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A review by jasonfurman
The Rhesus of Euripides by Gilbert Murray, Gilbert Euripides
2.0
I have now read all 15 of the extant Greek tragedies set in the world of the Trojan War (nearly half of all of the extant Greek tragedies). This one, attributed to Euripides but with substantial debate, is the only one that is weak. It is also the only one that is straight out of the Iliad--the episode where Dolon is captured by Odysseus and Diomedes who then turn the tables and end up killing Rhesus (the king of the Thracians) and a bunch of Thracians. It is somewhat interesting to read this episode from the Iliad from the perspective of the Trojans but only somewhat--there are no moral dilemmas, powerful speeches, interesting plot, powerful drama, or anything else to this. (Note, I read the Richard Lattimore translation in [b:The Complete Greek Tragedies|22049425|The Complete Greek Tragedies (Complete 4 Volume Box Set in Slipcase)|David Grene|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1399480093l/22049425._SX50_.jpg|41375517]
In general I really enjoyed the fifteen plays I read. Other than this one they all worked around the story of the Iliad, either depicting events before the war (e.g., Iphigenia at Aulis), during the war (Philocetes), but mostly after the war (8 of the plays--mostly notably the Oresteia--are about Agamemnon's return, his murder by Clytemnestra and her murder by Orestes and Electra). Several show events or their aftermath from the Trojan perspective (including this one and Andromache, Hecuba and the Trojan Women). I loved how they all centered around the same event but provided different perspectives, changed ways to understand the characters, watching them be unsympathetic in one version and sympathetic in another. Like the Iliad and the Odyssey, the ability of the Greeks to not privilege their own side or worldview but try to see things through the eyes of other people--and in the case of these male playwrights often through the eyes of women--was particularly impressive and stands in contrast to other ancient literature.
In general I really enjoyed the fifteen plays I read. Other than this one they all worked around the story of the Iliad, either depicting events before the war (e.g., Iphigenia at Aulis), during the war (Philocetes), but mostly after the war (8 of the plays--mostly notably the Oresteia--are about Agamemnon's return, his murder by Clytemnestra and her murder by Orestes and Electra). Several show events or their aftermath from the Trojan perspective (including this one and Andromache, Hecuba and the Trojan Women). I loved how they all centered around the same event but provided different perspectives, changed ways to understand the characters, watching them be unsympathetic in one version and sympathetic in another. Like the Iliad and the Odyssey, the ability of the Greeks to not privilege their own side or worldview but try to see things through the eyes of other people--and in the case of these male playwrights often through the eyes of women--was particularly impressive and stands in contrast to other ancient literature.