Ἄλκηστις
Alcestis
Euripides · first staged City Dionysia, 438 BC · second prize, behind Sophocles · fourth play of its group, in place of a satyr play
Admetus may escape death if someone dies in his place. His wife Alcestis agrees, and dies. Heracles, a guest in the house, wrestles her back from Death.
Persons, in order of appearance
- Απ.Apollo
- Θα.Death
- Χο.Chorus
- Θε.Maid
- Αλ.Alcestis
- Αδ.Admetus
- Πα.Eumelus
- ΗρHeracles
- Φε.Pheres
- Θε.Attendant
Translations
- E. P. Coleridgeprose · 1891 · aligned by line · with Murray's Greek
- A. S. Wayverse · 1912 · aligned by speech · with Murray's Greek
- Gilbert Murrayverse · aligned by speech · with Murray's Greek
Greek texts
Cite as Eur. Alc. 1–1163
Full synopsis (tells the ending)
Apollo won Admetus, king of Pherae, a bargain with the Fates: he may escape his appointed death if someone else will die for him. His parents refused. His wife Alcestis agreed. The play opens on the day of her death. While the house mourns, Heracles arrives on his way to a labour, and Admetus, unwilling to turn a guest away, hides the death from him and takes him in. Heracles finds out, goes to the tomb, wrestles Death for her, and brings her back veiled and silent to a husband who does not at first know her.
Drawing: Line drawing after the 1857 plate of a Campanian neck-amphora formerly in the Blacas collection, now British Museum 1867,0508.1122 (Lenormant and de Witte, Élite des monuments céramographiques II, pl. LIV); cut out and retraced.