Reading the Audience's Mind. The Successful Excess of Euripides

Euripides was in many ways an excessive poet: he often argued against conventional thinking, while offering his audience burning issues in a lavish style. If we are to believe to the ancient sources, in some cases the audience loudly reacted to this ‘lack of moderation’, while in other cases Euripides’ exuberance was well accepted and accorded him much acclaim. The paper aims to investigate the fickle approach of his audience, and some of the techniques and strategies (thematic, stylistic, and psychological) that Euripides put in place to vivify and challenge these fluctuating opinions, both in Athens and beyond.