EASTON PRESS EURIPIDES MEDEA HIPPOLYTUS THE BACCHAE Collector’s Ed NEW SEALED

Description: Easton Press – PLAYS BY EURIPIDES [MEDEA, HIPPOLYTUS (and) THE BACCHAE]Translated by Philip Vellacott and illustrated by Michael Ayrton.Euripides is perhaps the most modern and complex of the Greek tragedians. These monumental works capture the power and real-world consequences of human passions.The three tragedies in this volume were produced, respectively, in 431, 428 and 406 B.C. They are among the ten dramas included in the earliest extant Euripides manuscripts, compiled about the fourth century A.D.; another early ms. Collection of eighteen dramas is believed to represent odd volumes from an edition edited by Aristophanes of Byzantium c. 200 B.C. The earliest printed editions containing these three plays in original Greek are those of J. Lascaris (Florence, 1496) and M. Masurus (Aldus Manutius, Venice, 1503). Important translations into English include the prose versions by E. P. Coleridge (1891) and those in verse by A.S. Way (1894-98), Gilbert Murray (1902-06), Rex Warner (1961), and Philip Vellacott (published by Penguin Books, Ltd.; copyright © 1953, 1954, 1963 by Philip Vellacott).The first edition containing the Vellacott translations of these three tragedies, together with the translator’s introduction and Michael Ayrton’s illustrations, was issued by The George Macy Companies, Inc.; New York, in 1967. This Easton Press Collector’s edition was published as part of their leather bound books series of The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written.MEDEAOne of Euripides’ most powerful and best known plays, Medea (431 bc; Greek Mēdeia) is a remarkable study of the mistreatment of a woman and of her ruthless revenge. The Colchian princess Medea has been taken by the hero Jason to be his wife. They have lived happily for some years at Corinth and have two sons. But then Jason casts Medea off and decides to marry the Princess of Corinth. Medea is determined on revenge, and after a dreadful mental struggle between her passionate sense of injury and her love for her children, she decides to punish her husband by murdering both the Corinthian princess and their own sons, thereby leaving her husband to grow old with neither wife nor child. She steels herself to commit these deeds and then escapes in the chariot of her grandfather, the sun-god Helios, leaving Jason without even the satisfaction of punishing her for her crimes. Euripides succeeds in evoking sympathy for the figure of Medea, who becomes to some extent a representative of women’s oppression in general.HIPPOLYTUSIn Hippolytus (428 bc; Greek Hippolytos) Aphrodite, the goddess of love and sexual desire, destroys Hippolytus, a lover of outdoor sports who is repelled by sexual passion and who is instead devoted to the virgin huntress Artemis. Aphrodite makes Phaedra, wife of Theseus, the king of Athens, fall violently in love with her stepson Hippolytus. Phaedra is deeply ashamed of her illicit passion, but when Hippolytus angrily rejects her love she is so mortified by his denunciation that she cannot forbear from falsely accusing him of rape before she kills herself. Her accusation provokes Theseus into pronouncing a curse on his son that eventually leads to Hippolytus’ death. But Artemis reveals Hippolytus’ innocence before he dies, and the young man is able to forgive his father, thus freeing Theseus from the dreadful stain of bloodguilt. Given the nature of its plot, the play is remarkable for its propriety.THE BACCHAEThis play is regarded by many as Euripides’ masterpiece. In Bacchants (c. 406 bc; Greek Bakchai; Latin Bacchae) the god Dionysus arrives in Greece from Asia intending to introduce his orgiastic worship there. He is disguised as a charismatic young Asian holy man and is accompanied by his women votaries, who make up the play’s chorus. He expects to be accepted first in Thebes, but the Thebans reject his divinity and refuse to worship him, and the city’s young king, Pentheus, tries to arrest him. In the end Dionysus drives Pentheus insane and leads him to the mountains, where Pentheus’ own mother, Agave, and the women of Thebes in a bacchic frenzy tear him to pieces. Agave returns to Thebes triumphant carrying Pentheus’ head, and her father, Cadmus, has to lead her back to sanity and recognition. The play shows how the liberating and ecstatic side of the Dionysiac religion must be balanced against the dangerous irresponsibility that goes with the Dionysiac loss of reason and self-consciousness.PRODUCTION DETAILS:Bound in full leatherGilt stamped spine accents and raised spine hubsIntricate gilt stamped cover designSpecially milled archival acid-neutral paperSmyth-sewn pagesGilded page edgesMoiré Silk endpapersPermanent satin ribbon page-marker184 pagesSize: 11” x 8”CONDITION: Book is NEW and SEALED in the publisher’s original SHRINK WRAP. Please note the small tear to the shrink wrap (see photo 3). FREE UK delivery by Royal Mail Tracked48 with Signature Service All items are sent at cost price whether purchasing a single or multiple items. Due to size, weight and value considerations it is not possible to accurately calculate combined postage automatically. Always feel free to ask or if purchases require immediate payment I will refund any difference. 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