Euripides, Alcestis

Thalia Papadopoulou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)

Ed. by Jonathan Burgess, University of Toronto
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.1: Greek Writing and Culture: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Imperial, -800--100.
Vol. editors: Jonathan Burgess (University of Toronto), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Victoria Fendel (University of Oxford), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Vaios Liapis (Open University of Cyprus), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Mali Skotheim (Ashoka University), Laura Swift (The Open University)

Dates

First circulation or publication -438

Places

Ancient Greece (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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Alcestis

is the earliest surviving play by Euripides. It was produced in 438 BCE as the final drama of a tetralogy (the other three plays,

Cretan Women

Alcmaeon in Psophis

, and

Telephus

are now lost except for a few fragments), which came second to a production by Sophocles (his plays are unknown). The story follows a folk-tale motif (Lesky 1925; see Parker 2007, xi-xv and esp. Iakov 2012, vol. 1, 25 n. 1 and 61 n. 68, for recent bibliography). Alcestis is allowed by the Fates to die instead of her husband, Admetus, and Heracles wrests her from Thanatos (Death).

Alcestis

is among the most controversial plays by Euripides (Gounaridou 1998, ch. 1; Parker 2007, xxxvi-lvi). The controversy begins with the problem of genre classification: the substitution of

Alcestis

for the satyr drama that…

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2401 words

Citation: Papadopoulou, Thalia. "Alcestis". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 September 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13371, accessed 31 October 2024.]

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Euripides, Alcestis

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