Here, Peter Burian and Brian Swann recreate Euripides' The Phoenician Women, a play about the fateful history of the House of Laios following the tragic fall of Oedipus, King of Thebes. Their lively translation of this controversial play reveals the cohesion and taut organization of a complexdramatic work. Through the use of dramatic, fast-paced poetry--almost cinematic it its rapidity of tempo and metaphorical vividness--Burian and Swann capture the original spirit of Euripides' drama about the deeply and disturbingly ironic convergence of free will and fate. Presented with acritical introduction, stage directions, a glossary of mythical Greek names and terms, and a commentary on difficult passages, this edition of The Phoenician Women makes a controversial tragedy accessible to the modern reader.

This volume provides a thorough philological and dramatic commentary on Euripides' Phoenissae, the first detailed commentary in English since 1911. An introduction surveys the play, its possible date, features of the original production, the background of Theban myth, the general problem of interpolation, and the textual tradition. The commentary treats the constitution of the text, noteworthy features of diction and style, dramatic technique and structure, and the controversies over possible later additions to the text.