In the centuries since it was first performed, Euripides’s Medea has established itself as one of the most influential of the Greek tragedies. The story of the wronged wife who seeks
revenge against her unfaithful husband by murdering their children is lodged securely in the popular imagination, a touchstone for politics, law, and psychoanalysis and the subject of
constant retellings and reinterpretations.
This new translation of Medea by classicist Oliver Taplin, originally published as part of the acclaimed third edition of Chicago’s Complete Greek Tragedies, brilliantly replicates the
musicality and strength of Euripides’s verse while retaining the play’s dramatic and emotional impact. Taplin has created an edition of Medea that is particularly suited to
performance, while not losing any of the power it has long held as an object of reading or study. This edition is poised to become the new standard, and to introduce a new generation of
readers to the heights and depths of Greek tragedy.
