Women of Trakhis - Paperback

by Sophocles (Author)

Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Women of Trakhis is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet Robert Bagg.

A powerful drama centered on a desperate wife's attempts to hold onto her wandering husband, the great Herakles, Women of Trakhis is the tragic tale of how age-old jealousy takes down one of the ancient world's most feared and storied heroes. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.

How does the ancient world's mightiest hero meet his end?

• A Tragic Hero's Downfall: Witness the final, agonizing days of Herakles as the celebrated hero is brought low not by a monster, but by his own wife's misplaced love.
• A Desperate Wife's Gamble: Follow Deianeira as she uses a deadly gift from the centaur Nessus in a last-ditch effort to reclaim her husband's affection.
• The Cruelty of the Gods: Explore Sophocles' timeless meditation on fate, divine indifference, and the devastating consequences of human passion.
• Accessible Modern Translation: Experience the power of a foundational text of Western literature, rendered into vivid, poetic English for today's reader by an award-winning translator.

Back Jacket

A dynamic and necessary new translation of Sophocles' unsparing drama about a desperate wife's lethal scheme to keep her warrior husband's wavering love

In Women of Trakhis, Sophocles challenges the very ideal of Greek manhood, portraying the classic mythological hero Herakles as a man equally capable of courageous feats and savage acts.

Deianeira is an ordinary woman married to Herakles, the most feared and storied hero of the ancient world. To preserve their marriage she must constantly struggle to keep her husband's affection, cope with her anxieties about his dangerous profession as a hired killer, and endure his amorous pursuits of other women. Though she knows he is resourceful and violent, with a merciless temperament and legendary strength, she attempts to bind him permanently to her with a love potion from a source she should never have trusted, and thus loses everything she values.

This extraordinary new translation by Robert Bagg presents a classic drama in a modern idiom while remaining faithful to the original Greek. Women of Trakhis preserves the depth and subtlety of the dramatist's characters and ideas, and the lyricism of his poetry. This is Sophocles for a new generation.