The Suppliants by Euripides — Read

First performed in 423 BC, The Suppliants concerns the disputes over the burial rites of the dead invaders, following the unsuccessful Seven Against Thebes campaign, when Creon had taken power in Thebes and decreed that they should not be buried. As the play opens, Aethra, the mother of the Athenian king Theseus, prays before the altar of Demeter and Persephone in Eleusis. She is surrounded by women from Argos whose sons also died in battle outside the gates of Thebes. Due to Creon's decree, their corpses remain unburied. Adrastus, the king of Argos who authorised the failed expedition, lies weeping on the floor surrounded by the sons of the slain warriors. Aethra has sent a messenger to Theseus asking him to come to Eleusis. The old women beg Aethra for help, evoking images of their sons' unburied bodies and appealing to her sympathy as a mother. Theseus arrives and as he asks his mother what is going on, she directs him to Adrastus, who begs him to reclaim the bodies. Adrastus explains that he supported the attack on Thebes, against the advice of the seer Amphiaraus, in deference to his sons-in-law, Tydeus and Polyneices. Theseus observes that he favoured courage over discretion. Admitting his mistakes, Adrastus appeals to Theseus as the ruler of the only city with the integrity and the power to stand up to Thebes.

Although to modern readers the theme of the play may not seem as important as it would have to Euripides' contemporaries, the adherence to strict funeral rites was very important to people in the ancient world. Relatives were anxious to ensure their loved ones had a ‘safe crossing' to the underworld. The Iliad contains scenes of people fighting over corpses, such as that of Patroclus. People are willing to fight and risk dying to obtain the bodies of the dead. The Suppliants takes this concept even farther, depicting a whole city willing to wage war to retrieve the bodies of these strangers. The theme of not allowing the bodies of the dead to be buried occurs many times throughout ancient Greek literature. Examples include the body of Hector as portrayed in The Iliad, the body of Ajax as portrayed in the play Ajax by Sophocles, and the myth of the children of Niobe.