This book studies the social and ethical formation of youthful characters in Greek epic and tragedy. It investigates Cheiron the Centaur, ancient Greece's first teacher; traces the influential trajectory of the Iliadic Achilles; and offers readings of the Odyssey, Sophocles' Ajax and Philoctetes, and Euripides' Hippolytus and Iphigenia in Aulis.

Sophia Smith Professor Emerita of Classical Languages and Literatures at Smith College, Justina Gregory is the author of Euripides and the Instruction of the Athenians (University of Michigan Press) and Euripides' Hecuba: Introduction, Text, and Commentary (Scholars Press). She has also edited A Companion to Greek Tragedy (Blackwell) and published numerous articles on Euripides and Greek tragedy.

• List of Plates


• Preface


• List of Abbreviations


• Introduction


• Chapter One: Cheiron the Centaur


• Chapter Two: Iliad, Part 1


• Chapter Three: Iliad, Part 2


• Chapter Four: Odyssey


• Chapter Five: Ajax


• Chapter Six: Philoctetes


• Chapter Seven: Hippolytus


• Chapter Eight: Iphigenia in Aulis


• Coda


• Works cited


• General index


• Index locorum