Trojan Women and Two Other Plays: Orestes and Rhesus

In these three plays, Euripides points a very stern finger at those who seek retribution through war or vengeance. All three tragedies are connected to the Homeric myth of the Trojan War.

The Trojan Women is a shocking exhibition of the egregious crimes that are committed during a war and a magnificent court case between two queens: Hekabe, the queen of the once-glorious city Troy, and Helen, the Queen of Sparta.

Orestes finds himself ensnared in a cycle of revenge and retribution that devastates his family - turning a wife against her husband, children against their mother, a niece and nephew against their uncle - until Apollo intervenes to restore peace.

Rhesus, a warrior from Thrace and an ally of Troy, enters the war late only to be killed during the same night by Diomedes - aided by the goddess Athena, who was on the side of the Greeks.