Euripides - Euripides (English spelling)

He is one of the three great tragic poets of ancient Greece, along with Aeschylus and Sophocles. He is the youngest of the three. Born in Athens, gossip spread by comedians at the time included that his mother was a vegetable seller, and that he had been troubled by his wife's infidelity twice, but this was probably nothing more than malicious slander. He had three sons, one of whom had the same name as his father, and after his father's death, he performed his father's posthumous play and won first prize. Ancient biographies record that he was a contemplative person by nature, closer to misanthropy than to being unsociable. This personality can be seen in his works and in the gloomy expressions seen on some of the surviving statues. He made his debut on the stage in 455 BC, the year after Aeschylus' death. After performing Orestes in 408 BC, he left Athens at the invitation of Archelaus, the Macedonian king, and moved to Pella, where he died two years later. He wrote Bacchae and Iphigeneia in Aulis in this foreign land and published them posthumously, but including these works, he wrote a total of 92 works. There are 19 complete works that remain, but it is almost certain that Rhesus is not a genuine work, and Cyclops is not a tragedy but a so-called satyr play, and is the only example of this genre that has been handed down in its entirety. There are many other fragments that have been handed down, and many have been discovered on papyrus since the last century. Among them, Antiope and Pipsipyle are large fragments of over 100 and 300 lines, respectively. The number of complete works and fragments is far greater than that of his two predecessors, due to his long popularity since the 4th century BC. He was similar to Socrates in that he was a fairly progressive thinker for his time and was disliked by conservative people, which was why he was the target of harsh criticism from Aristophanes and others.

As for dramaturgy, he frequently used prologues and deus ex machina. His material was taken from myths and legends, as was the tradition, but gods and heroes were no longer portrayed as extraordinary beings beyond the realm of ordinary people, but as people not so different from men and women living everyday lives. Even in works like Medea and Hippolitus, the intensity of the characters' passions may be somewhat abnormal, but in the end they are domestic tragedies, and works like Ion are essentially the same as today's family dramas. He has been known since ancient times for his skill in portraying the twisted psychology of women. Some of his later works (Orestes) are somewhat vulgar, aiming too much at popular interest. His representative works include Medea, Hippolitus, Kabe, The Trojan Women, and The Bacchae. "The Trojan Women" displays the talents of what Aristotle called "the most tragic" poet, and "The Bacchae" can be called his swan song, a masterpiece that gives insight into the serious and complex mind of this poet.

[Matsudaira Chiaki]

"Complete Collection of World Classical Literature 9: Euripides" (1965, Chikuma Shobo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

アイスキロス、ソフォクレスと並ぶ古代ギリシア三大悲劇詩人の一人。3人のうちでは最年少。アテネ生まれで、当時喜劇作家などが広めたゴシップでは、母が野菜売りであったとか、二度も妻の不貞に悩まされたとかいわれたが、おそらく悪意の中傷にすぎなかったであろう。3男をもうけ、その1人は父と同名で、父の死後その遺作を上演して一等賞を得た。生来瞑想(めいそう)的なタイプの人柄で、非社交的というより人嫌いに近かったことが、古代の伝記に記されている。そのような性格は、作品からも、伝存の彫像のいくつかにみられる沈鬱(ちんうつ)な表情からもうかがわれる。劇壇にデビューしたのは紀元前455年、アイスキロスの死の翌年にあたる。前408年『オレステス』を上演したのち、マケドニア王アルケラオスの招きに応じてアテネを去りペラに移住、2年後その地で没した。『バッコスの信女』と『アウリスのイフィゲネイア』はこの異郷の地で書かれ、死後遺作として発表されたが、これらをも含めて作品の総数は92編であったという。現存する完全な作品は19編であるが、そのなかの『レソス』は真作でないことがほぼ確かであり、また『キクロプス』は悲劇ではなくいわゆるサティロス劇であり、このジャンルでは完全に伝存する唯一の例である。そのほか伝承された断片の数はかなり多く、前世紀以来パピルスによる発見も多数に上る。なかでも『アンティオペ』『ピプシピレ』の2作は、それぞれ100行、300行を超える大断片である。完全な作品および断片の量が、先輩2作家に比して格段に多いのは、前4世紀以後長くその人気が高かったことによる。彼が当時にあってはかなり進歩的な思想の持ち主として、保守的な人々からは反感をもたれていた点では、ソクラテスと似たところがあり、アリストファネスらの毒舌を浴びたのもそのためであった。

　作劇の技法としては、前口上（プロロゴス）、機械仕掛けの神（デウス・エクス・マキナ）の頻用が目だつ。素材は伝統的な慣例に従って、神話伝説からとられているが、神々や英雄はもはや常人の域を超えた非凡な存在ではなく、日常市井(しせい)に生活する男女とあまり変わらぬ人物として描かれる。『メデイア』や『ヒッポリトス』にしても、登場人物たちの情念の激しさはやや異常といえるにせよ、しょせんは家庭内の悲劇であるし、『イオン』のごときは今日のホームドラマと本質的には同じである。女性の屈折した心理を描く手腕については古来定評があった。後期の作品には、大衆的な興味をねらいすぎてやや俗悪な趣(おもむき)のあるものもある（オレステス）。代表作には『メデイア』『ヒッポリトス』『カベ』『トロイアの女』『バッコスの信女』などがある。『トロイアの女』はアリストテレスのいう「もっとも悲劇的な」詩人の本領を発揮したものであり、『バッコスの信女』は彼の白鳥の歌ともいうべく、深刻複雑な詩人の心をうかがわせる名作ということができる。

［松平千秋］

『『世界古典文学全集9　エウリピデス』（1965・筑摩書房）』

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