“Sing, O Muse, a new song about Ilium, a funeral dirge accompanied by tears.”
The glory of the Iliad is over. The Muses are being summoned to sing a funeral dirge, a new song of mourning for the city of Troy.
This tragedy takes place in the immediate aftermath of the Trojan War. The Greeks have gotten past the famous Trojan walls, not by force but by trickery. They’ve entered the city, killed the men and children, and taken the women as slaves.
In this period between the fall of Troy and the sailing back by the Greeks, these Trojan Women have become slaves and are being doled out to the Greek Warriors. Each Trojan Woman is paired to a Greek as a slave for the rest of their lives.
These women have just witnessed the brutal deaths of their loved ones and have seen the city they loved burned to the ground. Helen is amongst them. She is one of the Trojan captives. Helen of Troy.
At this point, everyone wants her dead, including her ex-husband, Menelaus.
In this episode of the podcast, I give a brief introduction to this tragedy play, talk about three characters who stuck out to me, and share the one thing I’m still thinking about after having read The Trojan Women by Euripides.
The Trojan Women by Euripides