The Trojan Women

Interesting Facts

• The play The Trojan Women was written in 415 BC and is one of Euripides' most famous tragedies.
• The action of the play takes place immediately after the fall of Troy and tells the fate of the Trojan women who survived the city's destruction.
• The main heroines of the play — Hecuba, Andromache, Cassandra, and Helen — each represent different aspects of suffering and grief.
• The play was written against the backdrop of the Peloponnesian War, and many scholars believe Euripides used it to criticize Athenian aggression.
• In The Trojan Women, Euripides raises themes of war, slavery, female suffering, and moral decline, making the play relevant even today.
• The play begins with a prologue in which the gods Poseidon and Athena discuss the fate of Troy and decide to punish the Greeks for their cruelty.
• One of the most tragic scenes in the play is when Andromache bids farewell to her son Astyanax, whom the Greeks decide to kill to prevent possible retribution.