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The Phoenician Women ( / Phoinissai) is a tragedy
Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of The arts based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific Poetic tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western culture....
 by Euripides
Euripides

Euripides was the last of the three great tragedy of classical Athens . Ancient scholars thought that Euripides had written ninety-five plays, although four of those were probably written by Critias....
 based on the same story as Aeschylus
Aeschylus

Aeschylus was an Ancient Greece playwright. He is often recognized as the father or the founder of tragedy, and is the earliest of the three Greek tragedy whose Play survive extant, the others being Sophocles and Euripides....
' play Seven Against Thebes
Seven Against Thebes

The Seven against Thebes is a mythic narrative whose classic statement is found in the play by Aeschylus concerning the battle between the Seven led by Polynices, traditional Theban enemies, and the army of Thebes, Greece headed by Eteocles and his supporters....
. The title refers to the Greek chorus
Greek chorus

The Greek chorus is a group of twelve or fifteen minor actors in tragedy and twenty-four in Ancient Greek comedy plays of classical Athens....
, which is composed of Phoenician women on their way to Delphi
Delphi

Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...
 who are trapped in Thebes
Thebes, Greece

Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, Greece, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain....
 by the war. Unlike some of Euripides' other plays, the chorus does not play a significant role in the plot. Patriotism is a significant theme in the story, as Polynices
Polynices

In Greek mythology, Polynices or Polyneices was the son of Oedipus and Jocasta. His wife was Argea. His father, Oedipus, was discovered to have killed his father and married his mother, and was expelled from Thebes , leaving his sons Eteocles and Polynices to rule....
 talks a great deal about his love for the city of Thebes but has brought an army to destroy it; Creon is also forced to make a choice between saving the city and saving the life of his son.

Plot
The play opens with a summary of the story of Oedipus
Oedipus

Oedipus was a Greek mythology monarch of Thebes, Greece. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family....
 and its aftermath told by Jocasta
Jocasta

In Greek mythology, Jocasta, also known as Jocaste , Epikast?, or Iokast? was a daughter of Menoeceus and Queen consort of Thebes, Greece....
, who in this version has not committed suicide.






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Encyclopedia


The Phoenician Women ( / Phoinissai) is a tragedy
Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of The arts based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific Poetic tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western culture....
 by Euripides
Euripides

Euripides was the last of the three great tragedy of classical Athens . Ancient scholars thought that Euripides had written ninety-five plays, although four of those were probably written by Critias....
 based on the same story as Aeschylus
Aeschylus

Aeschylus was an Ancient Greece playwright. He is often recognized as the father or the founder of tragedy, and is the earliest of the three Greek tragedy whose Play survive extant, the others being Sophocles and Euripides....
' play Seven Against Thebes
Seven Against Thebes

The Seven against Thebes is a mythic narrative whose classic statement is found in the play by Aeschylus concerning the battle between the Seven led by Polynices, traditional Theban enemies, and the army of Thebes, Greece headed by Eteocles and his supporters....
. The title refers to the Greek chorus
Greek chorus

The Greek chorus is a group of twelve or fifteen minor actors in tragedy and twenty-four in Ancient Greek comedy plays of classical Athens....
, which is composed of Phoenician women on their way to Delphi
Delphi

Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...
 who are trapped in Thebes
Thebes, Greece

Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, Greece, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain....
 by the war. Unlike some of Euripides' other plays, the chorus does not play a significant role in the plot. Patriotism is a significant theme in the story, as Polynices
Polynices

In Greek mythology, Polynices or Polyneices was the son of Oedipus and Jocasta. His wife was Argea. His father, Oedipus, was discovered to have killed his father and married his mother, and was expelled from Thebes , leaving his sons Eteocles and Polynices to rule....
 talks a great deal about his love for the city of Thebes but has brought an army to destroy it; Creon is also forced to make a choice between saving the city and saving the life of his son.

Plot


The play opens with a summary of the story of Oedipus
Oedipus

Oedipus was a Greek mythology monarch of Thebes, Greece. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family....
 and its aftermath told by Jocasta
Jocasta

In Greek mythology, Jocasta, also known as Jocaste , Epikast?, or Iokast? was a daughter of Menoeceus and Queen consort of Thebes, Greece....
, who in this version has not committed suicide. She explains that after her husband blinded himself upon discovering that he was her son, his sons Eteocles
Eteocles

In Greek mythology, Eteocles was a king of Thebes , the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia. The name is from earlier *Etewoklewes , meaning "truly glorious"....
 and Polyneices locked him away in hopes that the people might forget what had happened. He curses them, proclaiming that neither would rule without killing his brother. To avert this, they have agreed to split the country - Polyneices allows Eteocles to rule for one year. When the year expired, Eteocles was to abdicate, allowing his brother to rule for a year. He refused to do so, forcing his brother into exile instead. While exiled, Polyneices went to Argos
Argos

Argos is a city in Greece in the Peloponnese near Nafplion, which was its historic harbour, named for Nauplius ....
, where he married the daughter of Adrastus
Adrastus

Adrastus or Adrestus , traditionally translated as "nonparticipant" or "uncooperative", was a legendary king of Argos during the war of the Seven Against Thebes....
, king of the Argives. He then persuaded Adrastus to send a force to help him reclaim the city. Jocasta has arranged for a cease-fire so that she can mediate between her two sons.

She converses with Polyneices about what his life in exile was like, and then listens to both of their arguments. Polyneices re-explains the situation, and that he is the rightful king. Eteocles replies, saying that he desires power above all else and will not surrender it unless forced to. Jocasta reprimands them both, telling Eteocles his ambition may destroy the city and criticizing Polyneices for bringing an army to sack the city he loves. They argue, but are unable to reach any agreement.

Eteocles then meets with Creon
Creon

Creon is a figure in Greek mythology best known as the ruler of Thebes,_Greece in the legend of Oedipus. He was the father of Menoeceus and Megara by his wife, Eurydice of Thebes....
 to plan for the coming battle; since the Argives are sending one company against each gate, the Thebans select one company to defend each of the seven gates. Eteocles also asks Creon to ask Teiresias for advice, and gives the order that anyone who buries Polyneices in Theban soil is to be executed.

Teiresias reveals that Creon must kill his son Menoeceus
Menoeceus

In Greek mythology, Menoeceus was the father of Creon, and both grandfather and father-in-law of Oedipus. According to Hyginus, during the reign of Oedipus when the Seven Against Thebes laid siege to the city, he committed suicide by throwing himself from walls after Tiresias foretold that if anyone of the Sparti should perish, Thebes would...
. He explains that when the city was founded, it was by men who had sprung from the ground where Cadmus sowed the teeth of a serpent he had killed, but the serpent was sacred to Ares, who would punish Thebes unless a sacrifice was made. As only Creon and his son were pure-blooded descendants of the men who sprouted from the ground, Menoeceus was the only choice. Creon is told he can only save the city by sacrificing his son, and instructs Menoeceus to flee to the oracle at Dodona; Menoeceus agrees but secretly goes to the serpent's lair to sacrifice himself and appease Ares.

Jocasta then receives a messenger, who tells her about the progress of the war and that her sons are both alive, but have agreed to fight one-on-one for the throne. She and her daughter Antigone
Antigone

Antigone is the name of two different women in Greek mythology. The name may be taken to mean "unbending", coming from "anti-" and "-gon / -gony" , but has also been suggested to mean "opposed to motherhood" or "in place of a mother" based from the root gone, "that which generates" ....
 go to try to stop them. Shortly after they depart, Creon hears about how the duel has gone. Eteocles mortally wounded Polynieces, who was able to deliver a fatal blow to his brother; the two died at the same instant. Jocasta, overcome with grief, killed herself immediately.

Antigone enters, lamenting the fate of her brothers; Oedipus emerges from the palace and she tells him what has happened. After he has a little while to mourn, Creon banishes him from the country and orders Eteocles but not Polyneices to be buried in the city. Antigone fights him over the order and breaks off her engagement with his son Haemon
Haemon

In Greek mythology, Haemon was the son of Creon and Eurydice of Thebes.When Oedipus stepped down as King of Thebes , he gave the kingdom to his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, who both agreed to alternate the throne every year....
. She decides to accompany her father into exile, and the play ends with them departing for Athens.

Translations

  • Edward P. Coleridge, 1891 - prose:
  • Arthur S. Way
    Arthur S. Way

    Arthur Sanders Way was an English people classical scholar and poet, born at Dorking. He was educated at Kingswood School, Bath, Somerset, and at Queen's College , Melbourne, where he was afterward fellow....
    , 1912 - verse
  • Elizabeth Wyckoff, 1958 - verse
  • Andrew Wilson
    Andrew Wilson

    Andrew Wilson or Andy Wilson may refer to:*Andrew Wilson *Andrew Wilson , US actor*Andrew Wilson , Scottish footballer*Andrew Wilson , Scottish footballer...
    , 1994 - prose: