Euripides was born in 480 BC and died in 406 BC. He was the third of the three great Greek dramatists, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. His work, which was quite popular in his own time, exerted great influence on Roman drama. In more recent times he has influenced English and German drama, the most conspicuous of which include French dramatic poets such as Pierre Corneille and Jean Baptiste Racine.
According to tradition, Euripides was born in Salamis on September 23, around 480 BC, the day of the great naval battle between the Greeks and the Persians. His parents, according to some authorities, belonged to the nobility. According to others, they were of humble origin. Either way, their son received a thorough education. His plays began to be performed in the Attic drama festivals in 454 BC. Howver, it was not until 442 BC that he won first prize. This distinction, despite his enormous talent, came again to him only four times. Besides his writings, his chief interests were philosophy and science.
Even though Euripides did not identify himself with any specific school of philosophy, he was greatly influenced by the Sophists and by such philosophers as Protagoras, Anaxagoras, and Socrates. Euripides was austere and considered himself misunderstood by his contemporaries. This conclusion was not without foundation, because he was always the object of attack by the Athenian writers of comedy. Aristophanes in particular made him a subject of a satire in The Frogs, written in 405 BC. Euripides' plays were often criticized for their unconventionality, for their natural dialogue (his heroes and princes spoke the language of everyday life), and for their independence from traditional religious and moral values. However, his plays were famous throughout Greece. In the latter part of his life he left Athens for Macedonia.
In contrast to Aeschylus and Sophocles, Euripides represented the new moral, social, and political movements that were taking place in Athens toward the end of the 5th century BC. This was a period of great intellectual discovery, when wisdom ranked as the highest earthly accomplishment. Anaxagoras had just proven that air was an element, and that the sun was not a divinity but matter. New truths were being established in all areas of knowledge. Euripides reacted to them, and brought a new kind of thinking to the writing of tragedy. His interest lay in the thought and experience of the ordinary individual rather than in the experiences of legendary beings of the heroic past.
Although Euripides got many ideas from the old mythology, still he treated his characters in a realistic fashion. They were no longer idealized symbols far away from everyday life, but instead were normal, commonplace Athenians. Euripides shared in the intellectual skepticism of his time, and thus, his plays challenged the religious and moral beliefs of the past, which had not begun to be doubted by the people. His moods and attitudes shifted between extremes, sometimes within the same play. He was able to portray the bitter, realistic observation of human weaknesses and corruption. Yet just as often his work reflected respect for human heroism, dignity, and more tender sentiments.
The structure of Euripides' plays has frequently been described as defective because of his use of the chorus separately from the chief action of the drama, and because his plays are often made up of brilliant detached episodes that do not form units through which the plots are gradually developed. However, in such plays as Medea, the plot is steadily developed from the prologue to the devastating climax. Euripides has been criticized for using the explanatory prologue, where he makes the events that come before the opening of the play known to the spectators and often tells about coming events. Aristophanes ridiculed him for the mechanical and exaggerated use of this device, which was frequently burdened with long histories of the dramatis personae (characters in a play). Among his other devices were the deus ex machina, the unexpected introduction of a god to facilitate (bring about) the denouement, or anti-climax, and the alteration of legends to suit the plot requirements.
Euripides took his plots from the same general source as the other Greek dramatists. The native Greek myths and legends held a strong attraction for him, especially the adventures of Athenian heroes such as Theseus. He also looked for subjects in new fields, especially for themes that suggested violent emotions and romantic action. Such were the stories of the heroes Bellopheron and Phaethon, which were first written as a play by Euripides.
Of the many plays credited to Euripides, only 17
tragedies and 1 satyr play, Cyclops, survive. The plays
that we know the dates when they were written include Alcestis
(438 BC), Medea (431 BC), Hippolytus (428 BC), Trojan
Women (415 BC), Helen (412 BC), Orestes (408
BC), and Iphigenia in Aulis and Bacchae (both produced
posthumously (after death) in 405 BC). Those plays which
we do not know the date they were written include Andromache,
Children of Heracles, Hecuba, Suppliants,
Electra, Madness of Heracles, Iphigenia in Tauris,
Ion, and Phoenissae.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION