Euripides › Suppliants
EN Lat Orig
Euripides

Suppliants

drama

The women of Argos march on Thebes to recover the bodies of their dead sons, denied burial after the Seven's failed siege. Theseus and Athens intervene. A play about the rights of the dead and the obligations of the living.

Start Reading

Acts

  • Prologue

    The mothers of the Seven against Thebes beg Theseus for help recovering their sons' unburied bodies.

    41 lines
  • Parodos

    The Argive mothers surround the altar at Eleusis, weeping.

    48 lines
  • First Episode

    Aethra persuades Theseus to act. Burying the dead is a universal law.

    279 lines
  • First Stasimon

    The chorus praises Athens as the champion of the oppressed.

    18 lines
  • Second Episode

    Theseus and a Theban herald debate democracy versus tyranny.

    219 lines
  • Second Stasimon

    The chorus prays for Athenian victory.

    34 lines
  • Third Episode

    Athens defeats Thebes and recovers the bodies.

    144 lines
  • Third Stasimon

    The chorus oscillates between joy and renewed grief.

    63 lines
  • Fourth Episode

    The bodies are brought on stage. Adrastus delivers funeral orations.

    117 lines
  • Fourth Stasimon

    The chorus mourns with raw, uncontrollable grief.

    26 lines
  • Fifth Episode

    Evadne throws herself onto her husband's funeral pyre.

    134 lines
  • Kommos

    The grandchildren carry their fathers' ashes. Three generations of grief on stage.

    56 lines
  • Exodos

    Athena appears and establishes an alliance between Athens and Argos, sealed in the ashes of the dead.

    70 lines
An open-access project