Crisis on stage : tragedy and comedy in late fifth-century Athens / edited by Andreas Markantonatos, Bernhard Zimmermann.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Markantonatos, Andreas.

Zimmermann, Bernhard.

Series:

Trends in classics. Supplementary volumes ; v. 13.

Trends in classics. Supplementary volumes, 1868-4785 ; v. 13

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Greek drama--History and criticism.

Greek drama.

Theater--Greece--Athens--History--To 500.

Theater.

Literature and society--Greece--History--To 146 B.C.

Literature and society.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (520 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Preface

Contents

I. Sophocles

Sophocles' Philoctetes and Political Nostalgia / Scodel, Ruth

Genos, Gennaios, and Athens in the Later Tragedies of Sophocles / Mills, Sophie

Sophocles' Theseus / Finglass, P. J.

The Sense of Place: Oedipus at Colonus, 'Political' Geography, and the Defence of a Way of Life / Rodighiero, Andrea

Athens and Athenian Space in Oedipus at Colonus / Saïd, Suzanne

II. Euripides

Mythical Paradigms in Euripides: The Crisis of Myth / Nicolai, Roberto

Fragmenting the Self: Society and Psychology in Euripides' Electra and Ion / Iakov, Daniel

Myth and Performance on the Athenian Stage: Praxithea, Erechtheus, their Daughters, and the Aetiology of Autochthony / Calame, Claude

Euripides' Bacchae: The End of an Era or the Beginning of a New One? / Gakopoulou, Konstantina

Euripides' Iphigenia at Aulis: War and Human Sacrifice / Blume, Horst-Dieter

Leadership in Action: Wise Policy and Firm Resolve in Euripides' Iphigenia at Aulis / Markantonatos, Andreas

The Return of the Father: Euripides' Antiope, Hypsipyle, and Phoenissae / Lamari, Anna

Euripides' 'Family Reunion Plays' and their Socio-Political Resonances / Karamanou, Ioanna

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 / Bierl, Anton

Persians, Oligarchs, and Festivals: The Date of Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazusae / Tsakmakis, Antonis

Comedy and the Crises / Storey, Ian

IV. Greek Drama

The 'Dionysiac' Plays of Aeschylus and Euripides' Bacchae: Reaffirming Traditional Cult in Late Fifth Century / Xanthaki-Karamanou, Georgia

Problem Kids: Young Males and Society from Electra to Bacchae / Sommerstein, Alan H.

Metatheatre and Crisis in Euripides' Bacchae and Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus / Dunn, Francis

Altruism, Sovereignty, and the Degeneration of Imperial Hegemony in Greek Tragedy and Thucydides / Papadopoulou, Thalia

Scripting Revolution: Democracy and its Discontents in Late Fifth-Century Drama / Rosenbloom, David

Notes on Contributors

Bibliography

General Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613403124

9781283403122

1283403129

9783110271577

3110271575

9783110271560

3110271567

OCLC:

769343116