Aeschylus ─ Suppliants

Aeschylus' Suppliants dramatizes the myth of the fifty daughters of Danaos who flee Egypt and come to Argos as suppliants, trying to escape forced marriage to their Egyptian cousins. It was long considered to be the earliest surviving tragedy, and even after the mid-twentieth century, when new evidence established a later date for the play, critics tended to condemn it for its alleged 'archaic' features. As a result it has long been underestimated, although a careful examination reveals it to be one of the most exciting tragedies.

This companion employs a variety of critical approaches to set the play in its literary, dramatic, social and historical contexts, and also offers a thorough examination of the performance of the tragedy, investigating topics such as stage action, music, song and dance. It also gives a survey of the reception of the play from antiquity to modern times, with close readings of representative texts.

Thalia Papadopoulou is Assistant Professor of Classics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.