The Norton Critical Edition of Aeschylus’ Oresteia admirably meets the goals of both the series and the specialists responsible for the translation and content. T. and B.’s mastery of the text and secondary literature is immediately on display in an introduction that combines cautious treatment of Aeschylus’ traditional biography with the acknowledged uncertainties regarding the history of tragedy and the myth. Discussion of overarching patterns in the trilogy prepares readers to be sensitive to prominent themes, and typographical errors are rare outside numeration of the footnotes which repeatedly cycle 1–9 throughout the volume. The addition of descriptive titles alongside the transliterated Greek titles (‘Women at the Graveside’ for Choephoroi and ‘Orestes at Athens’ for Eumenides) gives contemporary readers a better sense of the general subject for individual plays while providing fundamental information necessary for engaging with relevant scholarship.

Those familiar with the Greek text likely will have a few quibbles with the translation, but there is no denying that T. has well met his stated goal of privileging readability and performability over a strictly literal translation. The footnotes, in addition to providing useful explanations of mythological references and highlighting key patterns in the trilogy, regularly direct the reader to the section on ‘Some Major Questions and Problems in the Texts’. Instructors and those wishing to stage individual plays or the entire trilogy have thus been provided with useful points for consideration where the translation departs significantly from the original Greek. The decision to transliterate Daimon, Erinyes and Moirai on account of their significance in the trilogy and inadequacy of English approximations is reasonable and briefly discussed in the introduction. Given the emphasis of these figures in the translation, however, some attention to recent scholarship on their complex representations in myth and cult would have been welcome. To eliminate potential confusion for those unfamiliar with the Greek text, footnotes explaining terms translated as ‘Fury’ (personified mēnis at Ag. 155) or ‘Fate’ (aisa at Cho. 647) would also have been helpful additions.

As a volume aimed at undergraduate education, the inclusion of a map, a representative selection of vase-paintings, and passages from ancient Greek texts that incorporate the myth before and after Aeschylus are notable elements that provide a foundation for addressing ancient intertextuality and reception in the classroom. Selections of criticism begin with Hegel, Nietzsche and George Thompson and progress through leading historicist, feminist and aesthetic scholarship on the Oresteia from the past few decades. This section will be particularly welcome to instructors who wish to engage students with the Oresteia in courses on cultural anthropology, philosophy, political science, women's and gender studies, or theatre, to name just a few of the most prominent disciplines outside of Classics. Although the century-old translation of Hegel is likely to prove quite challenging to contemporary undergraduates, the footnotes that translate quoted Greek and Latin and define specialist terminology throughout the selections of criticism will go a long way to make sophisticated secondary literature accessible to both undergraduates and a general audience.