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The Degree of Orphic Initiation in Euripides’ Alcestis
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Jacqueline Assaël
Published/Copyright:
November 15, 2016
Abstract:
A play such as Euripides’ Alcestis, which thus far appeared as relatively insignificant and unclassifiable, takes on an impressive density and consistency in light of the contemporary philosophical and religious thought patterns of Orphism. The beneficent and sacrificial functions of the characters can now be fully justified; the same applies to the linguistic ambiguities, the ambivalences of life and death situations, and the oddities arising from the staging of a heroine standing on the edge between reality and illusion.
Article Note
All translations of Euripidean passages follow the LOEB edition of Euripides by David Kovacs except otherwise noted. As regards the translation of other ancient authors, a relevant note is duly provided.
Published Online: 2016-11-15
Published in Print: 2016-11-15
© De Gruyter 2016
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Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Special Issue: Orphism and Greek Tragedy, Issue Editors: Jacqueline Assaël & Andreas Markantonatos
- Introduction
- The Degree of Orphic Initiation in Euripides’ Alcestis
- Two Orphic Images in Euripides: Hippolytus 952–957 and Cretans 472 Kannicht
- The Meanings of σώιζειν in Alcestis’ Final Scene
- Mystical Morality and Heroic Transcendence: Eleusinian Orphism and Political Ethics in Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis
- Dikē as Global World Order: An Orphic Inheritance in Aeschylus?
- Death Scenes and Orphic Mysteries in Euripides: Between the Epic and the Mystic
- Orpheus and mousikê in Greek Tragedy
- General Index
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Special Issue: Orphism and Greek Tragedy, Issue Editors: Jacqueline Assaël & Andreas Markantonatos
- Introduction
- The Degree of Orphic Initiation in Euripides’ Alcestis
- Two Orphic Images in Euripides: Hippolytus 952–957 and Cretans 472 Kannicht
- The Meanings of σώιζειν in Alcestis’ Final Scene
- Mystical Morality and Heroic Transcendence: Eleusinian Orphism and Political Ethics in Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis
- Dikē as Global World Order: An Orphic Inheritance in Aeschylus?
- Death Scenes and Orphic Mysteries in Euripides: Between the Epic and the Mystic
- Orpheus and mousikê in Greek Tragedy
- General Index
