Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Euripides's The Trojan Women. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.
The Trojan Women: Introduction
The Trojan Women: Plot Summary
The Trojan Women: Detailed Summary & Analysis
The Trojan Women: Themes
The Trojan Women: Quotes
The Trojan Women: Characters
The Trojan Women: Terms
The Trojan Women: Symbols
The Trojan Women: Theme Wheel
Brief Biography of Euripides
Historical Context of The Trojan Women
Other Books Related to The Trojan Women
- Full Title: The Trojan Women
- Where Written: Athens or Salamis
- When Published: First performed 415 BCE
- Literary Period: Ancient Greek Tragedy
- Genre: Dramatic Tragedy
- Setting: The city of Troy
- Climax: The death of the child Astyanax
- Antagonist: The Greeks
Extra Credit for The Trojan Women
Setting the Scene. Most surviving Classical Greek plays, including those written by Euripides, Aeschylus (author of the Oresteia), and Sophocles (author of the Oedipus cycle), were originally written as entries in a yearly Athenian dramatic festival. Each author submitted four related plays (three tragedies and a drama with a happy ending), which formed a “tetralogy.” Each play was performed by the same set of actors against the same backdrop. Three men would perform all the speaking roles, and would be backed by a large chorus. Actors would enter from the left or right of the stage onto a dance floor where most of the action took place. Behind them was a “skene,” or a wooden building with a single set of large doors, which would occasionally open to show events inside. If the play called for it, actors playing gods could hang above the action suspended by a crane, which is where the term deus ex machina (god from a machine) comes from.
Prolific Writer. Scholars have attributed over ninety plays to Euripides, though only nineteen full plays have survived to moder times.
