William Bouguereau (1825-1905), The Remorse of Orestes or Orestes Pursued by the Furies, Oil on canvas, 1862
Much shall be sung of you
by the men of music to the seven-strung mountain
lyre-shell, and in poems that have no music,
in Sparta when the season turns and the month Carneian
comes back, and the moon
rides all the night;
in Athens also, the shinning and rich.
Such is the theme of song you left
in death, for the poets.
Oh that it were in my power
and that I had strength to bring you
back to the light from the dark of death
with oars on the sunken river.
For you, O dearest among women, you only
had the courage
to give your life for your husband’s and save
him from death. May the dust lie light
upon you, my lady.
Euripides, Alkestis 438 B.C.E
Got an ask about where the title for my blog came from, and this is it.
I fucking love Athenian tragedy.
I know there are a few Classicists following me, so if you’re curious about the edition of Alcestis I’m using it’s this:
The Complete Greek Tragedies, Euripides I. Edited by David Grene and Richard Lattimore. Published by The University of Chicago Press, 1955
Edition contains Alcestis, The Medea, The Heracleidae, and Hippolytus.
