Crisis on Stage: Tragedy and Comedy in Late Fifth-Century Athens

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Crisis on Stage

Tragedy and Comedy in Late Fifth-Century Athens

Edited by: Andreas Markantonatos and Bernhard Zimmermann

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2012

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This book is in the series

Volume 13 | Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes

About this book

This volume explores the relationships between masterworks of Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes and critical events of Athenian history, by bringing together internationally distinguished scholars with expertise on different aspects of ancient theatre. These specialists study how tragic and comic plays composed in late fifth century BCE mirror the acute political and social crisis unfolding in Athens in the wake of the military catastrophe in 413 BCE and the oligarchic revolution in 411 BCE. With events of such magnitude the late fifth century held the potential for vast and fast cultural and intellectual change. In times of severe emergency humans gain a more conscious understanding of their historically shaped presence; this realization often has a welcome effect of offering new perspectives to tackle future challenges. Over twenty academic experts believe that the Attic theatre showed increased responsiveness to the pressing social and political issues of the day to the benefit of the polis. By regularly promoting examples of public-spirited and capable figures of authority, Greek drama provided the people of Athens with a civic understanding of their own good.

Author / Editor information

Andreas Markantonatos, University of the Peloponnese, Kalamata, Greece; Bernhard Zimmermann, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg, Germany.

Topics

Frontmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	I
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	V
Contents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	XIII
I. Sophocles
Sophocles’ Philoctetes and Political Nostalgia Ruth Scodel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	3
Genos, Gennaios, and Athens in the Later Tragedies of Sophocles Sophie Mills Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	19
Sophocles’ Theseus P. J. Finglass Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	41
The Sense of Place: Oedipus at Colonus, ‘Political’ Geography, and the Defence of a Way of Life Andrea Rodighiero Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	55
Athens and Athenian Space in Oedipus at Colonus Suzanne Saïd Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	81
II. Euripides
Mythical Paradigms in Euripides: The Crisis of Myth Roberto Nicolai Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	103
Fragmenting the Self: Society and Psychology in Euripides’ Electra and Ion Daniel Iakov Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	121
Myth and Performance on the Athenian Stage: Praxithea, Erechtheus, their Daughters, and the Aetiology of Autochthony Claude Calame Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	139
Euripides’ Bacchae: The End of an Era or the Beginning of a New One? Konstantina Gakopoulou Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	163
Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis: War and Human Sacrifice Horst-Dieter Blume Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	181
Leadership in Action: Wise Policy and Firm Resolve in Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis Andreas Markantonatos Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	189
The Return of the Father: Euripides’ Antiope, Hypsipyle, and Phoenissae Anna Lamari Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	219
Euripides’ ‘Family Reunion Plays’ and their Socio-Political Resonances Ioanna Karamanou Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	241
III. Aristophanes and Greek Comedy
Women on the Acropolis and Mental Mapping: Comic Body-Politics in a City in Crisis, or Ritual and Metaphor in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata Anton Bierl Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	255
Persians, Oligarchs, and Festivals: The Date of Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazusae Antonis Tsakmakis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	291
Comedy and the Crises Ian Storey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	303
IV. Greek Drama
The ‘Dionysiac’ Plays of Aeschylus and Euripides’ Bacchae: Reaffirming Traditional Cult in Late Fifth Century Georgia Xanthaki-Karamanou Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	323
Problem Kids: Young Males and Society from Electra to Bacchae Alan H. Sommerstein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	343
Metatheatre and Crisis in Euripides’ Bacchae and Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus Francis Dunn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	359
Altruism, Sovereignty, and the Degeneration of Imperial Hegemony in Greek Tragedy and Thucydides Thalia Papadopoulou Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	377
Scripting Revolution: Democracy and its Discontents in Late Fifth-Century Drama David Rosenbloom Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	405
Notes on Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	443
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	449
General Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	495

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

November 30, 2011

eBook ISBN:

9783110271560

Hardcover published on:

November 17, 2011

Hardcover ISBN:

9783110269604

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Front matter:

16

Main content:

504

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110271560

eBook ISBN: 9783110271560

Hardcover ISBN: 9783110269604

Keywords for this book

Athens; Comedy; Crisis; Politics; Tragedy

Audience(s) for this book

Academics, Institutes, Libraries

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Manufacturer information:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com

Crisis on Stage

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Topics

Table of contents

Bibliographic data