Euripides, Phoenissae

Laura Swift (The Open University)

Ed. by Vaios Liapis, Open University of Cyprus
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.1: Greek Writing and Culture: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Imperial, -800--100.
Vol. editors: Jonathan Burgess (University of Toronto), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Vaios Liapis (Open University of Cyprus), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Mali Skotheim (Ashoka University), Laura Swift (The Open University)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. -406

Places

Ancient Greece (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play
Tragedy

Resources

Euripides’ Phoenissae was one of the most popular Greek tragedies in the Byzantine period, but has fallen out of favour in more recent times, and is now rarely staged. The precise date of its original production is uncertain, but scholars tend to place it between 411 and 409 BC (see Mastronarde 1994: 11-14). Like all Greek tragedies, it was produced for the festival of the Great Dionysia, and would have been staged in conjunction with two other tragedies and a satyr-play (a lighter play featuring a chorus of satyrs: mythological creatures famed for their debauchery). Phoenissae is set in heroic-age Thebes, after the reign of Oedipus and during the war between his sons Eteocles and Polynices: a topic which also formed …

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1520 words

Citation: Swift, Laura. "Phoenissae". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 October 2009 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13355, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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