STUDY QUESTIONS FOR SUPPLIANTS, IPHIGENIA AMONG THE TAURIANS AND RHESUS:

1. The premise of Aeschylus’ Suppliants is very much like that of Eurpides’ Suppliants and Children of Heracles, which we read earlier. How is Aeschylus’ play different from Euripides’?

2. Many commentators have felt that the Suppliants as it stands is somehow incomplete, and they have tried to reconstruct the remainder of the triology to get “closure.” Obviously the people who preserved the Suppliants and not the rest of the triology felt that the Suppliants was complete enough by itself. How could the play leave a reader with a sense of incompleteness? How, nonetheless, is it a complete tragedy that can stand by itself?

3. Euripides’ Iphigenia among the Taurians has a lot in common with his Helen? What do the two plays share? How are they different?

4. What play does the Rhesus remind you of? Why? How are the two plays the same? How are they different?

5. Do you believe the Rhesus was written by Euripides? What are your reasons for so believing?

6. What is each of these plays about? What will we talk about when we go to the wine shop after the play is over? (Note: thinking about this question should also help you think about questions 1, 3 and 4 above.)