Mnemosyne, Supplements509- Sophocles’ Eurypylus and Other Tragic Fragments in P.Oxy. IX 1175 + XVII 2081(b)

This book contains a re-edition, with translation and commentary, of all the fragments contained in the Oxyrhynchus papyrus 1175 + 2081(b), now frr. 206 to 222b18 in Radt’s Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta IV, and generally attributed to a lost tragedy by Sophocles, Eurypylus. The myth of the Mysian prince, son of Telephus, sent to the rescue of the besieged Troy by his mother Astyoche, allegedly corrupted by her own brother Priam, and his death by the hand of Neoptolemus, was probably at the core of the plot. Of all the fragmentary tragedies of Sophocles, this Eurypylus is the most substantial in terms of lines preserved. A re-assessment of the fragments from a papyrological and philological standpoint has provided new clues as to their the position within the original roll and their placing within the tragedy in question: it transpires that only half of the surviving fragments actually belonged to Eurypylus, and that most of what we have represents the exodus—the final episode of the play. Comparisons with the extant Greek tragedies, mostly Persians, Ajax and Women of Trachis, put in context with the most recent scholarly treatments of Sophocles’ poetics, style and production, gives new insights on the significance of this tragedy, and locates it within the playwright’s early stage.