Ἀνδρομάχη
Andromache
Euripides · Date unknown, c. 425 BC · the scholia say it was not produced at Athens
Andromache, Hector’s widow, is now Neoptolemus’ slave and has borne him a son. Neoptolemus’ wife Hermione, jealous and childless, plots with her father Menelaus to kill them both.
Persons, in order of appearance
- Αν.Andromache
- Θερ.Maid
- Χο.Chorus
- Ερ.Hermione
- Με.Menelaus
- Πα.Molossus
- Πη.Peleus
- Τρ.Nurse
- Ορ.Orestes
- Αγ.Messenger
- Θετ.Thetis
Translations
- E. P. Coleridgeprose · 1891 · aligned by line · with Diggle's Greek
- A. S. Wayverse · 1912 · aligned by speech · with Diggle's Greek
Full synopsis (tells the ending)
Andromache, Hector's widow, was given to Neoptolemus as a prize of war and has borne him a son. His wife Hermione, Menelaus's daughter, is childless and blames her. Andromache has taken refuge at the altar of Thetis and hidden the boy. With Neoptolemus away at Delphi, Hermione and Menelaus move to kill them both, and Menelaus gets her off the altar by producing the child. Old Peleus arrives in time and faces Menelaus down. Hermione, terrified of her husband's return, runs off with Orestes, who wanted her himself and has arranged for Neoptolemus to be murdered at Delphi. The body is brought home; Thetis appears to settle everyone's future.
Drawing: Line drawing after Karl Reichhold's 1904 drawing of the Vivenzio hydria by the Kleophrades Painter, Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale 81669 (Furtwängler and Reichhold, Griechische Vasenmalerei I, Taf. 34); cut out and retraced.