, The Trojan Women, and Andromache. They all focus on the plight of the Trojan women after the fall of Troy when they are now slaves to the Greeks.

I especially liked the introduction and the notes on the text. I know quite a bit about Euripides and Greek tragedy, but not much about these plays specifically or their reception, so I really learned a lot. As for the notes at the end, I liked the mention of some specific Greek words, and they also gave good background to the mythology which would be good context for readers less familiar. James Morwood’s translation felt very readable but still had connections to the Greek.

Edith Hall goes into a lot of detail and brings in comparisons to other texts which I found really valuable. It’s worth noting that introductions tend to “spoil” the stories in terms of plot, but personally I would always rather read the introduction first to gain a deeper understanding. In general, I find her work very fascinating.

Hecuba, as the title suggests, focuses on Hecuba, widow of Priam and former queen of Troy. She has to face the terrible fate of her children, and expresses herself with such passion, especially in contrast to Agamemnon. Despite her situation, she shows agency and the desire for revenge.

Hecuba and Andromache both feature in The Trojan Women, along with a wider range of characters including Cassandra and Helen. Many stage adaptations of the play have focused on commentary of different wars and conflicts which really shows the everlasting relevance of the themes and its resonance with a modern audience.

Andromache takes place at a later point in time, with Andromache living in Phthia as a slave and also with a son fathered by Neoptolemus, son of Achilles. She faces conflict with Hermione, daughter of Helen of Troy and wife of Neoptolemus. I particularly liked the debates in this one, and there was a lot of commentary on gender.

Overall, this was a very emotional and poignant collection. I want to see if I can view any performances because that always heightens the experience. I still have more to read by Euripides, so I am looking forward to continuing with more.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn't read any Euripides since a college classics course. Of the three major Greek dramatists, I never really liked Aeschylus and didn't read too much Euripides. Everyone focused on Sophocles, who was very good. But, having read this recent translation, Euripides has rocketed up into first place among these three (even though he won the fewest competitions when he was alive).

If I had to list these plays in order of my favorites, it would be Andromache, then Hecuba, then closely followed by The Trojan Women. In the Trojan Women, I loved Hecuba's retort to Helen's unwillingness to accept any blame for the destruction of Troy, when in reference to the Judgement of Paris, Hecuba says, "After all, why should the goddess Hera have conceived so great a desire to be beautiful? Was it so that she could win a better husband than Zeus? Was Athena in eager pursuit of a match with one of the gods? But she shunned marriage and asked her father to let her stay a virgin. Don't try to give respectability to your crime by making the goddesses out to be fools" (p. 65, lines 975-981). As a footnote mentions, contemporary belief in the judgement of Paris is not questioned, but the "rationalizing of myth for the sake of argument is thoroughly Euripidean" (p. 142).

In Andromache, there are many excellent lines were Andromache and Peleus put Hermione and Menelaus in their places. Andromache says to Hermione, in reference to her mother Helen, "Do not try to outdo your mother, lady, in the love of men. All sensible children should steer clear of the ways of bad mothers" (p. 82, lines 229-231). Peleus chews out Menelaus several times, partly reflecting the real world fact that Athens was at war with Sparta when Euripides produced this particular play.

The pathos of these plays, the stories, the characters, all spoke out loudly across the ages. While certainly having political as well as dramatic significance when they were first produced, these plays still resonate today with issues of war, violence, inner strength, and ego. I thoroughly recommend them.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is rather hard to believe that these plays were written over 2,400 years ago. They are easy to read and comprehend and are, in fact, very absorbing and captivating. I guess that is why they are still read a couple thousand years after they were written! The plays are all tragedies and pertain to the Trojan War and it's aftermath, which took place hundreds of years prior to the plays being written (if the war actually did occur). They all feature strong and forceful yet tragic female characters. To me, they are far more interesting and compelling than the male characters. It is interesting to note that many of the Greek tragedies have such strong female characters, since they were written by men, for a male only audience (women were not allowed to watch them), and acted in by males only. I have noticed that in the past few years there has been several new novels written that are based on Greek Mythology, and most of them seem to feature female leading characters. They are more engrossing, and let's face it, Achilles was an obnoxious jerk.

I liked all three of the plays in this collection, I did not really prefer one over the other, enjoying each in it's turn. And if you are thinking about popping the DVD of the movie "Troy" into your player, sit down and read some Euripides instead. He is far more entertaining and believable...

[Lark · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing collection!
I’m always a bit wary of translations where the goal is to communicate anything but the original text, BUT that wasn’t the point here, and for the most part the translators were transparent with their translation methods.
I truly think, though, that my first readings of these plays would not have been as rich without the insights of the translators and editors. That’s especially true of Rhesos, which, despite the translators essay, is BORINNNNG and uncompelling in comparison to the other works in the collection. I loved Trojan Women and I’m not sure that would be as true if I had read something that was more of a gloss.
As a text that seems to be compiled for instructional use, I wish more of the methodology (and ‘archaeological’ manuscript information) was transparent

[Tumblyhome (Caroline) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoy reading Euripides plays. This book has Hecuba, The Trojan Women and Andromache. I thought Hecuba and The Trojan Women were really strong plays. While they were soul wrenching to read, I thought they captured the horror of war and its aftermath on women and children. The stories of the women were graphically and unrelentingly depicted. Very sadly nothing really changes in the world. I look at pictures in the news and there on the screen is Euripides words made real.
Andromache takes the more immediate war aftermath stories and adds a few years to see how war has such a long lasting effect. But I thought Andromache lost some of its potency as the story progressed and limped to the end.
So five stars for the first two plays and one star lost for Andromache I think

[Jan Peter van Kempen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of seeing a performance of The Trojan Women at the ancient Odeon (built in the second century AD) in July 2017. The play was slightly modernised, but still very much Euripides. Trojan Women is a very powerful play about the aftermath of the Trojan War, or - to put it more precisely - what happened to Hecuba (formerly queen of Tory), Cassandra (her daughter), Andromache (daughter-in-law of Hecuba) and Helena (wife of Menelaos). It is a timeless play. You might even call it an anti-war play, yet insisting on the victory of the female spirit amid the horrors visited on them by the gods and men during war.

[odysseusfcker · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the notes in this edition says that Odysseus and his talent for deceit are usually viewed unfavourably in Greek tragedy, compared to in Homer; and that this would have been very pronounced in The Trojan Women, as it was performed right after the now-lost play Palamedes, in which Odysseus took a villainous role. Of the three plays in this volume, he only actually appears onstage in Hecuba. And even then, it's only for a couple of minutes, to deliver a speech and be vaguely duplicitous. Which is kind of a shame, but I bet he at least looked like a snack when he told Hecuba that her last surviving daughter needed to be sacrificed on Achilles's tomb :/

[Erik Rostad · Rating 5 out of 5]

These three plays show both the immediate and long-term impact of war on women. It's hard to determine who suffered more - Hecuba or Andromache. Hecuba and The Trojan Women occur immediately after the Trojan War while still in the land of Troy. Andromache takes place a little later on in Greece, and shows the life of a slave woman. These are incredible tragedy plays with so many deep connections, themes, and ideas.

[Mike Gardiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trojan Women, the most famous of this volume, is wonderful— but not my favorite. Andromache was the big winner— a genuinely moving AND funny tragedy.

Like much of the Euripides I’ve read, his blend of tones and psychological complexity is what keeps me coming back.

Rhesos is a weird one but moves quickly!

[Heather Ellsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three plays following the fate of certain women after the Trojan War. I was not expecting to be so touched and enthralled. Hecuba, Cassandra, Andromache - you absolute legends! I’m available to pluck out the eyes of wicked men whenever needed!

[Kimberly Lampanelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly good.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hecuba and The Trojan Women were excellent reflections on the end of the Trojan war from two different perspectives, but from the same character: Hecuba.

[Bea🌷 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hecuba: 3.5⭐️

Trojan women: 4 ⭐️

Andromache: 3.5 ⭐️