Retro Rants: Euripides

More Like Euripi-deez Nuts, Amiright?

As some of you may have picked up on by now, I’m a sucker for classical mythology. Whether it’s the tragedies, comedies, mythical histories, or even some romance, the Greek playwrights of antiquity were unrivaled in their ability to tug at the heartstrings. Among these legendary wordsmiths one holds a special place in my heart, however, and that’s good ol’ Euripides.

Where other playwrights shunted their characters into the background to focus on themes instead, Euripides puts his characters front and center. Rather than having a hero be chosen by the gods he instead uses ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances.

The (not so shocking) result? Empathy!

Well, duh, you may think, but at the time this was radical AF, dear reader.

Even more radical for the time for the time (which was, to put it delicately, rather conservative) Euripides wasn’t afraid to portray people within his plays who society considered distasteful. Women, the poor, and even slaves are often shown as prominent moralizing figures but he didn’t do this simply for representation’s sake.

Oh, no, dear reader. Euripides was on a mission.

You see, plays in ancient Athens were essentially a mix of media and a political-socioeconomic debate between dueling playwrights (thrilling, right?). As such he couldn’t very well just go up on stage and pluck away at his lute and tease his tonsils. No, he had to have a message biting enough to stick in the minds of people after they heard the play but entertaining enough that it was a fond memory instead of a bitter one.

And he often did so by poking to fun at his contemporaries in a variety of shocking ways.  When other playwrights primarily commented on the past to make a point about the present, Euripides was far more direct: calling out fellow citizens directly (and potentially to their face if they were in the crowd) on their political and social views, sometimes for dramatic effect and others simply to let them know he though they were an asshole.

Calling Testicles an authoritarian with a tiny dick and a cheating wife is one thing. Calling him that to his face in front of half the city is another.

Honestly, the balls on this man.

But anyone can be a smartass if they're dumb enough or brave enough to be. No, despite the laughs and throwing if shade what truly set Ehripudes apart was his knack for crafting a wonderfully memorable story.

He disdained heroes with near demigod-status in favor of flawed characters that those in his audience could relate to, refused to take himself too seriously and allowed the main character to crack a joke every once and awhile and quite possibly even at their own expense (yes you read that right, at the time only side characters were allowed to present humor in any capacity).

Now, such charicterization may seem less like revolution and more like common sense today but realize that Euripides was the OG and in ancient Athens things tended to be more…formal.

Quite frankly Euripides, if I may use the vernacular, simply did not give a fuck.

He wrote strong women and flawed men. He wrote of mistakes, betrayals, and of gruesome little murders.

Most of all he wrote of humanized characters, dear reader, and that, above all else, is what makes him one of the greats.

So what do you think? Is Euripides the best playwright of ancient Athens? Did I shortchange one of your favorites? Do you even know how to say his name? Am I going to go double check that I know how to say his name after asking that question?

Drop a comment below or shoot me an email to let me know me know as I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

Until next time