The Bakkhai

A new translation by Colin Teevan.

Collected here for the first time in the series are three major plays by Euripides: Bacchae, translated by Reginald Gibbons and Charles Segal, a powerful examination of the horror and beauty of Dionysiac ecstasy; Herakles, translated by Tom Sleigh and Christian Wolff, a violent dramatization of the madness and exile of one of the most celebrated mythical figures; and The Phoenician Women, translated by Peter Burian and Brian Swamm, a disturbing interpretation of the fate of the House of Laios following the tragic fall of Oedipus. These three tragedies were originally available as single volumes. This volume retains the informative introductions and explanatory notes of the original editions and adds a single combined glossary and Greek line numbers.

Regarded by many as Euripides' masterpiece, Bakkhai is a powerful examination of religious ecstasy and the resistance to it. A call for moderation, it rejects the temptation of pure reason as well as pure sensuality, and is a staple of Greek tragedy, representing in structure and thematics anexemplary model of the classic tragic elements.Disguised as a young holy man, the god Bacchus arrives in Greece from Asia proclaiming his godhood and preaching his orgiastic religion. He expects to be embraced in Thebes, but the Theban king, Pentheus, forbids his people to worship him and tries to have him arrested. Enraged, Bacchus drivesPentheus mad and leads him to the mountains, where Pentheus' own mother, Agave, and the women of Thebes tear him to pieces in a Bacchic frenzy.Gibbons, a prize-winning poet, and Segal, a renowned classicist, offer a skilled new translation of this central text of Greek tragedy.

"Regarded by many as Euripides' masterpiece, Bakkhai examines both the horror and the beauty of the religious ecstasy that Dionysos brings to Thebes. His offer of closeness to nature and freedom from the constraints of civilization, especially for women, excites bitter resistance as well as fanatical acceptance." "Disguised as a young holy man and accompanied by his band of Asian worshipers, the god Dionysos arrives in Greece at Thebes, proclaims his godhood and his new religion, and drives the Theban women mad. When the Theban king, Pentheus, tries to imprison him, Dionysos afflicts Pentheus himself with madness and leads him, dressed as a bacchant, to the mountains, where his own mother, Agaue, and her companions tear him to pieces in an insane Bacchic frenzy."

Euripides Bakkhai presents the inner conflict between the untamed, irrational side of man represented by the god Dionysos and the rational side represented by the god Apollo. Meagher offers a rich and revealing introduction to ancient Greek tragedy -- a remarkably appropriate alternative to Sophocles' Oedipus the King.

-- A monograph on Euripides entitled "Mortal Vision: the Wisdom of Euripides" -- Five plays in translation: Hekabe, Helen, Iphigenia at Aulis, Iphigenia in Tauris, and Bakkhai -- A concluding essay entitled "Revel and Revelation: the Poetics of Euripi

By applying aspects of cognitive psychology to a study of three key tragic props, this book examines the importance of visual imagery in ancient Greek tragedy. The shield, the urn and the mask are props which serve as controls for investigating the connection between visual imagery and the spectators' intellectual experience of tragic drama. As vehicles for conceptual change the props point to a function of imagery in problem solving. Connections between the visual and the cognitive in tragedy, particularly through image shape and its potential for various meanings, add a new perspective to scholarship on the role of the visual in ancient performance. These connections also add weight to the importance of imagery in contemporary problem solving and creative thought.

Collected here for the first time in the series are three major plays by Euripides: Bacchae, translated by Reginald Gibbons and Charles Segal, a powerful examination of the horror and beauty of Dionysiac ecstasy; Herakles, translated by Tom Sleigh and Christian Wolff, a violent dramatization of the madness and exile of one of the most celebrated mythical figures; and The Phoenician Women, translated by Peter Burian and Brian Swamm, a disturbing interpretation of the fate of the House of Laios following the tragic fall of Oedipus. These three tragedies were originally available as single volumes. This volume retains the informative introductions and explanatory notes of the original editions and adds a single combined glossary and Greek line numbers.