Characters Poseidon, God of the Sea Athena, Goddess of Wisdom Hecuba, Queen of Troy Talthybius, An army messenger Cass<strong>and</strong>ra, Hecuba's daughter Andromache, wife of Hecuba’s son Hector, Menelaus, King of Sparta Helen, his wife Chorus of Trojan Captives Astyanax, Andromache's son Greek Soldiers 22
[Troy in ruins is smoking in the background. Hecuba is lying on the ground. Poseidon appears above her.] Poseidon I, Poseidon, have come from the salty sea depths, where choruses of Nereids weave elaborate patterns in their beautiful dance. Apollo <strong>and</strong> I built this city’s stone towers, measuring them carefully inch by inch. Never once did my heart falter in its love for this Phygian city, smoking now, sacked, <strong>and</strong> destroyed by Argive spears. Phocian Epeius, the man from Parnassus, with Pallas Athena’s help, built a horse pregnant with weapons, <strong>and</strong> sent it into the city with its deadly load. Men in times to come will call it the Trojan Horse, the horse that hid the spears of a deadly ambush. Now the groves are deserted <strong>and</strong> the altars of the gods drip blood; Priam lies dead just below the stairs to the altar of Zeus, the defender of homes. Much gold <strong>and</strong> Phrygian spoils are loaded on the Greek ships, only waiting for a favorable wind; the Greeks who warred against this city for ten years are eager to see their wives <strong>and</strong> children. I’m defeated also by Argive Hera <strong>and</strong> Athena, who destroyed this Phrygian people, so I’m leaving this noble city <strong>and</strong> my altars. When cruel desolation seizes a city, belief in the gods grows weak <strong>and</strong> they are no longer honoured. Scam<strong>and</strong>er’s shore echoes with the weeping of the prisoners, allotted to their lords. Arcadians will own these, <strong>and</strong> Thessalians those; the leaders of Athens <strong>and</strong> the sons of Theseus win yet others. Those who have not been allotted are under these roofs, selected for the army’s leaders, <strong>and</strong> with them is Spartan Helen, the daughter of Tyndareus, rightly counted one of the prisoners. But if one wants to look on misery, it’s here to see: Hecuba lies on the ground, weeping tears for her many sorrows. She does not know that her child Polyxena died pitifully at Achilles tomb; Priam <strong>and</strong> her children are gone; <strong>and</strong> Cass<strong>and</strong>ra, whom lord Apollo drove mad, Agamemnon, with no regard for what is sacred, will drag to his bed for secret love. Farewell my city, once prosperous with your gleaming towers; if Pallas Athena, the daughter of Zeus, had not destroyed you, you would still be st<strong>and</strong>ing. Enter Athena. Athena May we set aside our quarrel, <strong>and</strong> may I address the closest relative of my father, you who are great, <strong>and</strong> honoured 50 23
- Page 1 and 2: EURIPIDES’ TROJAN WOMEN PREFACE,
- Page 3 and 4: Tragedy and Comedy in Athens were p
- Page 5 and 6: The goddess Athene, his niece, trie
- Page 7 and 8: This play was performed in 415 BC,
- Page 9 and 10: This play shows us a new type of he
- Page 11 and 12: Original Staging The original Athen
- Page 13 and 14: Syracuse after the ill-fated Sicili
- Page 15 and 16: The most popular of Euripides’ pl
- Page 17 and 18: Webster, T. B. L., The Tragedies of
- Page 19 and 20: CASSANDRA (ca-SAN-drah), daughter o
- Page 21: SCAMANDER (sca-MAND-er), river in T
- Page 25 and 26: Athena Did you know that the Greeks
- Page 27 and 28: The prows of the ships With swift b
- Page 29 and 30: Half-chorus B Has some Greek messen
- Page 31 and 32: Hecuba Here it is women. The moment
- Page 33 and 34: What are you saying? She’s alive,
- Page 35 and 36: Where I served you as my lord. 330
- Page 37 and 38: [Aside] These men in their high sta
- Page 39 and 40: I was royal and I married royalty,
- Page 41 and 42: Hecuba, See here’s Andromache, Br
- Page 43 and 44: Hecuba All in smoke. Andromache Oh
- Page 45 and 46: Andromache We are dragged off as bo
- Page 47 and 48: to Greece, a prisoner of the spear,
- Page 49 and 50: Andromache May his sons also suffer
- Page 51 and 52: Your life is ripped away from us, f
- Page 53 and 54: She is one of the defeated slaves,
- Page 55 and 56: he came, that nemesis, whether you
- Page 57 and 58: Menelaus [To Hecuba] I agree with y
- Page 59 and 60: And shout as they weep. A little gi
- Page 61 and 62: uilt high by Loxias, have shorn fro
- Page 63 and 64: Hecuba [Keening] Oimoi moi. Chorus
- Page 65 and 66: Talthybius [To his soldiers] Seize
- Page 67 and 68: A holy man in unholy slaughter. Hec
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