According to an ancient notice preserved among the marginal notes (scholia) in our medieval manuscripts, Euripides’ Andromache was not produced at Athens and hence the Athenian production record does not supply a date. The same notice tells us that the author name on the play was not Euripides but Democrates. We have no idea what led to these two odd circumstances. About its Euripidean authorship there can be no doubt. On the basis of its metrical practice the play seems datable to the mid 420s B.C. It is possible that the unsympathetic portrayal of the Spartan characters Menelaus and Hermione owes some of its animus (see especially 445-52) to the contemporary war with Sparta.

Like many of Euripides’ plays, Andromache is set in the aftermath of the Trojan War. Andromache is the widow

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Citation: Kovacs, David. "Andromache". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 September 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13365, accessed 19 March 2024.]

13365 Andromache 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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