The Bacchae and Other Plays

Euripides (c.484-406 BC) was the most controversial of the three great Greek tragedians and the most modern. His major themes - religious scepticism, the injustices suffered by women and the destructive folly of war - are issues still vitally important today. "Ion", a play more concerned with character than ideas, deals with the problem of reconciling religious faith with the facts of human life. The Women of Troy poignantly reveals the horror of war, a theme also woven into the comedy Helen, in which Euripides good-humouredly parodies himself. The Bacchae, his masterpiece, explores the psychology of mass violence. Above all, as these four plays demonstrate, Euripides sought to understand the nature of the human soul and human society.