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Euripides · c. 480-406 BC

Bacchae

Βάκχαι
Ancient Sources / Euripides / Bacchae

Read our guide to Bacchae

The Bacchae was produced after Euripides' death, around 405 BC. The god Dionysus comes to Thebes in disguise, to punish the city that has denied his divinity and the royal house of Kadmos that slandered his mother Semele. King Pentheus resists the new worship, and the god drives him to Mount Kithairon, where his own mother Agave tears him apart in her frenzy. 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, 22 passages, about 11500 words in English.
Translator
Theodore A. Buckley (modernised by Perseus) (1850)
Edition
Greek text: Gilbert Murray (ed.), Euripidis Fabulae, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913, as digitised by Perseus. English: Theodore A. Buckley, The Tragedies of Euripides, London: Henry G. Bohn, 1850 (Perseus's modernised version)
Cite as
Euripides, Bacchae 1 (by line number)

Contents · 22 passages

  1. 1–63Prologue: Dionysus arrives in Thebes607 words
  2. 64–169Parodos: the Bacchae sing of Dionysus and his rites590 words
  3. 170–214First episode: Teiresias and Kadmos prepare to join the revels434 words
  4. 215–265First episode: Pentheus rages against the new god425 words
  5. 266–342First episode: Teiresias and Kadmos defend Dionysus703 words
  6. 343–432First episode: Pentheus orders the stranger seized; first choral ode578 words
  7. 434–508Second episode: Pentheus questions the captive stranger762 words
  8. 509–575Second episode: the stranger is imprisoned; second choral ode to Dirce385 words
  9. 576–641Third episode: the earthquake and the palace shaken560 words
  10. 642–676Third episode: Pentheus confronts the escaped stranger329 words
  11. 677–774Messenger speech: the Bacchae on Kithairon808 words
  12. 775–847Third episode: Pentheus calls for arms; Dionysus persuades him to spy738 words
  13. 848–911Third episode: Dionysus ensnares Pentheus; third choral ode451 words
  14. 912–976Fourth episode: Pentheus dressed as a maenad663 words
  15. 977–1023Fourth choral ode: the hounds of Madness294 words
  16. 1024–1094Exodos: a second messenger announces Pentheus' death620 words
  17. 1095–1152Messenger speech: the death of Pentheus515 words
  18. 1153–1201Exodos: the Chorus greets Agave with her trophy331 words
  19. 1202–1232Exodos: Agave displays the head; Kadmos brings back the body261 words
  20. 1233–1301Exodos: Agave recovers her senses670 words
  21. 1302–1351Exodos: Dionysus' judgment and Kadmos' fate478 words
  22. 1352–1392Exodos: Kadmos and Agave part into exile323 words

More by Euripides

English translation by Theodore A. Buckley (modernised by Perseus) (1850). Original text: Greek text: Gilbert Murray (ed.), Euripidis Fabulae, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913, as digitised by Perseus. English: Theodore A. Buckley, The Tragedies of Euripides, London: Henry G. Bohn, 1850 (Perseus's modernised version).

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.