Euripides was the most revolutionary of the Greek tragedians.

The early poets still shared the traditional beliefs with the majority of their audiences, but a younger man, like Euripides, who was influenced by the free-thinking spirit of his time, no longer believed in the power of a god like Dionysus, whose festival he, as a tragic poet, was required to celebrate.

Euripides solved his dilemna by presenting his plot in a way that implicitly contradicted the many answers his divine messengers provided for the difficulties of life. Of the 90 plays he wrote, 18 tragedies survive.