Ῥῆσος
Rhesus
Euripides · Date unknown · authorship disputed
Rhesus, king of Thrace, arrives in the night to help Troy, and is killed in his sleep by Odysseus and Diomedes.
Persons, in order of appearance
- Χο.Chorus
- Εκ.Hector
- Αι.Aeneas
- Δο.Dolon
- Αγ.Messenger
- Ρη.Rhesus
- Οδ.Odysseus
- Δι.Diomedes
- Αθ.Athena
- Αλ.Paris
- Ην.Charioteer
- Μο.Muse
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. Rh. 1–996
Full synopsis (tells the ending)
Night in the Trojan camp. Hector, alarmed by the Greek watchfires, sends Dolon to spy. Rhesus, king of Thrace, arrives with his army, late and boastful, and Hector gives him a place to camp. Odysseus and Diomedes are inside the Trojan lines the same night, having caught and killed Dolon, and Athena points them to the Thracian's tent. They kill Rhesus in his sleep and take his horses. His mother, a Muse, comes for the body and blames Odysseus and Athena.
Drawing: Line drawing after the 1877 plate of a red-figure krater in Vienna (Hoernes, Archäologische Zeitung 35, Taf. 5); cut out and retraced.