Status Updates From Euripides V: Bacchae/Iphige...

I read all but two of the plays in this volume for a class this past fall. Now I'm ready to finish up the volume with Cyclops and Rhesus (which may or may not have been written by Euripides).

Cyclops must have been a funny yet brief play to see for Athenians content with the plight of tragedies. I’m beginning to realise that what’s unique in reading plays (ergo watching films) is that typically it is our perspective that peers into the events portrayed. And so Odysseus’ narration of his fateful encounter with Polyphemus may be clouded by his embellishment for whatever purpose, …

“Iphigenia in Aulis” is lengthier than the other tragedies I have read so far, and I question the need for this. The tragedy is interesting for two reasons. First it offers insight into the success of the Achaeans at Troy. Second, the “spurious ending” throws into question Agamemnon’s honour, or what was left of it. …

Euripides’ Bacchae presents an interesting story within the classical tragedy: that of direct divine intervention in the affairs of man. Moreover, this interaction was peculiar in that this appears to be an interpretation of a kind of mass psychosis. What is curious is what might have caused this in times where they had very limited means to communicate to large groups of people. Perhaps food/water?

only reading iia. i have of course already read the bacchae