Euripides - Life

Life

Traditional accounts of the author's life are found in many commentaries and include details such as these: He was born on Salamis Island around 484 BC, the son of Mnesarchus, a retailer who lived in a village near Athens. On receiving an oracle that his son was fated to win "crowns of victory", Mnesarchus insisted that the boy should train for a career in athletics. In fact the boy was destined for a career on the stage, where however he was to win only five victories, one of which was after his death. His mother's name was Cleito. He served for a short time as both dancer and torch-bearer at the rites of Apollo Zosterius. His education was not confined to athletics: he also studied painting and philosophy under the masters Prodicus and Anaxagoras. He had two disastrous marriages and both his wives—Melite and Choerine (the latter bearing him three sons)—were unfaithful. He became a recluse, making a home for himself in a cave on Salamis (The Cave of Euripides), "where he built an impressive library and pursued daily communion with the sea and sky", eventually retiring to the "rustic court" of King Archelaus in Macedonia, there dying in 406 BC. However, as mentioned in the introduction, biographical details such as these should be regarded with scepticism. They are derived almost entirely from three unreliable sources:

• folklore, employed by the ancients to lend colour to the lives of celebrated authors;
• parody, employed by contemporary comic poets to ridicule tragic poets;
• 'autobiographical' clues gleaned from his extant plays (a mere fraction of his total output).

This biography is divided into three sections corresponding to the three kinds of sources.