Φοίνισσαι
Phoenician Women
Euripides · first staged c. 409 BC
Polynices brings an army against Thebes to take the throne his brother Eteocles will not give up. Jocasta fails to reconcile them; they kill each other, and she kills herself.
Persons, in order of appearance
- Ιο.Jocasta
- Θε.Old Servant
- Αν.Antigone
- Χο.Chorus
- Πο.Polyneices
- Ετ.Eteocles
- Κρ.Creon
- Τε.Teiresias
- Με.Menoeceus
- Αγγ.Messenger
- Αγγ. ΒSecond Messenger
- Οι.Oedipus
Translations
- E. P. Coleridgeprose · 1891 · aligned by line · with Murray's Greek
- A. S. Wayverse · 1912 · aligned by speech · with Murray's Greek
Greek texts
Cite as Eur. Phoen. 1–1766
Full synopsis (tells the ending)
Polynices' Argive army is at the walls of Thebes to claim the year of kingship his brother Eteocles refused to hand over. Jocasta, alive in this version, arranges a truce so the brothers can meet, and argues for peace. They will not yield. The assault comes; Tiresias names the price of the city's survival, and Creon's son Menoeceus kills himself to pay it. The brothers kill each other in single combat, and Jocasta kills herself over the bodies. Creon banishes the blind Oedipus, and Antigone goes with him.
Drawing: Line drawing after the 1844 plate of a red-figure vase (Lenormant and de Witte, Élite des monuments céramographiques I, pl. XXVIII); cut out and retraced.