Euripides

Robin Robertson

Daniel Mendelsohn

A bold new translation of Euripides’ shockingly modern classic work, from Forward Prize-winning poet, Robin Robertson, with a new introduction by bestselling and award-winning writer, critic and translator Daniel Mendelsohn. Thebes has been rocked by the arrival of Dionysus, the god of wine and ecstasy. Drawn by the god’s power, the women of the city have rushed to worship him on the mountain, drinking and dancing with frenzied abandon. Pentheus, the king of Thebes, is furious, denouncing this so-called “god” as a charlatan and an insurgent. But no mortal can deny a god, much less one as powerful and seductive as Dionysus, who will exact a terrible revenge on Pentheus, drawing the king to his own tragic destruction. This stunning translation by award-winning poet Robin Robertson reinvigorates Euripides’ masterpiece. Updating it for contemporary readers, he brings the ancient verse to fervid, brutal life, revealing a work of art as devastating and relevant today as it was in the fifth century, BC.

Bacchae

Samuel Barnes

Read until you are demented / your great thick books whose substance is as smoke.

Rebecca Moraglia

A man, when he is vexed by those at home,

goes out to ease the disquiet in his heart.

And they say of us that we're never at risk,

sheltered at home, while they fight with spears.

How wrong they are: I'd rather three times over

stand behind a shield than give birth once.

Bacchae quotes

Join the club