ABSTRACT
It is an irony that Euripides (ca. 480-406 bc), a defender of peace born in a time of war, was named after the very location of a victorious battle against the Persian invasion, off the coast of Euboea.1 He studied with Anaxagoras, who strongly influenced him, as well as with Protagoras and Prodicus. Apparently, the recurrent association of Euripides with Socrates is erroneous, although it is arguably certain that Socrates never missed a play by Euripides,2 and surely true that, in Plato’s dialogues, Socrates’ references to Euripides are not very scarce. Many of Euripides’ plays survive, some of them award-winning tragedies at the Athenian dramatic festival. Among Euripides’ greatest works are Alcestis, Medea, Hippolytus, The Suppliant Women, Electra, The Trojan Women, Iphigenia in Tauris, The Bacchae, and Iphigenia in Aulis.
