The plot largely centers on the protagonist in a struggle with the forces of the world, rendering it the most Sophoclean of Euripides' extant plays.
According to legend, its first king was the grandson of the founder of the Hausa states.
When compared with Aeschylus, who won thirteen times, and Sophocles, with eighteen victories, Euripides was the least honored, though not necessarily the least popular, of the three great tragedians—at least in his lifetime.
Euripides was married twice, to Choerile and Melito, though sources disagree as to which woman he married first.
Euripides first competed in the famous Athenian dramatic festival (the Dionysia) in 455 B.C.E., one year after the death of Aeschylus.
Some call this rumor a joke made by Aristophanes, a comic writer who often poked fun at Euripides, but many historians believe that the story is accurate.
Euripides was raised in a semi-religious household; records show that, as a youth, he served as a cupbearer in a temple of Apollo.
Euripides' greatest works are considered to be Alcestis, Medea, Electra, and The Bacchae.
that he won first prize, and over the course of his lifetime, Euripides claimed a mere four victories.
Certainly it is that Euripides intentionally made Alcestis silent so as to withhold a concrete conclusion and leave the denouement of the play ambiguous.
Euripides was exposed to the great ideas and thinkers of the day, including Protagoras, Socrates, and Anaxagoras.
The record of Euripides' public life, other than his involvement in dramatic competitions, is almost non-existent.
The only reliable story of note is one by Aristotle about Euripides being involved in a dispute over a liturgy—a story that offers strong proof that Euripides was a wealthy man.
Medea is another of Euripides' most influential tragedies, based on the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced in 431 B.C.E.
Like all writers of his time, Euripides' biography is largely a matter of conjecture.