In 415 BC, Greek playwright Euripides created The Trojan Women, a play that is arguably one of the best studies ever written on the horrific aspects of war. In her analysis of the work, Professor CAE Luschnig claims: "[Euripides] made the Trojan War the symbol of every war... Because war is the great tragedy of society: victory is an illusion" (8) . While the negative elements of war described by Euripides can be found in all wars and even the victors of war must suffer their defeats, there is a tragedy for society even greater than war itself. War is but one result of the intrinsic evil nature of men and women, and that evil nature, not war, is society's greatest tragedy. The Trojan women in the play were Hecuba, the wife of the late king of Troy; Kassandra, the virgin daughter of Hecuba; and Andromache, wife of the slain Hector and mother of Astyanax. Other vanquished Trojan women make up the chorus. The young Astyanax was also a native of Troy. He represents the innocent victims of war. Helen, daughter of Zeus and Leda, was also originally from Troy at the time of the play. She is at the center of the play and was the cause of the Trojan War, but she was not a Trojan. The Greeks in the play are Talthybios, herald and friend of the commander of the Greek army, Agamemnon. Additionally, Melelaus is Agamemnon's brother and was Helen's husband before she left Greece to be with Hecuba's son. Agamemnon does not appear in the play but is central to the story. The gods in the play are Poseidon, the god of the sea, and Athena, the goddess of wisdom and justice. Since the Greeks have offended both gods with their actions, the gods conspire to punish them. The work focuses on the aftermath of the Trojan War and the period preceding the departure of the Greeks. ....the combatants of any war must be considered in historical perspective and will always be debated. It is certain, however, that a war fought to depose a madman bent on the annihilation of a human race is more justifiable than a war fought to take revenge on a rebellious wife and her new homeland. The desire to commit genocide is not the product of war but the result of the evil that resides in every man and every woman. That evil is society's greatest tragedy. War is simply a byproduct of that evil. Works Cited Curriculum Vitae: CAE Luschnig." Letters, Arts & Social Sciences. Web. 10 April 2012. Euripides. The Trojan Women. Trans. Diskin Clay. Newburyport, MA: Focus Classical Library, 2005. Print.Luschnig, CAE "Le Euripides' Trojan women: "All is vanity." The classical world 65.1 (1971): 8-12.