This book is an advanced critical introduction to Greek tragedy. It is written specifically for the reader who does not know Greek and who may be unfamiliar with the context of the Athenian drama festival but who nevertheless wants to appreciate the plays in all their complexity. Simon Goldhill aims to combine the best contemporary scholarly criticism in classics with a wide knowledge of modern literary studies in other fields. He discusses the masterpieces of Athenian drama in the light of contemporary critical controversies in such a way as to enable the student or scholar not only to understand and appreciate the texts of the most commonly read plays, but also to evaluate and utilize the range of approaches to the problems of ancient drama.

西蒙·戈德希尔（Simon Goldhill），古典学家，就职于剑桥大学国王学院与剑桥大学古典学系。主要研究领域包括：古希腊悲剧、古希腊后期文学、古希腊文学接受史等，在古典学界享有崇高声誉，其著作已被译为十余种语言出版。2009 年当选为美国人文艺术与科学学会院士；2010 年被任命为剑桥大学人文社科研究中心（CRASSH）John Harvard 名誉教授； 2016 年当选英国社会科学院院士；现任剑桥大学人文社科研究中心主席。《阅读希腊悲剧》为作者最具里程碑意义的著作，其他代表作有：Aeschylus ：The Orestia（《奥瑞斯提亚》，生活·读书·新知三联书店，2018），Jerusalem ：City of Longing，Victorian Culture and Classical Antiquity，Sophocles and the Language of Tragedy 。