The first three plays in this volume are typical of Euripides, filled with violence or its threat, while the fourth, Cyclops, is a satyr play, full of crude and slapstick humour. Alcestis shows various reactions to death with pathos and grim humour while the blood-soaked Heracles portrays deep emotional pain and undeserved suffering. Children of Heracles deals with the effects of war on refugees and the consequences of sheltering them.

Robin Waterfield has translated numerous classical texts for OWC, including Plato's Republic, Herodotus' Histories and Plutarch's Greek Lives and Roman Lives
Edith Hall is co-director of the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama at the University of Oxford. She has published widely on ancient Greek drama and society, reviews and appears on radio and television. She has written introductions to the other four volumes of Euripides' plays in OWC.
James Morwood has translated three volumes of Euripides' plays for OWC and is the author of The Plays of Euripides and A Dictionary of Latin Words and Phrases.