Euripides

Born on Salamis island around 484 BC, Euripides is considered the first professional writer in Athens. His dramas evolve around human passions and his interest lies in strong feelings of love, hate and revenge. Often also the gods themselves share the same low moral standards as the humans do. In several of his plays women take leading parts, "Medea" is probably the most famous. He also stressed the importance of the dialogue and lessened the the influence of the choir. Of his around 90 plays, 18 plays remain, the rest are lost or only known in fragments.