5 of 5 stars

An excellent collection of some of the best Greek tragedy. (It’s Modern Library, so you know it would be good! 😀). Before reading this collection, I read a great deal of Euripides and fell back in love with his writing. This volume did not change that opinion. I also enjoyed the selections of Sophocles and Aeschylus, noting that some that I liked in college but don’t like now and vice versa.

I found Aeschylus’s Orestia trilogy just okay but his Persians good. I found “Prometheus Bound” to be excellent. I didn’t realize that it is only possibly by Aeschylus. In antiquity, it was assigned to him but more modern critics found it might have been by someone else, and later. This would make sense with my reading and my overall feelings on Aeschylus. I didn’t enjoy his plays as much in college or now, but I was blown away by Prometheus Bound. I felt it was so much more powerfully written than his other works.

Turning to Sophocles, I found his “Oedipus the King” and Antigone to be very good while “Oedipus at Colonus” was just good. I thought his Electra was more “meh”.

Closing with Euripides, I found Alcestis and Medea to be most excellent, especially the Alcestis. I wasn’t as intrigued by Hippolytus and thought his Electra was pretty bad. I found the “Trojan Women” and Helen" to be good once they got going, but were slow starters. Like Sophocles' Electra, I found Euripides Bacchae to be just “meh”.

It took me awhile to work through this great volume. Each play was introduced with historical background, plot information, and analysis. Within the play, there were copious notes explaining translation choices, meanings from the times, etc. And the book concluded with some short appendices that were very useful. Overall, an outstanding achievement by Mary Lefkowitz and James Romm.