The Trojan Women [#books #review]

by Euripides

Rating: 8/10

ὡς ἡδὺ δάκρυα τοῖς κακῶς πεπραγόσι
θρήνων τ᾽ ὀδυρμοὶ μοῦσά θ᾽ ἣ λύπας ἔχει.

What sweet relief to sufferers it is to weep, to mourn, lament, and chant the dirge that tells of grief!

Chorus (english translation by Perseus Digital Library)

A tragedy through and through: it begins just after a disaster, and despite the pessimism of the characters, it manages to bring them even more pain and despair than they imagined. The title is very simple but fits perfectly, because in fact it is a roundup of trojan women who appear on stage to cry out their pain and then go away to meet their sad fate, with Hecuba, the queen of Troy, who remains on stage all the time talking with the Choir (they too, of course, are trojan women) and taking on herself the misfortunes of the other women as well as her own.

A very exciting reading, strictly speaking and in a broad sense, I'm really regaining a taste for Greek tragedies!