Euripides: Tragedies

Euripides, an Athenian playwright who lived in the 5th century BCE, holds a prominent place among the three giants of ancient Greek tragedy – Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides himself. However, unlike his predecessors, Euripides did not bow to the authority of myths or idealize heroes. His works are imbued with a spirit of rebellion, a critical attitude towards established norms and principles.
Euripides is not afraid to question traditional notions of gods, heroes, and social order. He depicts human flaws and passions without embellishment, revealing the dark sides of human nature. His plays are filled with philosophical reflections on the meaning of life, the fate of man, and the place of the individual in society.

«Sophocles believed that he painted people as they should be, while Euripides painted them as they are. Indeed, it is one thing to compose the image of a heroic figure whose actions are subject to a certain normativity, and quite another to look into the human soul, to try to convey in poetic words what is happening there. Harmony of proportions, proportionality, expediency – everything that in the minds of the Greeks was associated with the concept of the beautiful, that gave pleasure from the perception of a perfect whole, was snatched from under Euripides' stylus» – A. Sodomor.