Apr 2
VAP of Classis Candidate Talk "Bad Seeds: Lineage, Land, and Ethnic Propaganda in Euripides' Suppliants"
Thu, April 2, 2026
• 4:30pm
- 5:30pm (1h) • LDC 104
Join the Classics Department for a VAP candidate talk titled "Bad Seeds: Lineage, Land, and Ethnic Propaganda in Euripides' Suppliants" on Thursday, April 2nd at 4:30 PM in LDC 104.
Abstract: Attic tragedy was a performance of myth but also of identity: by adapting mythical narratives in a public setting, tragic playwrights were uniquely positioned to address Athens' evolving view of itself and the outside world. A vivid demonstration of this potential lies in Euripides' Suppliants. First performed in 423 BCE, the Suppliants has often been dismissed by scholars as one of Euripides' 'political plays' for its glorification of Athenian hegemony. However, the drama's overt ethnic politics make it a useful window into contemporary Athenian anxieties and resentments. The bare plot of the Suppliants, wherein the people of Argos enlist Athens' aid to stop the desecration of their war dead by the city of Thebes, emphasizes Athens' greatness through its piety and reverence for burial. Yet, this triumphalist narrative was produced during a time when Athens' hegemony was starting to show cracks—the city had recently suffered a crushing defeat and a humiliating charge of impiety at Thebes' hands in 424 BCE, a reversal of fortunes which placed Athens in dire need of allies. In this talk, I explore the text and context of the Suppliants to make two arguments. First, I claim that Euripides employs themes of genealogy, cultivation, and autochthony to establish his Athenian characters as paragons of civility, their Theban enemies as models of barbarism, and their Argive allies as an ineffectual yet sympathetic middle ground. Second, I argue that Euripides' construction of this hierarchy responds to Athens' loss against Thebes in the Battle of Delium as well as Athens' attempts to rekindle an alliance with Argos in the 420s BCE. Through these points, I spotlight the Suppliants as an overlooked example of how tragedy reflects Athenian responses to the state's challenges, alliances, and rivalries.
from Classics
Event Contact: Christine Hamp