Suppliants

play by Euripides

Also known as: “Hiketides”, “Supplices”, “The Suppliant Women”

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Article History

Greek:: Hiketides

Latin:: Supplices

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Suppliants, drama by Euripides, performed about 423 bce. The title is also translated as The Suppliant Women. The individuals referred to in the title are the mothers and widows of the Argive leaders who have been killed while attacking Thebes under the leadership of Polyneices. The Thebans have dishonoured the Argives by leaving unburied the bodies of the warriors, and the women attempt to reclaim them.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.