Source edition
Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. III. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913. (Reprinted 1920-1978)
Source data
Perseus Digital Library · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This Greek tragedy depicts the catastrophic conflict between Pentheus, the young king of Thebes, and the god Dionysus, whose divinity the king refuses to acknowledge. Arriving in Thebes in human disguise, Dionysus drives the city's women into a state of ecstatic madness on Mount Cithaeron as vengeance for his rejected worship. Pentheus attempts to suppress the new cult, but the disguised god craftily exploits the king's curiosity, persuading him to dress as a woman to spy on the mountain rituals. This deception leads to a horrific climax, in which Pentheus is brutally torn to pieces by the maddened women, led by his own mother, Agave. When Agave returns to sanity and realizes the dreadful crime she has committed, Dionysus appears in his divine form to exile the remaining royal family, bringing the play to a tragic close.