ABSTRACT
The Euripidean plays discussed below very likely appeared between 430 and 415 B.C. The three Sophoclean plays, on the other hand, are notoriously difficult to date. Oedipus Rex is perhaps the most certain to fall in this period; the other two are considered here because they illuminate and are illuminated by two of the Euripidean plays confidently placed in these years. First, Sophocles’ Women of Trachis and Euripides’ Hercules Furens both depend indirectly on Aeschylus’ Oresteia – especially the Agamemnon: both Sophocles and Euripides tell the story of Heracles’ return as a variation on that of Agamemnon. Second, the Oresteia has an even more direct influence on the Electra plays of both playwrights. Thus the four plays, at once similar in being connected to the Oresteia yet different in their manner of connection, form a natural unit.
