Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World

Book

Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World

Edited by: Eric Csapo , Hans Rupprecht Goette , J. Richard Green , Brigitte Le Guen , Elodie Paillard , Jelle Stoop and Peter Wilson

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2022

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Explore this Subject How to publish with us

About this book

Why did ancient autocrats patronise theatre? How could ancient theatre – rightly supposed to be an artform that developed and flourished under democracy – serve their needs?

Plato claimed that poets of tragic drama "drag states into tyranny and democracy". The word order is very deliberate: he goes on to say that tragic poets are honoured "especially by the tyrants, and secondly by the democracies" (Republic 568c).

For more than forty years scholars have explored the political, ideological, structural and economic links between democracy and theatre in ancient Greece. By contrast, the links between autocracy and theatre are virtually ignored, despite the fact that for the first 200 years of theatre's existence more than a third of all theatre-states were autocratic.

For the next 600 years, theatre flourished almost exclusively under autocratic regimes. The volume brings together experts in ancient theatre to undertake the first systematic study of the patterns of use made of the theatre by tyrants, regents, kings and emperors.

Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World is the first comprehensive study of the historical circumstances and means by which autocrats turned a medium of mass communication into an instrument of mass control.

first in-depth study of the adaptation and use of theatre by autocrats in antiquity
examines how autocratic patronage transformed drama from Archaic to Late Imperial times
explores the political manipulation of the world's first mass medium

Author / Editor information

E. Csapo, Univ. Warwick; H.R. Goette, DAI Berlin; B. Le Guen, Univ. Paris; J.R. Green, E. Paillard, J. Stoop & P. Wilson, Univ. Sydney.

Reviews

"While this brief summary and overview cannot adequately represent the volume’s depth of research or the scope of insight, it should nevertheless be clear that it will be a welcomed by scholars and advanced students concerned with an expanded view of theater history and its political intersections."
Courtney J. P. Friesen in: BMCR 2023.10.08 (https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2023/2023.10.08)

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
List of Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Theatre and Autocracy: A Paradox for Theatre History Eric Csapo, Elodie Paillard and Peter Wilson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	1
Part I: Theatre and Greek Autocrats
1 Greek Theatre and Autocracy in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries Eric Csapo and Peter Wilson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	15
2 Artists of Dionysus and Ptolemaic Rulers in Egypt and Cyprus Brigitte Le Guen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	37
3 The Autocratic Theatre of Hieron II Christopher de Lisle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	55
4 Autocratic Rulers and Hellenistic Satyrplay Paul Touyz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	71
Part II: Theatre and Roman Autocrats
5 Greek Theatre in Roman Italy: From Elite to Autocratic Performances Elodie Paillard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	85
6 Drama and Power in Rome from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius (First-Second Centuries AD) Marie-Hélène Garelli Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	105
7 Augustan Policy Towards the Greek Dramatic Festivals Mali Skotheim Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	117
8 Theatres and Autocracy in the Roman Period: An Example in Microcosm J. Richard Green Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	127
9 The Portraits of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Menander in Roman Contexts: Evidence of the Reception of the Theatre Classics in Late Republican and Imperial Rome Hans Rupprecht Goette Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	149
10 Theatre and Autocracy in the Greek World of the High Roman Empire Ewen Bowie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	163
Part III: Representations of Autocrats and Oligarchs in Drama
11 Charms of Autocracy, Charms of Democracy: Euripides’ Athenian Leaders in the Light of Civic Iconography Lucia Athanassaki Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	181
12 Oligarchs in Greek Tragedy Simon Perris Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	199
13 Fault on Both Sides: Constructive Destruction in Varius’ Thyestes Robert Cowan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	219
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	229
General Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	261
Index locorum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	269
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	279

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

October 24, 2022

eBook ISBN:

9783110980356

Hardcover published on:

October 24, 2022

Hardcover ISBN:

9783110795967

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Front matter:

10

Main content:

280

Illustrations:

30

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110980356

eBook ISBN: 9783110980356

Hardcover ISBN: 9783110795967

Keywords for this book

antiquity; autocracy; theatre; Greece

Audience(s) for this book

Scholars and students of Greek and Roman theatre, Classical literature and ancient history and Classical archaeology

Safety & product resources

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

Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

Bibliographic data