Crisis on Stage: Tragedy and Comedy in Late Fifth-Century Athens

Description

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. I. Sophocles Sophocles’ Philoctetes and Political Nostalgia Genos, Gennaios, and Athens in the Later Tragedies of Sophocles Sophocles’ Theseus The Sense of Place: Oedipus at Colonus, ‘Political’ Geography, and the Defence of a Way of Life Athens and Athenian Space in Oedipus at Colonus II. Euripides Mythical Paradigms in Euripides: The Crisis of Myth Fragmenting the Self: Society and Psychology in Euripides’ Electra and Ion Myth and Performance on the Athenian Stage: Praxithea, Erechtheus, their Daughters, and the Aetiology of Autochthony Euripides’ Bacchae: The End of an Era or the Beginning of a New One? Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis: War and Human Sacrifice Leadership in Action: Wise Policy and Firm Resolve in Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis The Return of the Father: Euripides’ Antiope, Hypsipyle, and Phoenissae Euripides’ ‘Family Reunion Plays’ and their Socio–Political Resonances 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 Persians, Oligarchs, and Festivals: The Date of Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazusae Comedy and the Crises IV. Greek Drama The ‘Dionysiac’ Plays of Aeschylus and Euripides’ Bacchae: Reaffirming Traditional Cult in Late Fifth Century Problem Kids: Young Males and Society from Electra to Bacchae Metatheatre and Crisis in Euripides’ Bacchae and Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus Altruism, Sovereignty, and the Degeneration of Imperial Hegemony in Greek Tragedy and Thucydides Scripting Revolution: Democracy and its Discontents in Late Fifth–Century Drama Notes on Contributors Bibliography General Index