Few ancient authors are as challenging as Euripides, and few have provoked so many diverse critical opinions through the ages. This volume aims to bring together some classic essays illustrating the main strands of Euripidean criticism over the last forty years in a form convenient for students. Two of the essays are translated here for the first time, and many others have been revised by their authors. All Greek has been translated.

Fame and Infamy honours Christopher Pelling, reflecting the range of his interests and demonstrating the extent of his influence in spearheading the so-called literary turn in the study of ancient historiography. The volumes twenty-four chapters are written by former pupils, graduate students, and close academic associates, themselves leading experts in their fields, from the UK and overseas. They consider the central question of characterization within Greek and Roman historiography and biography from a fresh perspective, combining close readings of texts of individual authors and overarching exploration into questions of how and why characterization in the ancient world evolves in the ways that it does. Spanning a wide period of time, and focusing on writers from both the Greek and Roman worlds - from Herodotus to Cassius Dio, and from Cicero to Suetonius and beyond - this volume will be essential reading for anyone interested in the evolution of the genres of historiography and biography in the ancient world.

Jason, in exile in Corinth, is marrying the king's daughter. It looks as though his problems are over, though it's hard on Medea, who has betrayed her family for him, followed him all the way from Colchis, killed for him, and borne him two sons. Euripides' Medea is a compelling study of love turned to hatred and a rejected woman's burning desire for revenge. Its central, shocking, act of infanticide comes as the climax of a psychological thriller in which Euripides' dramaturgical skills are shown at their finest and the audience's emotions are ruthlessly manipulated. Medea's conflicting urges and her dazzling rhetoric have exercised an enduring fascination over audiences and readers since the play was first performed in 431 BC. This edition examines a wide range of aspects of the play, including text, performance, interpretation, Euripides' sources, other lost plays about Medea and Euripides' portrayal of character and gender. Greek text with facing-page translation, introduction and commentary.

Few ancient authors are as challenging as Euripides, and few have provoked so many diverse critical opinions through the ages. This volume aims to bring together some classic essays illustrating the main strands of Euripidean criticism over the last forty years in a form convenient for students. Two of the essays are translated here for the first time, and many others have been revised by their authors. There is a general introduction by the editor surveying the scholarly tradition. All Greek has been translated.

'Revenge is a kind of wild justice ...' (Francis Bacon). Euripides' Hecuba is dominated by the vengeance which Hecuba takes on the faithless Polymestor, and explores in a complex and profound manner the potential of revenge as a subject for tragedy. The sacrifice of Polyxena is in counterpoint to the revenge action; the whole is set in the chaotic aftermath of the fall of Troy. The combination of plots creates one of Euripides' most effective dramas, full of pathos, suspense, and excitement. This, the first book-length study of the play in English, argues that it has been greatly undervalued by critics who have failed to appreciate the power of its rhetoric, the subtlety of its characterization, and the beauty of its choral odes. The book also examines and seeks to explain the powerful influence of Hecuba in the Renaissance, and compares the play with English revenge tragedy of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The thesis from which the book developed won the Hellenic Foundation Sixth Annual Award for the best doctoral thesis in ancient Greek literature and philosophy in the UK in 1992; and a penultimate draft won the Conington Prize for 1993.