Euripides' Peliades

In 455 BCE, Euripides made his theatrical debut with Peliades, a compelling drama of revenge, magic, and deception. In this tragedy, a group of naïve daughters, hoping to restore their elderly father’s youth, unwittingly kill him by dismembering his body and boiling it in a cauldron. Orchestrating this gruesome scheme is the sorceress Medea, who assists Jason in his quest for revenge against Pelias, the usurper of his rightful throne. This volume explores the mythological sources of the legend staged by Euripides and offers a detailed commentary on the sixteen surviving fragments of the drama, preserved solely through indirect tradition. Each fragment is presented with the original Greek text, critically established, alongside an English translation. The volume also investigates key aspects of the dramaturgy and staging of this tragedy, including the intriguing question of the possible identity of the Chorus. To further reconstruct the drama’s narrative, two vase paintings believed to have been inspired by Peliades are also examined.