“Euripides and the Women Left Standing in the Ashes”
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Title: The Trojan Women
Author: Euripides
Category: Philosophy & Big Ideas, Culture & Society, World History
Troy has fallen and the men are dead, so what happens to the women? Sam and Sophie sit with that question for a minute, because Euripides starts his play after the glory is already over.
They walk through the structure of The Trojan Women: the prologue where Poseidon mourns the city he built and Athena turns on the Greeks, the chorus of captive women who give the suffering a communal voice, and the three fates that land one after another. Hecuba is assigned to Odysseus as a slave. Polyxena is already dead on Achilles' tomb before her mother even knows. Cassandra dances toward Agamemnon's household singing about the revenge she can see coming. And Andromache's son Astyanax is voted to death by the Greek council, then carried back on Hector's shield.
If you've ever wondered what an anti-war play written 2,400 years ago can still say to us, this episode names it: Euripides refuses to take sides, and refuses to look away. The takeaway is that the cost of victory is paid by the people on the ground, not the generals.
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Chapters
00:00Gods Mourn Troy And Turn01:54Hecuba And The Chorus03:48Cassandra's Ecstatic Prophecy04:40Andromache And Astyanax06:52Burying The Child, Burning Troy08:14No Comfort, No Taking Sides
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