Aeschylus’ Suppliant Women begins with a procession of girls, dressed in foreign costume and carrying boughs – tokens of supplication – arriving in Argos. Fugitives from Egypt they are in flight from their cousins, the sons of Aegyptus, who want them as wives and they seek asylum from King Pelasgus. Accepting the girls’ claim to Argive ancestry as decendants of Io, the king perceives that if he grants the petition there will be war. It is only after much discussion and the threat that, if rejected, they will hang themselves from the gods’ statues, that the king is pursuaded to put their case to his people, who unanimously vote in favour of granting asylum. The sighting of an Egyptian fleet leads the girl’s father Danaus to abandon his daughters and go in search of help, leaving the girls to exchange threats and insults with the Egyptians before the king arrives in the nick of time. He pursuades the Egyptians to yield and withdraw, which they do with the warning that, when they hear the news, the sons of Aegyptus will wage war. Assured of sanctuary the girls’ rejoice and pray to Artemis to protect them from forced marriage. This vibrant and lyrical new translation of one of the lesser known of Aeschylus’ plays is accompanied a full commentary on the text and substantial introduction. Professor Antony Bowen was Orator of the University of Cambridge from 1993 to 2007 and is an Emeritus Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford.