The Phoenician Women

The Phoenician Women (Ancient Greek: Φοίνισσαι, Phoinissai) is a play by Euripides. It is a tragedy using the same story as Aeschylus' play Seven Against Thebes. The name of the play refers to the women in the Greek chorus. They are Phoenician women on their way to Delphi, but are trapped in Thebes by the war. In this play, the chorus does not play an important role in the plot. They show how ordinary people can be caught in the middle of a war. Patriotism is an important part of the play. Polynices talks a lot about his love for the city of Thebes, but has brought an army to destroy it. Creon is also forced to make a choice between saving the city and saving the life of his son.

Euripides wrote the play around 408 BC. During this time his home, Athens, suffered several military disasters.

The text

The text of the play is very poor. Over the centuries there has been several additions, both large and small to the story. Some scholars even believe that the play was written by someone else after Euripides died, but copying his style. For more information about changes in the text, see Donald J. Mastronarde, Phoenissae.

Other versions of the play

The Phoenician Women of Euripides was produced in a classical Meitei language version of a play, called Hojang Taret. This was performed in many time in India of India, including at the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META), 19th Bharat Rang Mahotsav, and the 8th Theatre Olympics.