Alcestis
Ἄλκηστις
A classic of antiquity. First published 437 BC, written in Ancient Greek
Alcestis is an Athenian tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. It was first produced at the City Dionysia festival in 438 BC. Euripides presented it as the final part of a tetralogy of unconnected plays in the competition of tragedies, for which he won second prize; this arrangement was exceptional, as the fourth part was normally a satyr play. Its ambiguous, tragicomic tone—which may be "cheerfully romantic" or "bitterly ironic"—has earned it the label of a "problem play." Alcestis is, possibly excepting the Rhesus, the oldest surviving work by Euripides, although at the time of its first performance he had been producing plays for 17 years.
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Later works that draw on Alcestis.
The CloudsClassic
Aristophanes, 422 BC
In the quarrel between father and son, Aristophanes slips in a line adapted from Euripides' Alcestis, one of many jokes at the expense of the tragedian he loved to parody.
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