Electra and Other Plays

by Euripides Book 3 in the Penguin Classics: Ancient World series.

First published 2005

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Electra waits in poverty for her exiled brother Orestes, then joins him in killing Aegisthus and their mother Clytemnestra to avenge Agamemnon. In The Suppliant Women, the mothers of the Argive dead appeal to Theseus to recover their sons’ bodies from Thebes, forcing Athens to decide whether justice warrants another war.

Andromache follows Hector’s enslaved widow as Hermione threatens her and her son within the household of Neoptolemus. Hecuba shows Troy’s former queen confronting the sacrifice of Polyxena and avenging the murder of Polydorus, while The Trojan Women follows Hecuba, Cassandra, Andromache and Helen as the victorious Greeks divide Troy’s surviving women and condemn Astyanax to death.

Historical Periods

Peloponnesian War431–404 BCE Athenian Tragedy and the City Dionysia5th century BCE Trojan War Epic TraditionMythic Bronze Age tradition

Genres

Classical Literature Mythological Fiction War Fiction

Historical people

Hector Andromache Agamemnon Menelaus Helen of Troy Hecuba Cassandra Achilles Electra Orestes Euripidesc. 480s BCE–c. 400s BCE Theseusmythological figure Clytemnestramythological figure