Bakkhae (2)Bacchae

A play by Euripides; produced posthumously, i.e. circa 406 BCE.

We do not have the complete text of this play and fifty or so lines have been added by various translators.

The play is a tragedy and dramatizes the return of the god of wine, Bakkhus (Bacchus) to the city of Thebes; the play begins with an optimistic mood but soon devolves into a bloody debacle of revenge and banishment.

Tragedies are supposed to be sad but this play seems to go beyond the bounds of human misery and tread on the borders of perverse wretchedness; during the course of the play, the god Bakkhus changes from a displaced and melancholy wanderer into a specter from the darkest reaches of the human soul; to satisfy Bakkhus, the founder of Thebes, Kadmus (Cadmus) and his wife Harmonia are turned into serpents and Kadmus’ daughter, Agave is banished because Bakkhus induced her to murder her son; all in all a very strange play.

I personally recommend the translations compiled by Richmond Lattimore and David Grene, Euripides V (ISBN 0226307840); you can find this and other plays by Euripides in the 882 section of your local library or you can order them from the Book Shop on this site which is linked to Amazon.com.