Euripides
1 book analyzed
Biography
Euripides (c. 480-406 BCE) was the youngest and most controversial of the three great Athenian tragedians. He wrote approximately 90 plays, of which 18 survive — more than any other Greek tragedian. He won only five first prizes at the City Dionysia (compared to Sophocles's roughly 18), and was frequently mocked by the comic playwright Aristophanes for putting beggars, cripples, and outspoken women on stage. He was considered radical in his own time for his psychological realism, his sympathy for marginalized figures (women, slaves, foreigners), and his skepticism toward the gods. He spent his last years in self-imposed exile in Macedonia and died there in 406 BCE. After his death, his reputation soared — he became the most frequently performed tragedian in the ancient world.