A bold new translation of Euripides's shocking ancient Greek tragedy follows the story of Medea, a scorned woman abandoned by the man for whom she has sacrificed everything, who devises the most horrific revenge possible on Jason and their children.

Aristophanes, the greatest of comic writers in Greek and in the opinion of many, in any language, is the only one of the Attic comedians any of whose works has survived in complete form He was born in Athens about the middle of the fifth century B C, and had his first comedy produced when he was so young that his name was withheld on account of his youth. He is credited with over forty plays, eleven of which survive, along with the names and fragments...

The Birds is a comedy by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed in 414 BC at the City Dionysia where it won second place. It has been acclaimed by modern critics as a perfectly realized fantasy remarkable for its mimicry of birds and for the gaiety of its songs. Unlike the author's other early plays, it includes no direct mention of the Peloponnesian War and there are few references to Athenian politics, and yet it was staged...

From the perspective of the townspeople and the queen, Clytemnestra, Agamemnon follows the emotional journey of grief, rage, and revenge. Agamemnon had dedicated much of his life to a war that his brother started. He vowed to do whatever it takes to win-committing war crimes and killing innocents. But, even in victory, Agamemnon feels unsatisfied and plagued by the bloodshed he caused. Because of this, he decides to perform a ritual to clear his conscience...

Greek philosopher and scientist, Aristotle, lived in the 4th century B.C. and is thought of as one of the most important figures from classical antiquity. Aristotle was probably the most famous member of Plato's Academy in Athens, whose writings would ultimately form the first comprehensive system of Western philosophy. His writings were not constrained to simply one field of inquiry but covered such various subjects as physics, biology, metaphysics,...

The second in a series of three comedies, 'Peace', along with 'The Acharnians' and 'Lysistrata', called for an end to the Peloponnesian war. The 'Peace' was brought out four years after 'The Acharnians' (422 B.C.), when the war had already lasted ten years. The leading motive is the same as in the former play-the intense desire of the less excitable and more moderate-minded citizens for relief from the miseries of war.

This is the first of the series of three Comedies-'The Acharnians,' 'Peace' and 'Lysistrata'-produced at intervals of years, the sixth, tenth and twenty-first of the Peloponnesian War, and impressing on the Athenian people the miseries and disasters due to it and to the scoundrels who by their selfish and reckless policy had provoked it, the consequent ruin of industry and, above all, agriculture, and the urgency of asking Peace.-From the introduction...

"Agamemnon" opferte seine Tochter Iphigenie. Die Mutter von Iphigenie, Klytaimnestra, tötet deshalb ihren Mann Agamemnon nach dessen Rückkehr aus dem Trojanischen Krieg, und ebenso dessen Geliebte Kassandra. Der Sohn Orestes tötet daraufhin seine Mutter Klytaimnestra und deren Geliebten Aigisthos. Orestes - und das ist neu - wird dafür nicht mit dem Tod bestraft; die Rachegeister (Erinyen) können in einem Gerichtsverfahren besänftigt werden....

Chremylus, a poor but just man, accompanied by his servant Cario consults the Delphic Oracle concerning his son, whether he ought not to be instructed in injustice and knavery and the other arts whereby worldly men acquire riches. By way of answer the god only tells him that he is to follow whomsoever he first meets upon leaving the temple, who proves to be a blind and ragged old man. But this turns out to be no other than Plutus himself, the god...

Thought to be Sophocles' earliest surviving play, Ajax is a study in archaic values. After the death of Achilles, Telamonian Ajax stands above the other Greeks as the greatest warrior, but the Greek chiefs award Achilles' armour to the wily Odysseus. Stung by this dishonour, Ajax, "our dread lord of rugged might, now lies stricken with a storm that darkens the soul," and the play moves to its gut-wrenching climax with all the fatalism of the best...