Some of the plays featured in this collection are the best Euripides ever wrote, namely Medea and Hippolytus which are just as emotionally devastating today as they were 2500 years ago. Some other plays are strong ones as well, like the wonderfully morbid The Bacchants. Unfortunately a large number of these plays are rather unremarkable. Euripides' play Electra is substantially inferior to Aeschylus' interpretation of the same events presented in The Libation Bearers, and Iphigenia at Aulis has an ending that undercuts one of the most poignant moments of The Iliad (though note, the authenticity of the final line giving this play a happy ending is highly disputed).

It's probably better to read a few of these plays at a time, instead of reading all ten straight through, since the style and progression of the plays is so uniform that the works might begin to blend together for you as they did for me. It's this experience that makes me rate the collection as I do, but I would also urge you to read Medea and Hippolytus, as they are among the best works that survive from the ancient Athenian dramatists. ( )

1972