Euripides’ Hecuba: an Essay of Interpretation
Nikolsky Boris M.
In this article a new interpretation of Euripides’ tragedy Hecuba is proposed. As the thematic analysis of the tragedy shows, the author’s intention was to stress the relativity of ordinary notions of friendship and enmity and to suggest a new criterion to define them, i.e. virtue and baseness. This theme reflects a political aim of Hecuba: the tragedy was intended to put in doubt the necessity and usefulness of the military alliance with the Thracians. The attitude towards the Thracians should depend not on formal relations of friendship but on moral evaluation of their deeds: their cruelty necessitates the view of them as enemies rather than friends.
References:
Abrahamson, E.L. 1952: Euripides’ tragedy of Hecuba. Transactions of the American Philological Association 83, 120–129. C
onacher, D. 1961: Euripides’ Hecuba. American Journal of Philology 82/1, 1–26.
Daitz, S.G. 1971: Concepts of freedom and slavery in Euripides’ Hecuba. Hermes 99/2, 217–226.
Delebecque, E. 1951: Euripide et la guerre du Péloponnèse. Paris.
Dodds, E.R. (ed.) 1960: Euripides Bacchae. 2nd ed. Oxford.
Gantz, T. 1993: Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources. Baltimore–London.
Hall, E. 1989: Inventing the Barbarian. Greek Self-Definition Through Tragedy. Oxford.
Heath, M. 1987: Iure principem locum tenet. Euripides’ Hecuba. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 34, 40–68.
Hogan, J.C. 1972: Thucydides 3.52–68 and Euripides’ Hecuba. Phoenix 26/3, 241–257.
Hornblower, S. 1996: A Commentary on Thucydides. Vol. II. Books IV–V. 24. Oxford.
King, K.C. 1985: The politics of imitation: Euripides’ Hekabe and the Homeric Achilles. Arethusa 18/1, 47–66.
Lawson, J. 1758: Lectures Concerning Oratory. Dublin.
Luschnig, C.A.E. 1976: Euripides’ Hecabe: The time is out of joint. Classical Journal 71/3, 227–234.
Méridier, L. (ed.) 1956: Euripide: Tragédies. T. II. Hippolyte, Andromaque, Hécube. 2e éd. Paris.
Meridor, R. 1978: Hecuba’s Revenge. Some observations on Euripides’ Hecuba. American Journal of Philology 99/1, 28–35.
Meridor, R. 1983: The function of Polymestor’s crime in the Hecuba of Euripides. Eranos 81, 13–20.
Michelakis, P. 2002: Achilles in Greek Tragedy. Cambridge.
Mossman, J. 1995: Wild Justice. A Study of Euripides’ Hecuba. Oxford.
Nikolsky, B. 2015: Misery and Forgiveness in Euripides: Meaning and Structure in the Hippolytus. Swansea.
Norwood, G. 1948: Greek Tragedy. 4th ed. London.
Pohlenz, M. 1954: Die griechische Tragödie. 2. Aufl. Göttingen.
Prévost, P. 1786: Examen de la tragédie d’Hécube. In: P. Brumoy, Le théâtre des grecs. Nouvelle édition. T. IV. Paris, 480–504.
Rusten, J.S. (ed.) 1988: Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War. Book II. Cambridge.
Schubert, P. 2000: L’ Hécube d’Euripide et la définition de l’étranger. Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica 64/1, 87–100.
Segal, C. 1990: Violence and the other: Greek, female and barbarian in Euripides’ Hecuba. Transactions of the American Philological Association 120, 109–131.
Stanton, G.R. 1995: Aristocratic obligation in Euripides’ Hekabe. Mnemosyne 48/1, 11–33.
Tierney, M. (ed.) 1946: Euripides: Hecuba. Dublin.