City of suppliants : tragedy and the Athenian empire / by Angeliki Tzanetou.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tzanetou, Angeliki.

Series:

Ashley and Peter Larkin series in Greek and Roman culture.

Ashley and Peter Larkin series in Greek and Roman culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Greek drama (Tragedy)--History and criticism.

Greek drama (Tragedy).

Aeschylus. Eumenides.

Aeschylus.

Euripides. Children of Heracles.

Euripides.

Sophocles. Oedipus at Colonus.

Sophocles.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (223 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

After fending off Persia in the fifth century BCE, Athens assumed a leadership position in the Aegean world. Initially it led the Delian League, a military alliance against the Persians, but eventually the league evolved into an empire with Athens in control and exacting tribute from its former allies. Athenians justified this subjection of their allies by emphasizing their fairness and benevolence towards them, which gave Athens the moral right to lead. But Athenians also believed that the strong rule over the weak and that dominating others allowed them to maintain their own freedom. These conflicting views about Athens’ imperial rule found expression in the theater, and this book probes how the three major playwrights dramatized Athenian imperial ideology. Through close readings of Aeschylus’ Eumenides, Euripides’ Children of Heracles, and Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, as well as other suppliant dramas, Angeliki Tzanetou argues that Athenian tragedy performed an important ideological function by representing Athens as a benevolent and moral ruler that treated foreign suppliants compassionately. She shows how memorable and disenfranchised figures of tragedy, such as Orestes and Oedipus, or the homeless and tyrant-pursued children of Heracles were generously incorporated into the public body of Athens, thus reinforcing Athenians’ sense of their civic magnanimity. This fresh reading of the Athenian suppliant plays deepens our understanding of how Athenians understood their political hegemony and reveals how core Athenian values such as justice, freedom, piety, and respect for the laws intersected with imperial ideology.

Contents:

Aeschylus' Eumenides: hegemony and justice

Hegemony and empire: presumed origins

Euripides' Children of heracles: "helping the weak and punishing the strong"

Hegemony in crisis: Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-292-73717-3

OCLC:

794672966