Plays & Drama Codexery

Women of Trachis

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The play centers on Deianeira, Heracles' wife, who recounts her difficult marriage and her earlier suitor, the river god Achelous, whom Heracles defeated with Zeus's help.[1]

Key facts and history

Other scholars, including Cedric H. Whitman, propose a date in the 430s, close to Oedipus Rex, citing thematic similarities between the two works.[2] Michael Vickers argues for a later date around 424 or 425 BC, linking the play's events to the Peloponnesian War, such as Sparta's founding of Heraclea in Trachis in 427/426 BC and Heracles' war against Euboea.[3][4] Vickers believes the cold portrayal of Heracles and the name "Lichas" for the messenger reflect contemporary political concerns about Sparta.[3] T.F. Hoey is among the scholars who think the play was composed relatively early in Sophocles' career, because its dramatic form is less developed than his other surviving works and its plot resembles the story in Bacchylides XVI.[5][6]

Thomas B. L. Webster also proposes a date near 431, pointing to structural parallels with Sophocles' lost Tereus and similarities to plays by Euripides that were written between 438 and 417.[2]

What the cited sources add

Thomas Hoey's 1979 paper in Phoenix presents the case for an early date around 450 BC, using evidence from dramatic form and parallels with Bacchylides.[5][6] Vickers contends that the play's political context explains why Heracles is portrayed coldly and why the messenger is named Lichas.[3][4]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Women of Trachis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sophocles, Trachiniae, line 1", www.perseus.tufts.edu (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Women of Trachis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Whitman, C., "Sophocles", Harvard University Press, 1966, p. 103–121; Whitman, C., "Sophocles", Harvard University Press, 1966, p. 103–121; Whitman, C., "Sophocles", Harvard University Press, 1966, p. 103–121; Webster, T.B.L., "An Introduction to Sophocles", Oxford University Press, 1936, p. 3–4, 7; Webster, T.B.L., "An Introduction to Sophocles", Oxford University Press, 1936, p. 3–4, 7; Webster, T.B.L., "An Introduction to Sophocles", Oxford University Press, 1936, p. 3–4, 7; Webster, T.B.L., "An Introduction to Sophocles", Oxford Un en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Women of Trachis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Vickers, M., "Heracles Lacedaemonius", Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne, 1995, p. 41–69; Vickers, M., "Heracles Lacedaemonius", Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne, 1995, p. 41–69; Vickers, M., "Heracles Lacedaemonius", Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne, 1995, p. 41–69; Vickers, M., "Heracles Lacedaemonius", Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne, 1995, p. 41–69; Vickers, M., "Heracles Lacedaemonius", Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne, 1995, p. 41–69; Vickers, M., "Heracles Lacedaemonius", Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne, 1995, p. 41–69 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Michael Vickers, "Heracles Lacedaemonius : the political dimensions of Sophocles Trachiniae and Euripides Heracles", Dialogues d histoire ancienne (1995), doi:10.3406/dha.1995.2645. OpenAlex metadata CC0; paper not read. doi.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Women of Trachis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hoey, T.F., "The Date of the Trachiniae", Phoenix, 1979, p. 220, 232; Hoey, T.F., "The Date of the Trachiniae", Phoenix, 1979, p. 220, 232; Hoey, T.F., "The Date of the Trachiniae", Phoenix, 1979, p. 220, 232; Hoey, T.F., "The Date of the Trachiniae", Phoenix, 1979, p. 220, 232; Hoey, T.F., "The Date of the Trachiniae", Phoenix, 1979, p. 220, 232 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Thomas Hoey, "The Date of the "Trachiniae"", Phoenix (1979), doi:10.2307/1087433. OpenAlex metadata CC0; paper not read. doi.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Women of Trachis (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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