The text volume contains Lohenstein's two earliest tragedies - Ibrahim (Bassa) (1653), his first dramatic work, in which he treats material from 16th century Turkish history, and Cleopatra both in its original version (1661) and its extended version of 1680. Lohenstein's learned notes on both versions of Cleopatra are provided with bibliographical references and translations of foreign-language quotations to make them fully accessible to the modern reader.The volume of commentary not only contains textual notes on all three dramas, but also includes a bio-bibliographical index of all the authors quoted in the notes on the two versions of Cleopatra.