Euripides: Cyclops

The only extant satyr play of Euripides, the Cyclops abounds in lusty comedy and horror: Odysseus and his men, driven by storms onto Cyclops shores, find that the Cyclops has aready enslaved a company of Greeks. When some of Odysseus crew are seized and eaten by the cyclops Odysseus resorts to spectacular strategems to free his crew and escape the island. This distinguished poets version of the CYCLOPS refreshes the work with all the salty humour, vigorous music, and dramatic shapeliness available in modern American English. McHugh, a prize-winning poet, and Konstan, a respected classicist, combine their talents to create this new addition to the Greek Tragedy in New Translations series. Each play in the series, meant for the non-specialist reader, is preceded by a critical introduction and is accompanied by notes designed to clarify obscure references and to explain the conventions of the Athenian stage. Euripides “Cyclops” is the only complete surviving example of a Satyric drama. The Satyr-play drama has a nature entirely of its own, neither tragic nor comic, but something between the two. Its most distinctive feature is its chorus of Satyrs, strange creatures, half goat and half men, the attendants of Dionysus. This edition was originally published by Cambridge University Press and is intended for students who have previously read little or no Greek drama. The notes provide linguistic help and more difficult verb forms are given separately in the vocabulary. There is also an additional vocabulary of particles and of cases to assist the relative beginner. Literary questions raised by the play are dealt with and the role of the Satyr-play in the growth of Greek tragedy is explored.