Written in the period from 426 to 415 BC, during the fierce struggle for supremacy between Athens and Sparta, these five plays are haunted by the horrors of war – and its particular impact on women. Only the , with its extended debate on democracy and monarchy, can be seen as a patriotic piece. is perhaps the greatest of all anti-war dramas; shows the ferocious clash between the wife and concubine of Achilles’ son Neoptolemos; while reveals how hatred can drive a victim to an appalling act of cruelty. develops (and parodies) Aeschylus’ treatment of the same story, in which the heroine and her brother Orestes commit matricide to avenge their father Agamemnon. As always, Euripides presents the heroic figures of mythology as recognizable, often very fallible, human beings. Some of his greatest achievements appear in this volume.