Euripides Life Events Timeline

Euripides Is Born

480 BCE

Euripides is born in 480 BC on Salamis Island, Greece. Son of Mnesarechus and Cleito.

Education

460 BCE

Euripide's father was told that his son would excel and sent him off to be trained as an athlete and gymnast for the Olympic games. He would be taught painting and philosophy by Prodicus and Anaxagoras. He would come into contact with the writings of Homer and Aeschylus. (Date of education is unknown, as is most of his personal life)

Family Members

460 BCE

Euripides family consisted of; Mnesarechus (father), Cleito(mother), Xenofon Euripides(son), Mnisilohos(son), Mnisarhidis(son), Euripides(son, poet), Melite(spouse), Chlorine(spouse). Euripides(son) would help produce The Bacchae after his fathers death.

Important Events. The Peloponnesian War

460 BCE

Euripides career would merge with the Peloponnesian War. This famous war would be fought mainly between Athens and Sparta. Lead by the ambitions of Pericles and an Imperial Athens this war would end in a Spartan victory. Greek culture soon decays with the Athenian lose. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/peloponnesian-war/

Contemporary: Incipit Pericles

460 BCE

Athenian politician during the "Golden Age of Athens". Pericles in my opinion was the last great man Athens produced and can no longer bare. Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian Empire. An embodiment of Athenian culture, and Pre-Socratic values. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pericles-Athenian-statesman

World Events; Incipit Socrates

457 BCE

With Socrates philosophy begins. The Socratic method would develop the foundation of western philosophy. Socrates would inquire about politics, the Gods, sociology, psychology, morals, values, science, and ethics. From Socrates Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Skepticism develop.

Marriages

453 BCE

Little is known of his private life. It is important to note that this is all speculation and rumors about the life Euripides had. Euripides was married to Melito and Choirile. Euripides had 4 sons in total and both his wives were unfaithful.

INFLUENCES!!!

450 BCE

Euripides had a very rich and cultured upbringing. He was influenced by playwright Aeschylus, Homer, and Sophocles. As well by Socrates, Protagoras, and Anaxagoras.

Plays of Euripides

444 BCE

Euripides wrote 90 plays in his lifetime. With 18 of them being complete.
Alcestis (play)
Alcmaeon in Corinth
Alcmaeon in Psophis
Andromache
Andromeda
Antigone
Archelaus
The Bacchae
Children of Heracles
Electra
Helen
Hippolytus
Medea
Oedipus
Philoctetes
The Phoenician Women
Rhesus
The Trojan Women.

Style of Euripides

431 BCE

Euripides was known for adding new element to the stage and being a wildcard or iconoclast. The elements he introduced were a change in scene decoration, special effects. and a Deus ex machina or crane to harness flying actors or statues. Much of this was not appreciated in his lifetime and seemed over the top to his audiences and later philosophers.

Reception

431 BCE

Euripides was a playwright that challenged the Greek audience. He would be a subverter or tradition. A poet of "realism" with dark writings of disturbing life experiences. He would show the Greek audience "who they were". He would put madness at the front of the stage as in his plays Medea and the Bacchae.

Medea

431 BCE

This play is one of Euripides master pieces. It starts with the main character Medea sobbing, refuting womans plight in ancient Greek society. Her soon to be ex-husband (Jason) has abandoned her with two children for a young princess. Medea's opening words will persuade you of her mad plan to kill her kids as the only alternative to strike back at her husband. Euripides will walk us through the steps in which she will turn mad. Medea kills the young princess and her kids.

Medea Part Two

431 BCE

Medea is a darker themed play exploring the psychology of madness to the audience as a reality that women face in the ancient world. Madness because what other alternative is there when your husband and protector leaves you to fight on your own against the world with children. It is a death sentence to the family as women are disenfranchised in society. The narrow options women have, are to be reflected and Athens must deal with the issue. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Medea-play-by-Euripides

Hippolytus

428 BCE

Written in 428 BC, the play won first prize at the city of Dionysia, in this famous play Euripides brings desire, sexuality, and chastity to the main stage. Exploring these themes as how we may weight them and be temperate.https://www.greekmythology.com/Plays/Euripides/Hippolytus/hippolytus.html

The Cave of Euripides

415 BCE

All is speculation about his where abouts as an adult. As a playwright he lived in Athens during the Peloponnesian War but later secluded himself to a cave in Salamis. He had a great library in the cave!!!

Euripides and the Great War

415 BCE

There is little doubt that the Peloponnesian War had tremendous effects on the way Euripides perceived war. His plays Trojan Women (415 BC) and Helen (412 BC) would carry antiwar messages, where he exposed war as a horror. Young men dying and its mistreatment of women.

Electra

413 BCE

Electra is written in 420 BCE. The story of Agamemnon's daughter Electra and her brother Orestes plan to murder their mother and new lover. https://www.ancient-literature.com/greece_euripides_electra.html

Euripides Death

406 BCE

Euripides dies in 406 BC in Macedonia (Birthplace of Alexander the Great). How he died is unknown, and where he died is unknown and speculative. His plays and contributions to Theatre will be ever lasting.

The Bacchae Introduction

405 BCE

The Bacchae was introduced after Euripides death.
The Bacchae was an ancient Greek Tragedy written by Euripides and produced after his death. With the help of his son also named Euripides. The play won first prize at the Theatre of Dionysus. The importance of this play is in how it is a how case for "theatre" itself. The play brings madness to the stage, women as the chorus, myth, symbolism, and is written in a soothing style.

The Bacchae and Dionysus

405 BCE

The god Dionysus come from the east followed by a chorus of Lydian women who have left their homes, husbands, and households. Dionysus comes to Thebes, Greece to evoke himself as a God. Pentheus the king of Thebes and cousin to the God arrests Dionysus. He escapes and Pentheus is intrigued by the God. Pentheus wishes to know about the rituals. He goes to see the women dancing in the forest where his mother is maddened by the Dionysian ecstasy and cuts his head off. Dionysus is realized as a God.