Hecuba was the most widely read play of Euripides from antiquity to the Renaissance, appealing to readers and spectators for its controversial treatment of moral themes: revenge, war and slavery, violence, human sacrifice, gender and ethnic relations. It narrates the death of Hecuba's daughter Polyxena, sacrificed by the Greeks to placate the ghost of Achilles, and that of her son Polydorus, killed out of greed by the Thracian king who was supposed to protect him. Hecuba successfully plots a cruel and shocking revenge against the killer. The play is now at the centre of the attention of scholars and performing artists. This edition offers new textual and interpretive suggestions, and provides detailed guidance on problems of language as well as employing conceptual tools from contemporary linguistics. It will be useful for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, as well as of interest to scholars.

Preface
Abbreviations
Key to metrical symbols
Introduction
1. Euripides: life and works
2. The date of the Hecuba
3. Production
3.1 Casting the play
3.2 Stage movements
4. Myth
5. Characters and reciprocity: charis, xenia, philia
6. Hecuba's revenge
7. Reception
8. Transmission of the text
9. Presentation of textual evidence in this edition
10. Metre and language
Symbols, sigla and abbreviations used in the edition of the Greek text
Hecuba
Commentary
Works cited
General index
Index of Greek words.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Plays, playscripts [DD], Theatre studies [AN]