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.

西濛·戈德希爾（Simon Goldhill），古典學傢，就職於劍橋大學國王學院與劍橋大學古典學係。主要研究領域包括：古希臘悲劇、古希臘後期文學、古希臘文學接受史等，在古典學界享有崇高聲譽，其著作已被譯為十餘種語言齣版。2009 年當選為美國人文藝術與科學學會院士；2010 年被任命為劍橋大學人文社科研究中心（CRASSH）John Harvard 名譽教授； 2016 年當選英國社會科學院院士；現任劍橋大學人文社科研究中心主席。《閱讀希臘悲劇》為作者最具裏程碑意義的著作，其他代錶作有：Aeschylus ：The Orestia（《奧瑞斯提亞》，生活·讀書·新知三聯書店，2018），Jerusalem ：City of Longing，Victorian Culture and Classical Antiquity，Sophocles and the Language of Tragedy 。