The Bacchae Lesson Plan

Historians posit that Euripides, the youngest of the three great tragedians of ancient Greece, was born in Salamis between 485 and 480 B.C.E. During his lifetime, the Persian Wars ended, ushering in a period of prosperity and cultural exploration in Athens. Of the art forms that flourished during this era, drama was the most distinctive and influential. Among Euripides’ contemporaries were Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Aristophanes, and these four men dominated the Athenian stage throughout the fifth century B.C.E. Though scholars know little about the life of Euripides, since most sources are based on legend, there are more extant Euripidean dramas than those of Aeschylus and Sophocles...