Greek tragedy on the move : the birth of a Panhellenic art form c.500-300 BC / Edmund Stewart.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stewart, Edmund, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Greek drama (Tragedy)--History and criticism.

Greek drama (Tragedy).

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xviii, 261 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2017.

Summary:

"What makes Greek tragedy Greek? The genre is one of the most important cultural legacies of the classical world, with a rich and varied history and reception, yet at first sight it appears to have its roots in a very particular place and time. The authors of the surviving works of Greek tragic drama--Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides--were all from one city, Athens, and all lived in the fifth century BC; unsurprisingly, it has often been supposed that tragic drama was inherently linked in some way to fifth-century Athens and its democracy. Why then do we refer to tragedy as 'Greek', rather than 'Attic' or 'Athenian'? This volume tells the story of tragedy's development and dissemination, which is inherently one of travel as tragedy grew out of, and became part of, a common Greek culture. Although Athens was a major Panhellenic centre, by the fifth century a well-established network of festivals and patrons encompassed Greek cities and sanctuaries from Sicily to Asia Minor and from North Africa to the Black Sea. The movement of professional poets, actors, and audience members along this circuit allowed for the exchange of poetry in general and tragedy in particular, which came to be performed all over the Greek world: tragic drama was thus a Panhellenic phenomenon even from the time of the earliest performances. The stories dramatized were themselves tales of travel--the epic journeys of heroes such as Heracles, Jason, or Orestes--and the works of the tragedians not only demonstrated how the various peoples of Greece were connected through the wanderings of their ancestors, but also how these connections could be sustained by travelling poets."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The Problem 1

1 Recent Approaches 1

a Athens and Tragedy 1

b Tragedy beyond Athens 5

2 New Directions 9

a Panhellenic Tragedy 9

b Panhellenic Networks 12

c Professionalism and Travel 13

3 The Argument 18

1 The Background I: Travelling Heroes and Panhellenic Tragedy 19

Introduction 19

1 The Travelling Hero in Greek Poetry 20

2 Panhellenic Tragedy 22

Conclusion 31

2 The Background II: Wandering Poets, Panhellenic Networks, and Professionalism 33

1 Introduction: Mobility in Archaic and Classical Greece 33

a The Culture of Travel in Ancient Greece 33

b Professionalism and Travel 34

2 Networks of Non-Dramatic Poets c.700-300 BC 43

a Aegean and Asia Minor 45

b The Greek Mainland 48

c The Greek West 53

3 Reasons and Motivations for the Travel of Poets 55

a Exiles and Economic Migrants 56

b The Pursuit of Fame 57

c The Pursuit of Wealth 60

Conclusion 63

3 Tragedy in Attica c.500-300 BC 65

Introduction 65

1 The Audience 66

2 Non-Athenian Performers 69

a Origins 73

b Impact 82

Conclusion 90

4 Tragedy outside Attica c.500-450 BC 93

Introduction 93

1 Dramatic Performances outside Attica 94

a The Greek Mainland 94

b The Greek West 97

2 The Plays 105

a Aeschylus' Aetnaeae 105

b Aeschylus' Persians and its Trilogy 109

Conclusion 114

5 Tragedy outside Attica c.450-400 BC 117

Introduction 117

1 Euripides' Archelaus, Temenus, and Temenidae 118

a The Myth and its Purpose 118

b Possibilities for Performance 126

2 Euripids' Andromache 139

3 Euripides' Captive Melanippe and Aeolus 144

a The Myth and the Plays 144

b Possibilites for Performance 151

Conclusion 158

6 Tragedy outside Attica c.400-300 BC 161

Introduction 161

1 A New Era? 164

a The Death of Political Tragedy? 164

b Specialization and Professionalization: The Ruse of the Acting Profession? 169

c Old Tragedy or New Tragedy? 177

d Conclusion 178

2 The Dissemination of Tragedy in the Fourth Century 179

a Performance Venues 179

b Performers 188

Conclusion 193

Appendix 1 The Settings of Plays of Greek Tragedy and Satyr Play 201

Appendix 2 Non-Citizen Performers in Attica 211

Appendix 3 Phrynichus in Sicily? 223.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-254) and index.

ISBN:

9780198747260

0198747268

OCLC:

966737204