Phoenician Women by Euripides — Read

Phoenician Women is based on the same story as Aeschylus' famous drama Seven Against Thebes, with the title referring to the Greek chorus, composed of Phoenician women on their way to Delphi and who are then trapped in Thebes by the war. Euripides wrote the play around 408 BC, at a time when Athens suffered a huge defeat at the hands of Sparta and were facing military disaster.

The play opens with a summary of the story of Oedipus and its aftermath told by Jocasta. She explains that after her husband blinded himself upon discovering that he was her son, his sons Eteocles and Polyneices locked him away in hopes that the people might forget what had happened. He cursed them, proclaiming that neither would rule without killing his brother. To avert this, they agreed to split the country and thus Polyneices allowed Eteocles to rule for one year. When that time expired, Eteocles was supposed to abdicate, allowing his brother to rule for a year. However, when the time came, he refused to do this, forcing his brother into exile. Once in exile, Polyneices went to Argos, where he married the daughter of Adrastus, king of the Argives. He then persuaded Adrastus to send a force to help him reclaim the city.