Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Helen
    Helen
    Helen
    Ebook60 pages53 minutes

    Helen

    By Euripides

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Though little is known for certain of his early life, Euripides was probably born around 460 b.c.e. to the farmer Mnesarchus and his wife Clito, and his studious nature quickly led him to a literary life in Athens. He turned to playwriting at a young age, achieving his first of five victories in the dramatic competitions of the Athenian City Dionysia in 441 b.c.e. His plays are often ironic, pessimistic, and display radical rejection of classical decorum and rules. Together with Aeschylus and Sophocles, Euripides provided the canon of Greek tragedy and thereby laid the foundation of Western theatre. "Helen" is a drama which follows an alternative myth of Helen of Sparta after the fall of Troy. It begins with the premise that Helen did not run off to Troy with Paris, but was actually stolen away to Egypt by the gods and replaced by a phantom look-alike in Troy.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigireads.com Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2014
    ISBN9781420904048
    Helen
    Author

    Euripides

    Euripides was a tragedian of classical Athens. He was born on Salamis Island around 480 BC to his mother, Cleito, and father, Mnesarchus, a retailer who lived in a village near Athens. He had two disastrous marriages, and both his wives—Melite and Choerine (the latter bearing him three sons)—were unfaithful. He became a recluse, making a home for himself in a cave on Salamis. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. He became, in the Hellenistic Age, a cornerstone of ancient literary education. The details of his death are uncertain.

    Read more from Euripides

    Related to Helen

    Related ebooks

    Performing Arts For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Odyssey and the Other

      Nov 14, 2017

      The Odyssey and the Other
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Trojan War Museum

      Jul 29, 2019

      The Trojan War Museum
      15 min read

    • Article

      Dionysian Ecstasy

      Mar 1, 2020

      Dionysian Ecstasy
      15 min read

    • Article

      The Trojan Women — And Many More — Speak Up In 'A Thousand Ships'

      Jan 24, 2021

      Natalie Haynes's new book tells the epic story of the Trojan War from the perspectives of the women involved in it. And that means all the women — from Troy and Sparta, goddesses, Amazons and more.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Orpheus and Eurydice

      Dec 25, 2023

      Orpheus and Eurydice
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Island (catullus 64)

      Mar 1, 2022

      Back then the evergreens tumbled downriverfrom the glaze-white runoff to the boot-stirred puddlesof amber young men who fulfilled our destiny,who clambered into ships, on horses, and in wagonspainting the newfound landscapes ours.Our calling was nobl

      9 min read

    • Article

      Poem Of The Week: The North Wind By Anne Brontë

      May 8, 2023

      That wind is from the North, I know it well;No other breeze could have so wild a swell.Now deep and loud it thunders round my cell,Then faintly dies,And softly sighs,And moans and murmurs mournfully.I know its language; thus is speaks to me – ‘I have

      3 min read

    • Article

      Karma For Cleomenes

      May 30, 2022

      Karma For Cleomenes
      9 min read

    • Article

      Demeter

      Apr 7, 2022

      Demeter
      4 min read

    • Article

      Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea

      Jun 3, 2019

      Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea
      18 min read

    • Article

      Ursula K. Le Guin

      Jun 15, 2018

      He was thinking of Lookfar, abandoned long ago, beached on the sands of Selidor. Little of her would be left by now, a plank or two down in the sand maybe, a bit of driftwood on the western sea. As he drifted near sleep he began to remember sailing t

      15 min read

    • Article

      Chitchat

      Nov 24, 2023

      Chitchat
      12 min read

    • Article

      Read A Sneak Peek of IMPOSSIBLE CREATURES

      Sep 6, 2023

      The murderer arrived by boat. He came gently, with a soft tread and beautifully clean hands. He strode past a group of men and women hauling in a catch of fire-fish, his knife out of sight in his pocket. They glanced round at him, but he only nodded

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Mighty Viking

      Aug 3, 2022

      The Mighty Viking
      4 min read

    • Article

      Echo and Narcissus

      Mar 7, 2022

      Echo and Narcissus
      7 min read

    • Article

      Press Ganged!

      May 1, 2020

      Press Ganged!
      3 min read

    • Article

      Bringing In the Horse

      Sep 4, 2018

      Bringing In the Horse
      10 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Helen

    4/5

    36 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      A less famous play by Euripides in which he presents an alternative reality in which Helen never really went to Troy.Written in the shadow of the Peloponnesian War, the play critically exposes the futility of war and the horrors which accompany it. The social commentary is quite advanced and sadly relevant even to the modern day.This is the old-school translation; expect 19th century style language. Worth a read.
    • 5/5
      My favourite 5th century BC Greek play. In this one the always interesting Euripides gives his twist on the legend of Helen of Troy. According to this version, Helen never actually got to Troy but was hiding out in Egypt until all the brouhaha died down. I'm really not a fan of reading plays (and this is my tenth this year--two more to go), but this one is great.

    Book preview

    Helen - Euripides

    HELEN

    BY EURIPIDES

    TRANSLATED BY E. P. COLERIDGE

    A Digireads.com Book

    Digireads.com Publishing

    ISBN 10: 1-4209-4414-2

    ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-4414-3

    This edition copyright © 2012

    Please visit www.digireads.com

    CONTENTS

    DRAMATIS PERSONAE

    HELEN

    DRAMATIS PERSONAE

    HELEN

    PORTRESS, an old woman

    TEUCER

    MESSENGER

    CHORUS, ladies attending on helen

    THEONOE

    THEOCLYMENUS

    MENELAUS, king of sparta

    THE DIOSCURI

    HELEN

    [Tomb of Proteus in the island of Pharos. Enter HELEN.]

    HELEN. Lo! These are the fair virgin streams of Nile, the river that waters Egypt's tilth, fed by pure melting snow instead of rain from heaven. Proteus during his life-time was king of this land, dwelling in the isle of Pharos, and ruling o'er Egypt; and he took to wife one of the daughters of the sea, Psamathe, after she left the embraces of Æacus. Two children she bare in this his palace, a son Theoclymenus, who hath passed his life in duteous service to the gods, and likewise a noble daughter, her mother's pride, called Eido in her infancy, but when she reached her youthful prime, the age for wedded joys, renamed Theonoe; for well she knew whate'er the gods design, both present and to come, for she had won this guerdon from her grandsire Nereus. Nor is my fatherland unknown to fame, e'en Sparta, or my sire Tyndareus; for a legend tells how Zeus winged his way to my mother Leda's breast, in the semblance of a bird, even a swan, and thus as he fled from an eagle's pursuit, achieved by guile his amorous purpose, if this tale be true. My name is Helen, and I will now recount the sorrows I have suffered. To a hollow vale on Ida came three goddesses to Paris, for beauty's prize contending, Hera and Cypris, and the virgin child of Zeus, eager to secure his verdict on their loveliness. Now Cypris held out my beauty—if aught so wretched deserves that name—as a bride before the eyes of Paris, saying he should marry me; and so she won the day; wherefore the shepherd of Ida left his steading, and came to Sparta, thinking to win me for his bride. But Hera, indignant at not defeating the goddesses, brought to naught my marriage with Paris, and gave to Priam's princely son not Helen, but a phantom endowed with life, that she made in my image out of the breath of heaven; and Paris thought that I was his, although I never was—an idle fancy! Moreover, the counsels of Zeus added further troubles unto these; for upon the land of Hellas and the hapless Phrygians he brought a war, that he might lighten mother-earth of her myriad hosts of men, and to the bravest of the sons of Hellas bring renown. So I was set up as a prize for all the chivalry of Hellas, to test the might of Phrygia, yet not I, but my name alone; for Hermes caught me up in the embracing air, and veiled me in a cloud; for Zeus was not unmindful of me; and he set me down here in the house of Proteus, judging him to be the most virtuous of all mankind; that so I might preserve my marriage with Menelaus free from taint. Here then I abide, while my hapless lord has gathered an army, and is setting out for the towers of Ilium to track and recover me. And there by Scamander's streams hath many a life breathed out its last, and all for me; and I, that have endured all this, am accursed, and seem to have embroiled all Hellas in a mighty war by proving a traitress to my husband. Why, then, do I prolong my life? Because I heard Hermes declare, that I should yet again make my home on Sparta's glorious soil, with my lord—for Hermes knew I never went to Ilium—that so I might never submit to any other's wooing. Now as long as Proteus gazed upon yon glorious sun, I was safe from marriage; but when o'er him the dark grave closed, the dead man's son was eager for my hand. But I, from regard to my former husband, am throwing myself down in suppliant wise before this tomb of Proteus, praying him to guard my husband's honour, that, though through Hellas I bear a name dishonoured, at least my body here may not incur disgrace.

    [Enter TEUCER.]

    TEUCER. Who is lord and master of this fenced palace? The house is one I may compare to the halls of Plutus, with its royal bulwarks and towering buildings. Ha! great gods! what sight is here? I see the counterfeit of that fell murderous dame, who ruined me and all the Achæans. May Heaven show its loathing for thee, so much dost thou resemble Helen! Were I not standing on a foreign soil, with this well-aimed shaft had worked thy death, thy reward for resembling the daughter of

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1