Through their sheer range daring innovation flawed but eloquent characters & intriguing plots the plays of Euripides have shocked & stimulated audiences since the fifth century BC Phoenician Women portrays the rival sons of King Oedipus & their mother's doomed attempts at reconciliation while Orestes shows a son ravaged with guilt after the vengeful murder of his mother In the Bacchae a king mistreats a newcomer to his land little knowing that he is the god Dionysus disguised as a mortal while in Iphigenia at Aulis the Greek leaders take the horrific decision to sacrifice a princess to gain favour from the gods in their mission to Troy Finally the Rhesus depicts a world of espionage between the warring Greek & Trojan camps