The Best Translation of The Suppliants
The Suppliants was written in Ancient Greek. 2 recommended editions, ranked — with Gröblé’s verdict on which to read first.
David Grene
University of Chicago Press · 2013
Grene's plain prose keeps the focus where it belongs: fifty daughters of Danaus fleeing forced marriage and demanding asylum. One of the earliest surviving plays in the Western tradition, and one of the strangest.
Every recommended edition, compared
Sommerstein's Loeb is invaluable here because the Suppliants is so old (c. 463 BCE) and so fragmentary in its trilogy context. Facing-page Greek, plus notes that reconstruct the lost Danaid plays around it.
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Reading The Suppliants in translation
The Suppliants was written in Ancient Greek, so unless you read Ancient Greek, the translator decides the book you actually experience — its register, its pace, how it sounds read aloud. Two editions of the same work can feel like different books.
The ranking above is Gröblé’s: one reader’s verdict on which English gets you closest, not a publisher’s blurb. Start with the top pick; reach for the others when you want a different angle on the original.