©Damen, 2006

Classical Drama and Theatre

While the choral lines immediately preceding Pasiphae's defense do not fit into not the typical spoken interjection separating speeches in a Euripidean agon but are instead lyric in form and this suggests that the agon of this play didn't follow the format Euripides typically employed—prosecution, short choral interjection, defense—Pasiphae's apology here still has all the earmarks of other agons he wrote. Like those, her speech includes a counter-charge against claims made by the prosecution, legalistic language, an argument based on probability and an emotional plea for justice.

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