Three Other Theban Plays
Though now associated mainly with Sophocles’ Theban Plays and Euripides’ Bacchae, the theme of Thebes and its royalty was a favorite of ancient Greek poets, one explored in a now lost epic cycle, as well as several other surviving tragedies. With a rich Introduction that sets three of these plays within the larger contexts of Theban legend and of Greek tragedy in performance, Cecelia Eaton Luschnig’s annotated translation of Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, Euripides’ Suppliants, and Euripides’ Phoenician Women offers a brilliant constellation of less familiar Theban plays—those dealing with the war between Oedipus’ sons, its casualties, and survivors.
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Though now associated mainly with Sophocles’ Theban Plays and Euripides’ Bacchae, the theme of Thebes and its royalty was a favorite of ancient Greek poets, one explored in a now lost epic cycle, as well as several other surviving tragedies. With a rich Introduction that sets three of these plays within the larger contexts of Theban legend and of Greek tragedy in performance, Cecelia Eaton Luschnig’s annotated translation of Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, Euripides’ Suppliants, and Euripides’ Phoenician Women offers a brilliant constellation of less familiar Theban plays—those dealing with the war between Oedipus’ sons, its casualties, and survivors.
Reviews:
"Luschnig's goal is to offer translations that are both readable and speakable and in this she has succeeded admirably. Both the tragedy expert and the novice will enjoy reading these translations; the stage actor will enjoy speaking these lines. . . . Three Other Theban Plays offers a reliable, thorough resource to its primary audience of students. Undergraduates are likely to find these translations more accessible than those in the similarly targeted University of Chicago Greek tragedy translations and will certainly find this edition, as a whole, more supportive of their efforts to contextualize and interpret these plays."
—Adriana Brook, Lawrence University, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review
of related interest:
Sophocles: Theban Plays
Translated, with Notes, by Paul Woodruff and Peter Meineck
"This edition of the Theban Plays is bound to excite . . . the translations and the quality and directness of Woodruff’s discussions are enough to ensure that."
—James Robson, The Joint Association of Classical Teachers Review
"A worthy addition to Hackett’s growing series of translations of classical literature in accessible editions."
—Anne Mahoney, New England Classical Journal
Euripides: Bacchae
Translated, with Introduction and Notes, by Paul Woodruff
"Woodruff’s translation] is clear, fluent, and vigorous, well thought out, readable and forceful. The rhythms are right, ever-present but not too insistent or obvious. It can be spoken instead of read and so is viable as an acting version; and it keeps the lines of the plot well focused. The Introduction offers a good survey of critical approaches. The notes at the foot of the page are suitably brief and non-intrusive and give basic information for the non-specialist."
—Charles Segal, Harvard University
About the Author:
Cecelia Eaton Luschnig is Professor Emerita of Classics, University of Idaho.
