The Suppliants (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Euripides
- First Published: 423
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Tragedy
- Time of Work: Antiquity
- Setting: Eleusis, not far from Athens
- Principal Characters: Theseus, Aethra, Adrastus, Evadne, Iphis, Children of the Slain Chieftains, The Goddess Athena, Herald of Creon, Chorus of Argive Mothers
- Genres: Drama, Tragedy
- Subjects: War, Death or dying, Gods or goddesses, Funeral rites or ceremonies, Greece or Greek people, Joy or sorrow
- Locales: Greece, Athens, ancient, Eleusis, ancient
The Story:
Adrastus, the Argive king who had led the disastrous war of the Seven against Thebes and had alone escaped with his life, brought the mothers and the children of the slain chieftains to Athens, the most democratic and hospitable city of Greece. There they gathered at the temple of Demeter at Eleusis, and when Aethra, the mother of Theseus, came to pray, they formed a ring of supplication about her, begging for help in recovering the dead bodies of their sons for burial according to the prescribed rites. The anguish of the mothers so moved Aethra that she sent at once...
[The entire page is 1990 words long]
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