Euripides, the youngest of the three great Athenian tragic poets, was born either in 480 B.C., the year in which the Greek forces defeated the invading Persian army at Salamis, or, more probably, a few years earlier (T 1.2 and 6). He wrote some ninety plays (T 1.16), of which eighteen have come down to us (nineteen including
Rhesus, but that is probably not his). He died abroad, as a guest of Archelaus, king of Macedon (T 1.11 and 1.18), in the Athenian year 407/6 (T 67), a short time before his native city’s defeat in the Peloponnesian War (404). His life, therefore, spans the period of Athens’ greatest achievements in politics, warfare, art, architecture, and poetry.
Evidence about his life, apart from his work as a tragic poet, is slight. As was the case with most literary figures
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Citation: Kovacs, David. "Euripides". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 September 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1452, accessed 22 November 2024.]
