Sophocles' Eurypylus and Other Tragic Fragments in P.Oxy. IX 1175 + XVII 2081(b) (Mnemosyne, Supplements)

This book is about some papyri fragments from one or more tragedies by the Greek dramatist Sophocles. Before arguing that complete texts should be more studied than fragmentary ones, bear in mind that of more than 120 tragedies staged by Sophocles in his life (496–406 BC), only seven came to us. To better understand an author that lies at the origins of everything we now call theatre, anything will do – even fragmentary texts. Eurypylus, the play here considered, is all the more relevant for it belongs to an early stage of Sophocles’ career, and features the qualms and remorse of a dowager Queen who sent her son to fight for peace (or to end a war, which in Greek Middle Ages was more or less the same), and got his death in return.