Aeschylus: Suppliants

Many of the themes of Aeschylus' Suppliants - the treatment of refugees, forced marriage, ethnic and cultural clashes, decisions on war and peace, political deception - resonate strongly in the world of today. The play was, however, for many years neglected in comparison to Aeschylus' other works, probably in part because it was wrongly believed to be very early and hence 'primitive', and this edition, aimed primarily at advanced undergraduates and graduate students, is the first since 1889 to offer an accessible English commentary based on the Greek text. This provides particular help with the peculiarities of tragic, especially Aeschylean, Greek. An extensive introduction discusses the Danaid myth and its many variations, the four-play production (tetralogy) of which Suppliants formed part, the underlying social and religious issues and presuppositions, the conditions of performance, and the place of Suppliants in Aeschylus' work, among other topics.

• Major new edition of this important play, which engages with still-relevant themes including refugees, gender, race, war, and political deception
• Enables students to become more confident in dealing with the peculiarities of tragic, and particularly Aeschylean, Greek
• The Introduction discusses the underlying myth and its variations and makes clear the flexibility of Greek myth and its limits