Euripides, Women and Sexuality

Euripides' interest in the psychology and social position of women is well known. Of the great Greek playwrights, he most directly reflects contemporary philosophical and social debates, and his work is of great value as a source for social history.The important new studies in this volume explore Euripides' treatment of sexuality and Greek ideals of women's behaviour. Using a wide range of analytic techniques, seven scholars direct new light not only on Euripides' own views of women but also on the ideals and preoccupations of his contemporaries in this area. Athenian women of the classical period were used, in Plato's phrase, 'to a life in the shadows'. This book helps us to see how far the influence of these cloistered women extended into the sunlit world of men.

Chapter 1 Sexual Imagery and Innuendo in Troades, Elizabeth Craik; Chapter 2 A Woman’s Place in Euripides’ Medea, Margaret Williamson; Chapter 3 Euripides the Misogynist?, Jennifer March; Chapter 4 The Articulation of the Self in Euripides’ Ippolytus, Christopher Gill; Chapter 5 Male Homosexuality in Euripides, William Poole; Chapter 6 The Structural Problems of Marriage in Euripides, Richard Seaford; Chapter 7 The State and The Individual:, John Wilkins;

Anton Powell