The Text
The text of the play is very poor, and scholars have detected several interpolations in the text. Over the centuries large and small interpolations have been inserted into this tragedy. Some scholars even believe that the whole play is post-Euripidean, written in the style of the late Euripides. For more about interpolations in the text, see Donald J. Mastronarde, Phoenissae.
Read more about this topic: The Phoenician Women
Famous quotes containing the words the text and/or text:
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