The Importance of Overseas in Menander
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William Furley
Abstract
This paper analyses travel in Menander’s extant fragments from the point of view of: i. physical travel, usually by sea, and overseas activity affecting the action of a play, ii. physical travel in and around the polis where the action is based (usually Athens). In either case, both the off-scene travel and action is important, as well as the absences created by the departures and travels. Travel is a way of effecting change, surprise, and development in the mythos, or fabula, of the play. A third aspect we can subsume under travel is the internal ‘journey’ of a central character, usually from confusion and error to an improved understanding of self and others. Menander’s stage itself depicts a section of an urban (rarely rural) street with two/three entranceways in the skênê and two exits, stage left to town or harbour, stage right to the country. Around these visible axes, referenced travel permits a network extending far overland and -sea.
Abstract
This paper analyses travel in Menander’s extant fragments from the point of view of: i. physical travel, usually by sea, and overseas activity affecting the action of a play, ii. physical travel in and around the polis where the action is based (usually Athens). In either case, both the off-scene travel and action is important, as well as the absences created by the departures and travels. Travel is a way of effecting change, surprise, and development in the mythos, or fabula, of the play. A third aspect we can subsume under travel is the internal ‘journey’ of a central character, usually from confusion and error to an improved understanding of self and others. Menander’s stage itself depicts a section of an urban (rarely rural) street with two/three entranceways in the skênê and two exits, stage left to town or harbour, stage right to the country. Around these visible axes, referenced travel permits a network extending far overland and -sea.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- List of Maps and Figures IX
- Introduction: On Departing the Polis 1
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Part I: Theatrical Journeys and Travellers
- Travel to Athens’ Dionysia: Ἑλλὰς Ἑλλάδος and the Centripetal Politics of the Athenian Dionysia 19
- Travel beyond Athens: Pilgrims and Sanctuaries in Greek Tragedy 43
- An Archetypical Traveler: Strangers in Distress and Suppliants in Greek Tragedy 89
- Mapping the Cosmos: The Cosmological Imagination of Travelling in Aeschylus’ Persians and the Oresteia 107
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Part II: Travel and the Tragic
- Sophocles’ Triptolemos and other Tragic Globetrotters 141
- Travelling Through Nemea in Euripides’ Hypsipylē 153
- Euripides’ Melanippē Plays and the Politics of Travel 167
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Part III: Comic Travels
- The Voyage of Eternal Return: Extraordinary Travel in Aristophanes and Old Comedy 185
- Perceptions of Travel in Greek Comedy: Exploring some Examples from Middle Comedy 209
- The Importance of Overseas in Menander 225
- Abbreviations
- Bibliography
- List of Contributors 265
- General Index
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- List of Maps and Figures IX
- Introduction: On Departing the Polis 1
-
Part I: Theatrical Journeys and Travellers
- Travel to Athens’ Dionysia: Ἑλλὰς Ἑλλάδος and the Centripetal Politics of the Athenian Dionysia 19
- Travel beyond Athens: Pilgrims and Sanctuaries in Greek Tragedy 43
- An Archetypical Traveler: Strangers in Distress and Suppliants in Greek Tragedy 89
- Mapping the Cosmos: The Cosmological Imagination of Travelling in Aeschylus’ Persians and the Oresteia 107
-
Part II: Travel and the Tragic
- Sophocles’ Triptolemos and other Tragic Globetrotters 141
- Travelling Through Nemea in Euripides’ Hypsipylē 153
- Euripides’ Melanippē Plays and the Politics of Travel 167
-
Part III: Comic Travels
- The Voyage of Eternal Return: Extraordinary Travel in Aristophanes and Old Comedy 185
- Perceptions of Travel in Greek Comedy: Exploring some Examples from Middle Comedy 209
- The Importance of Overseas in Menander 225
- Abbreviations
- Bibliography
- List of Contributors 265
- General Index
