''Women of Trachis'' or ''The Trachiniae'' (, ) c. 450–425 BC, 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 ...

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

. ''Women of Trachis'' is generally considered to be less developed than Sophocles' other works, and its dating has been a subject of disagreement among critics and scholars.

Synopsis

The story begins with

Deianeira Deianira, Deïanira, or Deianeira ( ; , or , ), also known as Dejanira, is a Calydonian princess in Greek mythology whose name translates as "man-destroyer" or "destroyer of her husband". She was the wife of Heracles and, in late Classical acc ...

, the wife of

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

, relating the story of her early life and her plight adjusting to married life. She discusses how Heracles was not her first suitor, and her first suitor was actually the river god Aheloos. Deianeira tells how with Zeus' intervention, Heracles defeated Aheloos and took her as a wife. She is now distraught over her husband's neglect of her family. Often involved in some adventure, he rarely visits them. It has been fifteen months since she has last heard from Heracles, and Deianeira does not know where he is. She sends their son Hyllus to find him, as she is concerned over prophecies about Heracles and the land he is currently in claiming that it could result in the death of Heracles. After Hyllus sets off, a messenger arrives with word that Heracles, victorious in his recent battle, is making offerings on Cape Cenaeum and coming home soon to Trachis. The messenger also states that his delay home was due to everyone wanting to hear of his victories.

Lichas In Greek mythology, Lichas ( ; ) was Heracles' servant, who brought the The Shirt of Nessus, poisoned shirt from Deianira to Hercules because of Deianira's jealousy of Iole, which killed him. Mythology Lichas brought to his master the deadly ...

, a herald of Heracles, brings in a procession of captives. He tells Deianeira a false story of why Heracles had laid siege to the city of Oechalia (in

Euboea Euboea ( ; , ), also known by its modern spelling Evia ( ; , ), is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete, and the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by ...

). He claimed Eurytus, the city's king, was responsible for Heracles being enslaved, and therefore Heracles vowed revenge against him and his people. As a response to this capture, Heracles enslaved the women of Eurytus. Among the captured girls is

Iole In Greek mythology, Iole (; ) was the daughter of King Eurytus of Oechalia. According to the brief epitome in the ''Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus), Bibliotheca'', Eurytus had a beautiful young daughter named Iole who was eligible for marriage ...

, daughter of Eurytus. Deianeira soon learns that, from a messenger, the truth is Heracles laid siege to the city just to obtain Iole, after the king denied allowing Heracles to take Iole as a secret lover. He then attacked the city so that he could have Iole anyways. Deianeira is distraught and questions Lichas, who soon tells the truth to her. Unable to cope with the thought of her husband falling for this younger woman, she decides to use a love charm on him, a magic potion that will win him back. When she was younger, she had been carried across the river Evenus by the

centaur A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...

, Nessus. Halfway through he tried to assault her, but Heracles heard her cries and came to her rescue, quickly shooting him with an arrow. As he died, he told her his blood, now mixed with the poison of the

Lernaean Hydra The Lernaean Hydra or Hydra of Lerna (), more often known simply as the Hydra, is a serpentine lake monster in Greek mythology and Roman mythology. Its lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, which was also the site of the myth of the Dan ...

, in which Heracles' arrow had been dipped, would keep Heracles from loving any other woman more than her, if she follows his instructions. Deianeira dyes a robe with the blood and has Lichas carry it to Heracles with strict instructions that no one else is to wear it, and that it is to be kept in the dark until he puts it on. After the gift is sent, she begins to have a bad feeling about it. She throws some of the left-over material into sunlight and it reacts like boiling acid. Nessus had lied about the love charm, it was actually a

poison A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...

. Hyllus soon arrives to inform her that Heracles lies dying due to her gift. He was in such pain and fury that he killed Lichas, the deliverer of the gift: "he made the white brain to ooze from the hair, as the skull was dashed to splinters, and blood scattered therewith" (as translated by Sir Richard C. Jebb). Deianeira feels enormous shame for what she has done, amplified by her son's harsh words, and kills herself. Hyllus discovers soon after that it wasn't actually her intention to kill her husband. The dying Heracles is carried to his home in horrible pain and furious over what he believes was a murder attempt by his wife. Hyllus explains the truth, and Heracles realizes that the prophecies about his death have come to pass: He was to be killed by someone who was already dead, and it turned out to be Nessus. In the end, he is in so much pain that he is begging for someone to finish him off. In this weakened state, he says he is like a woman. He makes Hyllus promise him two things, which Hyllus promises to obey (under protest), that Hyllus is to marry Iole and Hyllus is to take Heracles to the highest peak of Zeus' peak and to burn him alive on a pillar. He also makes Hyllus promise that he will not cry while this takes place. The play concludes with Heracles being carried off where he will be killed as an act of mercy, to end his suffering.

Date

The date of the first performance of ''Women of Trachis'' is unknown, and scholars have speculated a wide range of dates for its initial performance. Scholars such as T.F. Hoey believe the play was written relatively early in Sophocles' career, around 450 BC. Often cited as evidence for an early date is the fact that the dramatic form of ''Women of Trachis'' is not as developed as those of Sophocles' other surviving works, advancing the belief that the play comes from a younger and less skilled Sophocles. Additionally, the plot of the play is similar to a story related by

Bacchylides Bacchylides (; ''Bakkhulides''; – ) was a Greek lyric poet. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets, which included his uncle Simonides. The elegance and polished style of his lyrics have been noted in Bacchylidea ...

in Bacchylides XVI, but in some respects significantly different from earlier known versions of Bacchylides' story. From this, Hoey and others have argued that Sophocles' interpretation was more likely to have influenced Bacchylides than vice versa. Serving as further evidence is the relationship between the character of Deianeira and that of

Clytemnestra Clytemnestra (, ; , ), in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the half-sister of Helen of Sparta. In Aeschylus' ''Oresteia'', she murders Agamemnon – said by Euripides to be her second husband – and the Trojan p ...

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

' ''

Oresteia The ''Oresteia'' () is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BC, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of the curse on the House ...

'', first produced in 458. In earlier known versions of this story, Deianeira has several masculine qualities, similar to those of Clytemnestra – who, in the ''Oresteia'', purposely kills her husband

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son (or grandson) of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of C ...

. In ''Women of Trachis'', however, Deianeira's character is softer and more feminine, and she is only inadvertently responsible for her husband's death. According to some scholars, Deianeira's character in ''Women of Trachis'' is intended as a commentary on Aeschylus' treatment of Clytemnestra; if so, ''Women of Trachis'' was probably produced reasonably soon after the ''Oresteia'', although it is also possible that such commentary was triggered by a later revival of Aeschylus' trilogy. Hoey also sees echoes of Aeschylus' ''

Prometheus Bound ''Prometheus Bound'' () is an ancient Greek tragedy traditionally attributed to Aeschylus and thought to have been composed sometime between 479 BC and the terminus ante quem of 424 BC. The tragedy is based on the myth of Prometheus, ...

'', particularly in the relevance of ''Women of Trachis'' to debates that were occurring during the 450s on the "relationship between knowledge and responsibility." Other scholars, such as Cedric H. Whitman, argue for a production date during the 430s, close to but probably before ''

Oedipus Rex ''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' (, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. While some scholars have argued that the play was first performed , this is highly uncertain. Originally, to ...

''. Evidence for a date near ''Oedipus Rex'' include a thematic similarity between the two plays. Whitman believes the two plays represent "another large step in the

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

of evil, to which Sophocles devoted his life." Thomas B. L. Webster also estimates a date in the 430s, close to 431, for a variety of reasons. One reason Webster gives for this dating is that there are a number of similarities between ''Women of Trachis'' and plays by

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 ...

that were known to be written between 438 and 417, and so may help narrow the range of dates, although it is unknown which poet borrowed from the other. A stronger reason Webster gives for this dating is that he believes that the structure of ''Woman of Trachis'' is similar to that of Sophocles' lost play '' Tereus'', which Webster dates to this time period based largely on circumstantial evidence from

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

. Finally, Webster believes that the language and structure of ''Women of Trachis'' are consistent with such a date. Other scholars, including Michael Vickers, argue for a date around 424 or 425, later than the generally accepted date range for the first performance of ''Oedipus Rex''. Arguments in favor of such a date include the fact that events of the play seem to reflect events that occurred during the

Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

around that time. The Spartans believed they were descended from Heracles, and in 427 or 426,

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

founded a colony in Trachis called Heraclea. The colony alarmed Athens, who feared the colony could be used to attack

, and in ''Women of Trachis'' Heracles is said to be either waging war or planning to do so against Euboea. Vickers believes that the link to current events and to Sparta accounts for why Heracles is portrayed so coldly in the play. Vickers also argues that Sophocles chose the name "

" for Heracles' messenger as a result of the link to current events, as Lichas was the name of a prominent

Spartiate A Spartiate (, ''Spartiátēs'') or ''Homoios'' (pl. ''Homoioi'', , "alike") was an elite full-citizen men of the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta. Spartiate-class men (including boys) were a small minority: estimates are that they made up b ...

envoy during the war.

Translations

* 1849 – Theodore Alois Buckley * 1878 – Edward Hayes Plumptre: verse ( full text available at Wikisource) * 1883 – Lewis Campbell: verse ( full text available at Wikisource) * 1892 – Richard C. Jebb: prose ( full text available at Wikisource) * 1912 – Francis Storr: verse
full text
* 1938 – Esther S. Barlow: verse * 1956 –

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...

: verse * 1957 – Michael Jameson: verse * 1966 – Robert Torrance
verse (Full Text)
* 1990 – J. Michael Walton: verse * 1994 – Hugh Lloyd-Jones: prose * 2001 – Paul Roche: verse * 2007 – George Theodoridis: prose
full text
* 2015 – Bryan Doerries: prose * 2018 – Ian C. Johnston: verse
full text
* 2021 - Rachel Kitzinger and Eamon Grennan: verse
full text

Commentaries

* Gilbert Austin Davies, 1908 (abridged from the larger edition of Richard Claverhouse Jebb) * Easterling, Patricia E. (1982) ''Trachiniae.'' Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics. Cambridge University Press.

References

External links