2 From image to theatrical play in Aeschylus’ Oresteia
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Anton Bierl
Abstract
Applying modern image theory, this contribution shows how Aeschylus uses the visual, in the figurative metaphor, in the simile of a picture, and in the surprising display of key motifs and even abstract concepts (e.g. dike and erinys), as complex theatrical scenes in the Oresteia. The visual and its dramatic application thus stand in close interaction with the evolutionary process and development of the trilogy. The focus is on the movement from the visual as riddling signifiers, to the inner fantasy, to the image, to the tableau, and finally to the performative scene beginning to get in motion. All over we can detect a process from the frozen picture to the motion scene, from the metaphorical to the concrete, from the oracular sign to the actual visibility, from enigmatic ambivalence in sign configuration to clear vision. Furthermore, quintessential metaphors can shift into evident theatrical props that can even serve as a mise en abyme, reflecting the larger frame in a smaller scene. In the end of the Eumenides, the iconic and performative act generates the actual result, the political ideal of the reality in the here and now.
Abstract
Applying modern image theory, this contribution shows how Aeschylus uses the visual, in the figurative metaphor, in the simile of a picture, and in the surprising display of key motifs and even abstract concepts (e.g. dike and erinys), as complex theatrical scenes in the Oresteia. The visual and its dramatic application thus stand in close interaction with the evolutionary process and development of the trilogy. The focus is on the movement from the visual as riddling signifiers, to the inner fantasy, to the image, to the tableau, and finally to the performative scene beginning to get in motion. All over we can detect a process from the frozen picture to the motion scene, from the metaphorical to the concrete, from the oracular sign to the actual visibility, from enigmatic ambivalence in sign configuration to clear vision. Furthermore, quintessential metaphors can shift into evident theatrical props that can even serve as a mise en abyme, reflecting the larger frame in a smaller scene. In the end of the Eumenides, the iconic and performative act generates the actual result, the political ideal of the reality in the here and now.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: In limine
- 1 À rebours: intervisuality from the Middle Ages to classical antiquity 15
- 2 From image to theatrical play in Aeschylus’ Oresteia 33
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Part II: Archaic and classical age
- 3 Homer and the art of cinematic warfare 81
- 4 Intervisuality in the Greek symposium 103
- 5 The protohistory of portraits in words and images (sixth–fifth century BCE): tyrants, poets, and artists 121
- 6 Looking at Athens through the lyric lens 149
- 7 The politics of intervisuality 171
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Part III: Hellenistic and imperial age
- 8 The goddess playing with gold 197
- 9 Intervisuality in declamation and sung poetry in imperial Greek cities 213
- 10 Intervisual allusions in Lucian, Dialogues of the Sea Gods 15 235
- 11 Was Philostratus the Elder an admirer of Ovidian enargeia? 255
- 12 ἐκ τῶν πινάκων. Aristaenetus’ intervisual allusions to Philostratus’ art gallery 283
-
Part IV: Pointing to Rome
- 13 Ordering the res gestae: observations on the relationship between texts and images in Roman ‘historical’ representations 305
-
Appendix
- List of contributors 335
- Index nominum et rerum notabilium 339
- Index locorum 345
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: In limine
- 1 À rebours: intervisuality from the Middle Ages to classical antiquity 15
- 2 From image to theatrical play in Aeschylus’ Oresteia 33
-
Part II: Archaic and classical age
- 3 Homer and the art of cinematic warfare 81
- 4 Intervisuality in the Greek symposium 103
- 5 The protohistory of portraits in words and images (sixth–fifth century BCE): tyrants, poets, and artists 121
- 6 Looking at Athens through the lyric lens 149
- 7 The politics of intervisuality 171
-
Part III: Hellenistic and imperial age
- 8 The goddess playing with gold 197
- 9 Intervisuality in declamation and sung poetry in imperial Greek cities 213
- 10 Intervisual allusions in Lucian, Dialogues of the Sea Gods 15 235
- 11 Was Philostratus the Elder an admirer of Ovidian enargeia? 255
- 12 ἐκ τῶν πινάκων. Aristaenetus’ intervisual allusions to Philostratus’ art gallery 283
-
Part IV: Pointing to Rome
- 13 Ordering the res gestae: observations on the relationship between texts and images in Roman ‘historical’ representations 305
-
Appendix
- List of contributors 335
- Index nominum et rerum notabilium 339
- Index locorum 345
