Medea | Author Biography

Although historians can only piece together the biography of a man who lived before detailed biographical information was reliably recorded, certain "facts" about Euripides's life are generally accepted. Euripides was born around 480 B.C. to parents who were presumably affluent, considering that the playwright obtained a good education and owned a library of philosophical works. Euripides knew the philosopher Anaxagoras, entertained the Sophist Protagoras in his home, and could count on the philosopher Socrates attending his plays. Although no evidence exists that Euripides conversed with Socrates, the latter's influence is apparent in the playwright's skepticism. Euripides's life was deeply affected by the Peloponnesian Wars, which ultimately ended the Golden Age of Athens; the scars of a life plagued by war are evident in the mood of pessimism and uncertainty that permeates his works of tragedy. Euripides's characters have more psychological depth than those found in the works of his dramatic predecessors, Aeschylus and Sophocles. Euripides broke with traditional theater and chose to examine the motivations of realistic humans instead of the acts of gods, heroes, and stock characters. He championed the underdog and challenged traditions through his radical ideas regarding the gods and society. Some called him an atheist, but he did not reject religion-he merely identified and denounced its shortcomings.

A bust of Euripides
A bust of Euripides

In all, there are references to ninety-two plays by Euripides; of these, only nineteen are known to have survived the centuries. Most of these plays were more than likely altered as a result of the common practice of oral storytelling, in which tales were verbally passed from town to town, generation to generation. It was not until a century after their author created them that most of these works were actually written down. After his death, Euripides's plays enjoyed more popularity than they had during his lifetime. One measure of his renown is that Aristophanes wrote three plays that lampoon Euripides. In the Frogs. Euripides is portrayed as a radical who taught the Athenians to "think, see, understand, suspect, question, everything," according to Edith Hamilton in her book The Greek Way. In his later years Euripides withdrew from public society and spent most of his time in a cave, working on his plays. The Peloponnesian Wars, in their final throes, were destroying the city and society which he so loved; Athens was collapsing. Finally, at age seventy Euripides left Athens for Macedonia, to help that city's king establish a cultural center to rival Athens. He died there in 406 B.C.