The Roles Of Aristophanes And Euripides

Register to read the introduction… He was mentored by Anaxagoras, Protagoras, and Prodicus and was also a close friend to Socrates (Lefkowitz 89). In Aristophanes’ later works, the poet provides the character of Euripides with most likely exaggerated religious views. In The Frogs, Euripides’ character is said to pray to different gods than everyone else, and in Thesmophoriazusae, a woman accuses Euripides of “persuading people that the gods do not exist.” (Lefkowitz 93) While Aristophanes and the comic poets did not say anything on the mentors’ influence on Euripides, it is seen though Hellenistic literature that Euripides and Anaxagoras were similar in one aspect: their impiety. For example, whenever Euripides refers to a heavenly body such as the sun in his writing, he refers to it as Anaxagoras would have (in this case, mydros, or lump of molten metal). This is not how the rest of the gods-fearing society would have referred to it (Lefkowitz 89-90). Euripides’ other mentors are also said to have been impious. Protagoras is said to have perished in a shipwreck (a proverbial fate of the impious) and Prodicus drank hemlock and died in Athens on charges of “corrupting the youth.” (Lefkowitz …show more content…
It is unknown exactly why he left. Some say that it was because of his unpopularity with the Athenian audiences, but this is unlikely because, even though he only won four first prizes in tragedy contests, he was an award-winning playwright, nevertheless (“Euripides”). A different biographer, however, “emphasizes the notion that Euripides was unpopular in Athens by stating that the comic poets attacked him.” (Lefkowitz 92) In Magnesia, he was noted as a public friend of the state, although it is unknown why. Soon after, when he travelled to Macedonia, he penned Archelaus based on the Macedonian king, Archelaus. Throughout his time there, Euripides eventually became a financial administrator (Lefkowitz …show more content…
There is a nineteenth known, Rhesus, but it is uncertain that it was authored by Euripides. Along with these eighteen, there are significant fragments of eleven of Euripides’ other works, including the aforementioned Archelaus. It is noted that out of all the Greek playwrights known, Euripides is thought to be the most like a “modern” playwright. His plots had a wide range of styles. His works ranged from bleak drama to seemingly romantic comedies. (“Euripides”)
“Euripidean drama focuses on individual characters and their personal circumstances, the paradoxical nature of human life and its vicissitudes, and the internal struggle that the tragic hero undergoes. As a consequence, the structure of his plays sometimes follows a predetermined plot to its foreseeable, if regrettable, outcome; at other times, his plays swerve as unpredictably as his characters do.”