''Rhesus'' (, ''Rhēsos'') is an

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

that belongs to the transmitted plays of

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

. Its authorship has been disputed since antiquity, and the issue has invested modern scholarship since the 17th century when the play's authenticity was challenged, first by

Joseph Scaliger Joseph Justus Scaliger (; 5 August 1540 – 21 January 1609) was a Franco-Italian Calvinist religious leader and scholar, known for expanding the notion of classical history from Greek and Ancient Roman history to include Persian, Babylonian, Je ...

and subsequently by others, partly on aesthetic grounds and partly on account of peculiarities in the play's vocabulary, style and technique.W. Ritchie, ''The Authenticity of the Rhesus of Euripides'', CUP, Cambridge, 1964, , p. vii. The conventional attribution to Euripides remains controversial. ''Rhesus'' takes place during the

Trojan War The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

, on the night when

Odysseus In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Od ...

and

Diomedes Diomedes (Jones, Daniel; Roach, Peter, James Hartman and Jane Setter, eds. ''Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary''. 17th edition. Cambridge UP, 2006.) or Diomede (; ) is a hero in Greek mythology, known for his participation in the Trojan ...

make their way covertly into the Trojan camp. The same event is narrated in book 10 of

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

epic poem In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...

, the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

''.

Plot synopsis

In the middle of the night, Trojan guards on the lookout for suspicious enemy activity sight bright fires in the Greek camp. They promptly inform

Hector In Greek mythology, Hector (; , ) was a Trojan prince, a hero and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. He is a major character in Homer's ''Iliad'', where he leads the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy, killing c ...

, who almost issues a general call to arms before

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas ( , ; from ) was a Troy, Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus (mythology), Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy ...

persuades him this would be ill-advised. The best course,

argues, would be to send someone to spy on the Greek camp and see what the enemy is up to. Dolon volunteers to spy on the Greeks in exchange for

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...

's horses when the war is won.

accepts the offer and sends him out. Dolon leaves wearing the skin of a wolf, and planning on deceiving the Greeks by walking on all fours. Next, Rhesus, the king of neighboring

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

, arrives to assist the Trojans soon after Dolon sets out. Hector berates him for coming so many years late, but accepts his arrival; Rhesus responds that he had intended on coming from the beginning, but had been sidetracked defending his own land from an attack by

Scythians The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian noma ...

. Meanwhile, making their way to the Trojan encampment with the intention of killing

, Odysseus and Diomedes run into Dolon and kill him. When they reach their destination

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

guides them to Rhesus' sleeping quarters instead of Hector's, warning them that they are not destined to kill Hector. Diomedes kills Rhesus and others, and Odysseus takes his prized horses, before making their escape. Rumors spread from Rhesus' men that there had been treachery and that Hector was responsible. Hector arrives and casts blame on the sentinels, for, pointing to the sly tactics indicating that the guilty party could only be Odysseus. The mother of Rhesus, one of the nine

muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

s, then arrives and lays blame on all those responsible: Odysseus, Diomedes, and Athena. She also announces the imminent resurrection of Rhesus, who will become immortal but will be sent to live in a cave. This short play is most notable in comparison with the

. Here, Dolon's role is pushed to the background, and much more is revealed about Rhesus and the reactions of the Trojans to his murder.

Authorship controversy

The first since ancient times to fully dispute that the ''Rhesus'' had been written by Euripides was L. C. Valckenaer in his ''Phoenissae'' (1755) and ''Diatribe in Euripidis deperditorum dramatum reliquias'' (1767). In an introduction to ''Rhesus'',

Gilbert Murray George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greec ...

wrote that passages from the play were quoted by early Alexandrian writers. The ancient hypotheses transmitted along with the play, however, show that its authenticity was attacked by a number of scholars whose names are not given. Cases against Euripides' authorship generally center on stylistic differences. Murray argued that these may be attributable simply to the play being an early work by a younger or less-developed Euripides, or the possibility of its being an edited version of a Euripidean play, perhaps made by a contemporary or by Euripides' son.

Edith Hall Edith Hall, (born 4 March 1959) is a British scholar of classics, specialising in ancient Greek literature and cultural history, and professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Durham University. She is a Fellow of the Bri ...

argued in an introduction that modern readers "will be struck in particular by the un-Euripidean lack of interest in women," and noted the fact of Euripides' son having borne the tragedian's name as an argument against the conventional attribution. A recent theory by Vayos Liapis is that the ''Rhesus'' was composed by an unknown author in the court of Philip II or

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

at the end of the 4th century BC.

Richmond Lattimore Richmond Alexander Lattimore (May 6, 1906 – February 26, 1984) was an American poet and classicist known for his translations of the Greek classics, especially his versions of the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey''. Biography Richmond Alexander Lattimo ...

asserted in 1958 that the ''Rhesus'' had been written by Euripides, probably at some point before 440 BC,Lattimore, Richmond. "Introduction to ''Rhesus,''" by Euripides. From ''Euripides IV,'' edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958. p. 5. and in 1964, William Ritchie defended the play's authenticity in a book-length study, though his conclusions were opposed by

Eduard Fraenkel Eduard David Mortier Fraenkel FBA () was a German classical scholar who served as the Corpus Christi Professor of Latin at the University of Oxford from 1935 until 1953. Born to a family of assimilated Jews in the German Empire, he studied Cl ...

. Michael Walton has also claimed that modern scholarship agrees with classical authorities in ascribing the play to Euripides,Walton (1997, viii, xix). but admitted in a later work that the attribution is still disputed by a number of scholars.J. Michael Walton 2009, p. 43,

Translations

* Robert Potter, 1783 - verse: full text * Michael Wodhull, 1809 - verse: ''The Nineteen Tragedies and Fragments of Euripides'', Vol. II full text: Internet Archive * Edward P. Coleridge, 1891 – prose: ''The Plays of Euripides'
full text: Perseus
*

Arthur S. Way Arthur Sanders Way (13 February 1847 – 25 September 1930), was a classical scholar, translator and headmaster of Wesley College, Melbourne, Australia. Arthur Way, son of the Rev. William Way and his wife Matilda, ''née'' Francis, was b ...

, 1896 – verse: ''The Tragedies of Euripides in English Verse'', Vol. I
full text: Internet Archive
*

, 1913 – verse: ''The Rhesus of Euripides'
full text: Perseus
*

, 1958 – verse
available for digital loan
*

James Morwood James Henry Weldon Morwood (25 November 1943 – 10 September 2017) was an English classicist and author. He taught at Harrow School, where he was Head of Classics,Harrow School Register 2002 8th edition edited by S W Bellringer & published by T ...

, 2000 - In ''Bacchae and Other Plays'', Oxford World's Classics. * George Theodoridis, 2010 – prose
full text
* Brian Vinero, 2025 – rhymed verse

References

Sources

* Hall, Edith. 2008. Introduction. In ''Bacchae and Other Plays'', Oxford World's Classics. . * Walton, J. Michael. 1997. Introduction. In ''Plays VI.'' By Euripides. Methuen Classical Greek Dramatists ser. London: Methuen. vii–xxii. . * Walton, J. Michael, ''Euripides Our Contemporary'', University of California Press, 2009, .

External links