Suppliants

Not to be confused with Aeschylus’ play Suppliants.

Euripides’ Suppliants is a surviving Athenian tragedy that presents Athens, under Theseus, as the defender of suppliants and of the right of the dead to burial. No ancient source gives the date of its first performance. It is set before the temple of Demeter at Eleusis in Attica, where the mothers of the seven Argive captains killed at Thebes have come with the Argive king Adrastus, the leader of the expedition, to beg help from Athens. They want the bodies of their sons, which the Thebans will not give back, to be recovered and buried (lines 1–41). They are first met by Aethra, the mother of the Athenian king Theseus, and then by Theseus himself. Theseus at first refuses, because Adrastus went to war against the advice of seers and the will of the gods (lines 195–249). Aethra then persuades him to change his mind (lines 297–331), and he promises to ask the Athenian people for their approval (lines 349–355). Just as he is preparing to send a herald to Thebes, a herald comes from Creon, the ruler of Thebes, and forbids him to take in Adrastus or to bury the dead (lines 399–510). Theseus refuses and leads the Athenian army out (lines 513–597). A messenger soon reports that Athens has won the battle, and that Theseus held back from sacking Thebes, because he had come only for the bodies (lines 634–730). The bodies are brought back, Adrastus delivers a eulogy for the dead captains (lines 857–917), and Evadne, the wife of Capaneus, throws herself on her husband’s funeral pyre in front of her father Iphis (lines 980–1071). The play ends when the goddess Athena appears and orders Theseus to have Adrastus swear that Argos will never attack Athens, and she tells the sons of the dead captains that they will one day take Thebes (lines 1183–1226).

Date and Historical Background

No ancient source gives the date of Suppliants, no ancient hypothesis records its production, and the play itself names no event of its own time, so its date is uncertain. Euripides’ Children of Heracles likewise presents Athens as the protector of suppliants.

Thucydides records a real dispute of the same kind. After the Athenian defeat by the Boeotians at Delium in 424 BC, the Boeotians refused to hand over the Athenian dead unless the Athenians first left the sanctuary of Apollo they had fortified (Thucydides 4.97). The Athenians answered that the burial of the dead should be granted under a truce according to the custom of their fathers, and that the Boeotians were behaving impiously in bargaining dead bodies against a holy place (Thucydides 4.98–99). The play’s central issue, whether a victor may refuse burial to the dead, would have been familiar to the audience from episodes like this one, and Theseus insists that burial is a “law of all Hellas” (lines 311–312, 524–527, 561–563). The play itself, however, never mentions Delium.

A second argument concerns the ending. In the oath Athena demands, Argos is to swear never to lead an army against Athens and to defend Athens if attacked (lines 1183–1195). Thucydides records that Athens made a treaty of alliance for a hundred years with Argos, Elis and Mantinea after the Peace of Nicias (Thucydides 5.47.1). Whether the oath in the play has anything to do with that alliance cannot be known, since the date of the play is uncertain.

Characters and Setting

Characters

• Aethra, mother of Theseus, who speaks the prologue
• Theseus, king of Athens
• Adrastus, king of Argos, leader of the expedition against Thebes
• Herald of Creon, ruler of Thebes
• Messenger, a former servant of Capaneus, who reports the battle
• Evadne, wife of Capaneus
• Iphis, father of Evadne and of Eteoclus (Iphis’ son and Evadne’s brother, lines 1034–1038)
• Athena, goddess, who appears at the end
• Chorus of the Argive mothers of the dead captains
• Children, the sons of the dead captains, who carry the urns and sing with the Chorus (lines 1123–1162)

Setting

The temple of Demeter and Kore (Persephone) at Eleusis in Attica (lines 1–2, 28–34). The battle itself takes place offstage near Thebes and is told by the Messenger.

Summary of Suppliants

Prologue

Aethra stands at the altar and prays to Demeter for herself, for her son Theseus and for Athens (lines 1–7). She explains the situation: the aged mothers of seven young men who fell at the gates of Cadmus’ city, Thebes, have come as suppliants with their olive branches. Adrastus had led the seven captains there to win for his son-in-law, the exiled Polynices, a share of the inheritance of Oedipus. The victors now refuse to let the dead be buried, and Adrastus lies on the ground in tears, asking Aethra to persuade her son to recover the dead, by speech or by force (lines 8–31). Aethra has come to the shrine to offer sacrifice for the harvest, and in her words the suppliants have bound her to the altar with their branches (lines 28–34). She has already sent her herald to the city to bring Theseus, and she adds that a prudent woman does well to ask the help of men (lines 35–41).

Parodos (Entrance Song)

The Chorus of Argive mothers falls at Aethra’s knees and begs her to rescue their sons’ bodies from the wild beasts of the mountains, since they have never laid out their children’s bodies in their own halls (lines 42–53). One of them appeals to Aethra as a mother: “Share with me thy mother’s feelings” and persuade her son to go to the river Ismenus and put the dead in the mothers’ arms (lines 54–62). The song continues as an antiphonal lament, in which the servants of the mothers beat their breasts and the women describe how a mother’s grief never ends (lines 63–85).

First Episode

Theseus arrives, worried that something has happened to his mother (lines 87–97). Aethra identifies the women as the mothers of the seven who fell at Thebes and the old man at the gate as Adrastus, and says only that “it is for them to tell their story” (lines 98–109). Theseus asks Adrastus to unveil his head and speak (lines 110–112), and Adrastus, rising, explains himself through a series of short questions and answers (lines 113–162). He lost the pick of Argos’ sons; heralds sent to Thebes asking for the bodies were refused; and the Argives have come to Athens, he says, because all of Argos asks it (lines 116–130). Asked why he led seven armies against Thebes, he says it was to help the husbands of his two daughters, Tydeus and Polynices, a Theban-born exile whom he had married to his daughter in obedience to an oracle of Apollo, which told him to give his daughters to a wild boar and a lion (lines 131–154). He admits that he went to war without the favourable omens, and even against the advice of the seer Amphiaraus, carried away by the clamour of younger men (lines 155–160). Theseus sums it up: “Thou didst favour courage instead of discretion” (line 161). Adrastus then throws himself at Theseus’ knees and asks him to recover the dead. He argues that Sparta is cruel and her customs variable, that the other states are small and weak, and that only Athens, with its young and gallant king, could undertake the task (lines 162–192). The Chorus adds its own plea (lines 193–194).

Theseus replies at length (lines 195–249). He rejects the pessimists who say human life holds more evil than good, praises the god who gave humanity reason, speech and the arts, and then accuses men of presuming to be wiser than the gods. He applies this to Adrastus: Adrastus obeyed Apollo’s oracle and married his daughters to strangers, but ignored the seers and ruined his city “in scorn of them and in violent disregard of the gods” (lines 219–234). He goes on to describe the three classes of citizens in a city and the harm that the young and ambitious do, and he ends by telling Adrastus to depart in peace, since he cannot ask the Athenians to be his allies on such a pretext (lines 235–249). The Chorus excuses Adrastus as having erred with the young men (lines 250–252), and Adrastus answers that he came for help and not to be judged (lines 253–262). He tells the women to leave, calling the gods and Demeter to witness that their prayers have failed.

The Chorus will not give up. They beg Theseus again and throw themselves at his knees, and the mothers say, “See the tear-drop tremble in my eye, as thus I throw me at thy knees to win my children burial” (lines 265–285). Aethra, who is weeping, asks her son’s leave to speak, and he agrees that wise counsels can come even from women (lines 286–296). She urges him to heed the will of the gods, to carry out his duty to the suppliants, and to check those who would confuse the customs of all Hellas, since it is the strict observance of such customs that holds states together (lines 297–313). She reminds him that he has already dared to face a savage swine (lines 314–318), and warns that Athens will be mocked as lacking counsel if it refuses (lines 319–331). She ends with the confident remark that the god reverses all things, so that Athens need not fear (lines 325–331). Theseus gives way: he says that his rebuke of Adrastus was deserved, but his mother’s argument is right and it would be shameful for him to refuse the burden. He will try to persuade Thebes by words and, if that fails, by the spear, but first he will put the proposal to the Athenian assembly, which he made sovereign when he freed the city (lines 334–364). The Chorus invokes Argos and prays for his success (lines 365–380).

Second Episode

Theseus now tells his herald to cross the river Asopus and carry a message to Creon: that Theseus, a neighbour, asks permission to bury the dead, and that if the request is refused, a warrior host is encamped at the fount Callichorus and ready (lines 381–393). He stops mid-speech to point out a Theban herald who is coming (lines 394–398). The herald asks for the “despot” of the land and gives the message of Creon, ruler of Thebes since Eteocles was killed by his brother Polynices (lines 399–402). Theseus corrects him: “this city is not ruled by one man, but is free”, the people rule in annual succession, and the poor share equally with the rich (lines 403–408). The herald replies that his own city is ruled by one man and not by the mob, and he attacks democracy, saying that the people can be misled by demagogues and that a poor farmer has no time for politics (lines 409–425). Theseus answers him, saying that tyranny lacks common laws, that under a democracy the weak and the rich have equal rights of speech, and that a tyrant cuts down the best young men for fear of his power (lines 426–462).

The herald then delivers his message: Adrastus must be expelled before sunset, the dead must not be touched, and a war that Athens might later regret is at stake. He adds a speech against rash voting for war, and a sneer that Capaneus was justly struck by the thunderbolt (lines 463–510). The Chorus complains of the insult, and Theseus tells Adrastus to be silent so that he can answer (lines 511–518). Theseus replies that he does not take orders from Creon, that the law of all Hellas requires burial, and that to refuse it is itself the breach (lines 513–563). In a brisk exchange the herald warns that Athens will meet the “warriors of the dragon-crop” (the Thebans, sprung from the teeth of Cadmus’ dragon), and Theseus dismisses him (lines 566–583). Theseus orders his army to arm and announces that he will march to the seven gates of Thebes and be his own herald. He tells Adrastus to stay behind and not to mix his fortunes with the army (lines 584–597).

The Chorus chants its fear for the outcome, the question whether the gods really govern justly, and its wish for wings to fly to Thebes and see what is happening (lines 598–633).

Third Episode

A messenger enters with good news. He is a former servant of Capaneus, who was taken prisoner in the battle at Thebes and has now escaped (lines 634–640). He describes the battle as he saw it from a turret by the Electran gate (lines 650–664). Theseus’ herald proclaimed that the Athenians had come only to fetch the dead for burial under the law of Hellas, but Creon said nothing in reply and the chariots began the fight (lines 665–676). The Athenian cavalry under Phorbas held the field on one wing; Creon rushed forward to prevent his men from losing heart, and Theseus met him in the middle (lines 680–702). The earth-born Thebans broke the Athenian left, but the Athenian right routed theirs, and Theseus rallied the wavering part of his army, shouting that the cause of Pallas was lost if they could not hold back the dragon-born (lines 703–713). He then seized a mace and, swinging it “as with a sickle”, cut off necks, heads and helmets, until the Thebans fled to their gates (lines 714–720). Theseus could then have entered the city, but he held back his men, saying that he had come to ask for the bodies of the dead and not to sack the town (lines 721–725). The Messenger concludes: “Such the general men should choose, one who shows his bravery in danger, yet hates the pride of those that in their hour of fortune lose the bliss they might have enjoyed” (lines 726–730). The Chorus says that after this unexpected day it can believe in the gods again (lines 731–733).

Adrastus reflects on the folly of men who refuse a settlement. Argos would not take the terms offered by Eteocles, and now Thebes has suffered in turn (lines 734–750). He asks the Messenger how he escaped and learns that he slipped out through the gates during the uproar, as the Athenian army entered (lines 752–753). The bodies of the seven chiefs are on their way (lines 754–755). The other Argives who fell have been buried by Theseus in the dells of Cithaeron under the cliff of Eleutherae, and he did it himself, with no slaves to help; he washed the wounds of the dead, laid out their biers and wrapped them in shrouds (lines 756–766). Adrastus calls it a terrible and shameful burden; the Messenger asks what shame there is in sharing one another’s sorrows, and Adrastus wishes that he had died with them and mourns the dead (lines 767–777). The Chorus sings, “Joy is here and sorrow too”, since they will see their sons again but only dead (lines 778–793).

Fourth Episode

The bodies are carried on, and Adrastus and the Chorus join in a lament in which each cries in response to the other (lines 798–836). Theseus interrupts, and tells Adrastus that he saw the captains’ daring himself, but asks only for what the younger citizens should know of them: of what lineage the youths were, to shine so bright in chivalry. He will not ask which spear killed which man, since such questions are idle in the confusion of battle (lines 837–856). Adrastus agrees to give a eulogy, which he calls a pleasure, and he praises each in turn (lines 857–917). Capaneus was wealthy but modest and kept his promises (lines 860–871). Eteoclus refused gold and was devoted to his city (lines 871–880). Hippomedon despised ease and made himself useful to his state by hunting and horsemanship (lines 881–888). Parthenopaeus, son of Atalanta, came from Arcadia to Argos and fought for the city as if it were his own (lines 889–900). Tydeus was no brilliant speaker but a clever craftsman in the art of war, with an ambitious nature (lines 901–908). Adrastus ends by arguing that noble nurture produces such men, so that the city should train its children well (lines 909–917). The Chorus laments (lines 918–924).

Theseus mentions that Amphiaraus was taken alive into the earth with his chariot, and that Polynices, whom he calls his guest-friend, deserves his praise (lines 925–931). He gives the arrangements: Capaneus, who was struck by Zeus’s bolt, will lie apart as a consecrated corpse in a tomb that Theseus has had built near the temple, and all the others will be burned on one pyre (lines 934–940). When Adrastus calls the mothers forward to touch their sons, Theseus forbids it, because they would be killed by the sight of how changed the bodies are (lines 941–946). Adrastus agrees and tells the women to wait, and he adds a plea to the cities of Greece to stop their wars (lines 947–954). The Chorus sings its fourth song of grief, remembering the seven noblest sons Argos once had and the childless old age of the seven mothers (lines 955–979).

Exodos (Exit Song)

The Chorus sees Evadne on the rock that overhangs the pyre of Capaneus, dressed for a wedding (lines 980–989). Evadne sings of the day when she married Capaneus, and then declares that she is now rushing to join him: “it is the sweetest end to share the death of those we love” (lines 990–1008). The Chorus points to the pyre where her husband lies, and she answers that she is looking at the goal of her life and means to leap into the fire (lines 1009–1030). Her father Iphis, who has come to Athens to bring home the body of his son Eteoclus and to look for his daughter, who slipped away when the guard was withdrawn, arrives (lines 1031–1044). He asks why she is dressed like this before a funeral pyre, and she answers that she is going to win a victory over all women, in bravery, and that she will leap onto the pyre to die with her husband (lines 1045–1068). Iphis says he will never allow it, but she throws herself down (lines 1069–1071). Iphis, left alone, laments that men cannot live their youth twice over and so correct their mistakes; with his present knowledge he would never have wanted children (lines 1072–1113).

The sons of the dead captains then enter, bringing the ashes of their fathers in urns, and they sing a lament with the mothers; a boy asks whether he will one day, in armour, avenge his father (lines 1114–1164). Theseus tells Adrastus and the women to remember Athens’ kindness and to teach it to their children (lines 1165–1175). Adrastus promises a gratitude that never grows old (lines 1176–1181). Athena then appears (lines 1183–1231). She instructs Theseus not to let the urns go until the Argives have sworn an oath through Adrastus never to march against Athens and to repel any who do; the oath is to be engraved inside a tripod that Heracles once told Theseus to dedicate at Delphi, and the knife with which three sheep are sacrificed is to be buried near the pyres of the seven, as a warning. She orders that the place where the bodies were burned be given to the god. Then she turns to the boys: when they are grown, they will sack Thebes, and Aegialeus will take his father’s place and command the army, with Diomedes, Tydeus’ son, from Aetolia. They will be famous as the “After-born” in the songs of future minstrels. Theseus agrees to obey Athena, and the Chorus agrees to go with Adrastus to take the oath (lines 1227–1234).

A Brief Analysis

The text itself shows the play’s main concern: the right of the dead to burial, and the claim that a stronger state should not refuse it. Theseus calls burial a law of all Hellas (lines 311–312, 524–527, 561–563) and tells the Theban herald that he is not breaking the law but defending it. The Athenians win the battle and then stop, and the Messenger’s praise of Theseus shows that this restraint is what the play wants the audience to admire (lines 719–730).

The play also presents Athens as a democracy in the scene with the herald (lines 399–462). Theseus declares that the city is free and ruled by its people, while the herald speaks for monarchy. The contrast is made in speeches of almost equal length, but the play treats Theseus as the winner of the argument, and the Theban herald is dismissed. Theseus is also shown acting with the people: he insists on the assembly’s consent before going to war (lines 349–355).

Not everything in the play is simply patriotic. Theseus first refuses, and his reasons are the ones the play gives against Adrastus himself: that he went to war against the seers and against the gods (lines 219–234). Adrastus’ eulogy then praises the captains as good citizens (lines 857–917). Iphis, who watches his daughter leap to her death, concludes that he should never have had children (lines 1080–1113). The play thus mixes praise of Athens with a fairly bleak view of war and its cost to the families left behind.

As for the date and political significance, the matter is open. If the play followed Delium (424 BC), it would speak to the Athenians’ own experience of the dead being withheld (Thucydides 4.97–99). If it followed the treaty with Argos (Thucydides 5.47), the oath at the end could be read as approval of that alliance. Neither connection is stated in the play, and both are modern inferences from a date no ancient source records.

Suppliants Sources

Euripides, Suppliants, lines 1–1234; Thucydides 4.97–99 and 5.47. The Greek text and an English translation of the play are at the Perseus Digital Library.

See Also: Euripides, Seven Against Thebes, Adrastus, Theseus