Euripides

Euripides (480-406 B.C.), an Athenian poet, said to have been born at Salamis on the day of the defeat there of the Persian fleet, though otber accounts put his birth at an earlier or later date. He began by studying painting, and then rhetoric under Prodicus, and philosophy under Anaxagoras. He is said to have composed tragedies at 18, and to have brought them forward in public competition in 455, though it was not till 441 that he gained a first prize. Orestes was brought forward in 408.

For some reason he left Athens, and went to the court of Archelaus, King of Macedouiei, who had a great regard for him. Indeed, he seems to have had a higher reputation abroad than at home, if stories are to be believed that some Athenian prisoners found their lot much bettered through their being able to recite his works, and that a ship pursued by pirates was admitted to a harbour of refuge only through a similar power. The Athenians are said to have wished to have his dead body from Macedonia, but were unable to obtain it from Archelaus. A statue was, however, erected to him at Athens. Of his plays 18 are extant, and there are many editions of them. He abandoned the heroic and stormy style of -AEschylus for one more fitted for the softer emotions, and the waning fortunes of Athens seem to have inspired him witfc a feeling of pathos. His handling of women has gained for him the reputation of a misogynist.