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Sophocles · c. 496-406 BC

Women of Trachis

Τραχίνιαι
Ancient Sources / Sophocles / Women of Trachis

Read our guide to Women of Trachis

Women of Trachis (Trachiniae) takes its name from the chorus of young women of Trachis, where Deianeira waits for her husband Heracles. When she learns that he has brought home the captive princess Iole, she sends him a robe anointed with a supposed love charm, which in fact burns him with the poison of the Hydra, and the play ends with the dying hero's last commands to his son Hyllus. The sections follow the play's own units (prologue, parodos, episodes, choral songs and exodos) and keep the standard line numbers of the Greek text.

Read from the start
Text
Greek original with English translation, 18 passages, about 11900 words in English.
Translator
Richard C. Jebb (modernised by Perseus) (1892)
Edition
Greek text: Francis Storr (ed. and trans.), Sophocles, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann, 1913, as digitised by Perseus. English: Richard C. Jebb, Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, The Trachiniae, Cambridge University Press, 1892 (Perseus's modernised version of Jebb's prose translation)
Cite as
Sophocles, Women of Trachis 1 (by line number)

Contents · 18 passages

  1. 1–93Prologue: Deianeira, the Nurse and Hyllus914 words
  2. 94–140Parodos: the women of Trachis298 words
  3. 141–204First episode: the tablet and the Messenger's good news650 words
  4. 205–292First stasimon; Lichas arrives with the captive women774 words
  5. 293–334Second episode: Deianeira and the captive girl424 words
  6. 335–430Second episode (cont.): the Messenger exposes Lichas991 words
  7. 431–496Second episode (cont.): Lichas confesses686 words
  8. 497–587Second stasimon; Deianeira plans to win back her husband784 words
  9. 588–632Third episode: Deianeira sends the robe487 words
  10. 633–730Third stasimon; Deianeira discovers the effect of the charm950 words
  11. 731–820Fourth episode: Hyllus accuses his mother875 words
  12. 821–861Fourth stasimon: the old prophecy fulfilled277 words
  13. 863–946Fifth episode: the Nurse reports the death of Deianeira740 words
  14. 947–1042Exodos: Heracles is carried in712 words
  15. 1044–1111Exodos (cont.): Heracles' lament648 words
  16. 1112–1142Exodos (cont.): Hyllus explains what Deianeira did338 words
  17. 1143–1192Exodos (cont.): Heracles understands the oracle and swears Hyllus to obey518 words
  18. 1193–1278Exodos (cont.): the pyre on Oeta; Heracles' last commands845 words

More by Sophocles

English translation by Richard C. Jebb (modernised by Perseus) (1892). Original text: Greek text: Francis Storr (ed. and trans.), Sophocles, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann, 1913, as digitised by Perseus. English: Richard C. Jebb, Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, The Trachiniae, Cambridge University Press, 1892 (Perseus's modernised version of Jebb's prose translation).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.