Ancient Greek Theatre

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  Ο Διόνυσος, υιός του θεού Δία και της θνητής Σεμέλης —θεός κι ο ίδιος απ' τη σύλληψη και τη γέννησή του— καταφθάνει στην πόλη των Θηβών απ' την Ασία, συνοδευόμενος από τις «Βάκχες», τις ακολούθους του. Αυτές, ενδεδυμένες με δέρματα ελαφιών («νεβρίδες») και κρατώντας στα χέρια τους θύρσο (κοντάρι τυλιγμένο με κισσό, σύμβολο και φορέα της θεϊκής δύναμης του Διονύσου), βιώνουν την έκσταση που τους προκαλεί η μέθεξη στα ιερά μυστήρια του θεού, ενόσω βρίσκονται σε κατάσταση ένθεης μανίας —έχοντας απελευθερώσει τον νου τους απ' τα δεσμά και τους κανόνες των εγκοσμίων, και έχοντας συνενωθεί σ' ένα σώμα και σε μια ψυχή, η οποία πάλλεται στον ρυθμό των τυμπάνων και δονείται απ' το γλυκό κελάηδημα των φρυγικών αυλών. Σκοπός του θεού είναι να μυήσει τη Θήβα, πόλη της καταγωγής του, πρώτη ανάμεσα σ' όλη την Ελλάδα στη νέα αυτή ελευθεριάζουσα λατρεία.

  Με το τελευταίο του έργο, τις «Βάκχες», ο Ευριπίδης εισάγει «καινά δαιμόνια» στη γνωσιολογία της αττικής Τραγωδίας αλλά και στη δομή της θεατρικής της πράξης, προσπαθώντας ταυτοχρόνως να τα εισαγάγει και στον τρόπο αντίληψης και σκέψης των θεατών· περισσότερο, ίσως, για να τους προειδοποιήσει, παρά για να τους μεταρρυθμίσει γνωσιολογικώς. Οι «Βάκχες» αποτελούν ίσως περισσότερο μια πολιτισμική κραυγή αγωνίας και μια ποιητική διαμαρτυρία απέναντι στο διαφαινόμενο τέλος της ίδιας της αττικής Τραγωδίας, της αθηναϊκής δημοκρατίας και του κλασικού ελληνισμού, και λιγότερο ένα αμιγώς διδακτικό περιεχόμενο με σκοπό τη νοητική αυτοβελτίωση εκάστου εκ των θεατών. Ο Ευριπίδης νεωτερίζει, ανασκευάζοντας τους μηχανισμούς προσληψιμότητας (και, εν μέρει, και αισθητικής) της αρχαίας αττικής Τραγωδίας· την «καταργεί» ως διακριτό είδος ποιητικής και θεατρικής δημιουργίας και την «ενταφιάζει» (ίσως προσδοκώντας μια πιθανή επαναγέννεσή της στο μέλλον, με τρόπο παρόμοιο με τη διπλή γένεση του Διονύσου, του δημιουργού του θεάτρου), λίγο μόλις καιρό πριν κι ο ίδιος πεθάνει με τρόπο παρόμοιο με αυτόν του πρωταγωνιστή του δράματος.

  Tο βιβλίο περιλαμβάνει το αρχικό (μερικώς ανακατασκευασμένο) αρχαίο κείμενο των "Βακχών", σε έμμετρη μετάφραση στα νέα ελληνικά. Η μετάφραση συνοδεύεται από τον σχολιασμό ενός επιλεγμένου αριθμού στίχων και από έναν εκτενή Πρόλογο —στον οποίο αναλύονται οι «Βάκχες» και το περιεχόμενό τους, συμπεριλαμβανομένης μιας σύνθετης ερμηνευτικής θέωρησης της τραγωδίας.

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  The god Dionysus —son of Zeus and of the mortal woman Semele— arrives in the city of Thebes from Asia, impersonating a mortal and accompanied by the "Bacchae", his female followers. The latter, clad in deer skins and holding in their hands the "thyrsus" (a wooden staff wrapped in ivy, the symbol and the carrier of the divine power of Dionysus), experience the ecstasy by participating in the sacred mysteries of the god Dionysus, while being at the same time in a state of divine madness —after having freed their mind from the worldly bonds and rules, united in one body and one soul; their body pulsating in the rhythm of the drums, and vibrating to the sweet warbling of the Phrygian flutes. The purpose of Dionysus is to initiate Thebes, his natal city, first among all of Greece, in his new liberating cult.

  In his last work, the "Bacchae", Euripides introduces novelties in the epistemology of the Attic Tragedy as well as in the structure of its theatrical representation; at the same time, he tries to introduce these novelties in the way of perception and thinking of the spectators (perhaps, more in an effort to warn them, rather than to reform their mindset). The "Bacchae" can be considered more as a cultural cry of agony as well as a poetic protest against the looming end of the Attic Tragedy itself, the end of the Athenian democracy and the end of the classical Hellenism, and less as a purely didactic content which aims at the intellectual self-improvement of the spectators. Euripides brutally modernizes and reconstructs the mechanisms of the theatrical receptivity (and, in part, of the aesthetics) of the ancient Attic Tragedy; he "abolishes" it as a distinct kind of poetic and theatrical creation, and "buries" it (perhaps anticipating its possible rebirth in the future, in a manner similar to the double birth of Dionysus, the creator of the theater), shortly before he himself dies, in a manner similar to that of the protagonist of the drama.

  This book includes the original (partially reconstructed) ancient text of the "Bacchae", translated side-by-side in modern greek, in verse. The translation is accompanied by commentary on a selected number of verses, and by an extensive Prologue (both in modern greek) —in which the "Bacchae" and its contents are analyzed, including a composite interpretive view of the tragedy.

Ubiquitous in ancient Greek culture, the ethical principle of xenía may broadly translate as hospitality to strangers, doing so through taking interpersonal, political, and architectural form. Since xenía includes the accommodation of foreign guests, some evidence of xenía in architecture is logically found in houses and hostels, but surprisingly more evidence surrounds Athens’ Theatre of Dionysus, on stage in Aristophanes’ Peace and Euripides’ Cyclops, and off stage through the architects elected to look after the sanctuary of the theatre.     This paper reveals the principle of xenía permeating the professional work of the architect to such a degree that Vitruvius and Demosthenes would reproach even slight digressions from the principle, and Vitruvius would call the education of xenía the most valuable thing to outlast a shipwreck.    

Despite some information given by Poll. IX 83, the general economy of Pherecrates’
Krapataloi remains unclear. Aside from the difficulties (the fragments are often quoted by ancient
sources without any other information regarding the text), some fragments (i.e. Fr. 85, 86,
87 and 89 Kassel - Austin) seem to be related to the katabasis or during the journey through
the Underworld, where the poet locates a ‘‘land of plenty’’. References cited in some verses
may indicate important clues useful for a plausible reconstruction of the context.

Recent times use to bring up studies in the Ancient Greek Literature lacking any philological content, inasmuch as no attention is paid to the problems of the transmission and edition of the extant texts. That is to say, it seems that many young scholars feel uncomfortable infront of the Greek text and as a constant strategy they avoid dealing with grammatical, critical and ecdotical problems 1. Therefore, it is not uncommon that many of the most recent editions are not such, but incomplete commentaries often addressed to a specific audience, whose interest points either to social, especially gender problems, or to literary matters raised in an apparently comparative way, for instance about the questions of orality vs. literacy, postcolonialist creation, and so on. This review will present a counterexample that should become a model instead of an exception. The series Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries has been largely enriched with this edition, of course not by chance. Its author, Marco Fantuzzi, has devoted to this project part of his last thirty years of research, and the result corresponds to this major goal, given the exhaustive programme accomplished and the rigorous methodological patterns applied. His edition appears after five significant contributions by Diggle, Zanetto, Jouan, Kovacs and Fries 2 , with their fresh views on the

Após estudo sobre  as condições de performance do teatro grego antigo, segue-se a análise das peças Os Persas, Sete Contra Tebas, As Suplicantes e a trilogia Orestéia ( Agamênon, Coéforas e Eumênides).
Link para a compra
https://lojavirtual.giostrieditora.com.br/Esquilo-O-dramaturgo-guerreiro


This is a book on Aeschylus'plays: It presents basic material and analysis on The Persians, Suppliants, Seven against Thebes and Oresteia.
This book has 234 pages and it was written in Portuguese.
Link: https://lojavirtual.giostrieditora.com.br/Esquilo-O-dramaturgo-guerreiro

Rappresentazione teatrale | dal 31 luglio al 28 agosto 2021 Valle dei Templi - Agrigento | 18 agosto 2020 Valle dei Templi - Agrigento | 20 luglio 2019 Segesta | 5 gennaio 2019, Teatro Massimo Comunale - Siracusa | 1 agosto 2018, Teatro romano - Ascoli Piceno | 14-15 luglio 2018, Valle dei Templi - Agrigento | 25-26 agosto 2017, Valle dei Templi - Agrigento | 9 agosto 2017, Fano |  | 30 luglio 2017, Sarsina, Arena Plautina | 21 febbraio 2008, Teatro Goldoni - Venezia  | 27 agosto 2005 Gipsoteca canoviana, Possagno

Con Sebastiano Lo Monaco.
Testo di Monica Centanni.
Da Omero, Eschilo, Lucrezio, Virgilio.

Un nuovo rapsodo ci racconta, ci ricorda, la guerra di Troia. La voce del cantore riannoda e ricompone i fili della narrazione omerica e la storia della spedizione achea contro la rocca di Priamo viene narrata così dall’inizio alla fine: dagli amori di Elena e Paride, fino all’inganno del cavallo, la conquista e l’incendio della città.

Storie di eroi – Achille Ettore Aiace Ulisse Diomede – che nell’impresa mettono alla prova il limite e la qualità del loro singolare valore e intanto, insieme, disegnano la variegata costellazione dei valori su cui si fonda, nel bene e nel male, la nostra civiltà occidentale: amicizia, coraggio, lealtà, carattere, astuzia, passione, ragione.
Storie di dei – Atena Poseidone Ares Afrodite – che si schierano in battaglia al fianco degli uomini per dar prova non solo del loro potere, ma della loro stessa esistenza.

L’attore si presenta nelle vesti di un moderno cantore che cuce in una nuova rapsodia i brani degli antichi racconti; ma presta anche corpo e voce agli attori del mito, dei ed eroi. Il testo è composto incastonando nel racconto epico dell’Iliade anche brani tratti dall’Odissea, dall’Agamennone di Eschilo, dal De rerum natura di Lucrezio, dall’Eneide di Virgilio, e dai poemi epici minori sulla conquista di Troia.

Traduzione destinata al reading di Laura Marinoni, Massimo Popolizio, Giulio Maria Corso, Giuseppe Lanino, Mario Pirrello, regia di Claudio Longhi (12 maggio 2016), nel contesto del ciclo "Follia" del Centro Studi "La permanenza del Classico". Video disponibile qui:
http://streaming.cineca.it/follia/.

Il terzo episodio dell’Antigone sofoclea, dal quale ho scelto di trarre questo passo (parafrasi e commento) contiene il lungo dialogo tra Creonte ed il figlio Emone. Propongo in questo saggio i versi 626-725, dunque la parte iniziale del dialogo sino all’inizio della sticomitia che chiude l’episodio.
Secondo Kurt von Fritz, Emone è “una delle figure più belle di Sofocle”. Personaggio problematico, diviso fra l’amore per un padre cui non vuole rinunciare, e l’amore per Antigone, egli si trova a questo punto della tragedia, dopo che il padre ha decretato la condanna a morte della sua amata, e promessa sposa, in una condizione estremamente difficile. In tutta la prima parte del dialogo egli cerca disperatamente di far ragionare il padre, mettendo in evidenza come la sua posizione, eccessivamente rigida, non possa portarlo che al disastro, anche se – in questo momento – non è ancora chiaro in che cosa consista questo disastro: questo comincerà a delinearsi solo alla fine della sticomitia che segue.
Nel discorso di Emone in difesa di Angone non compare – come sostiene ancora von Fritz – alcun elemento personale, erotico: qualsiasi elemento siffatto avrebbe inevitabilmente banalizzato e ridotto la portata politico-morale del dialogo tra Emone ed il padre. Ma è proprio nel corso di questa intensa polemica che Emone “perde suo padre”, e che il suo suicidio finale – uno dei tre suicidi che chiuderanno drammaticamente la tragedia – si pone come l’unica soluzione possibile.
Come osserva George Steiner nel suo profondissimo saggio Le Antigoni, la successiva ode corale dedicata ad Eros (vv. 781 sgg.) si rapporta al legame tra Antigone ed Emone solo in conseguenza di un volgare equivoco, sottolineando ancora la miopia – la calcolata miopia – dei vecchi Tebani e la solitudine spirituale nella quale i due personaggi subiscono il loro destino.

Western civilisation is said to have begun in Ancient Greece. The fifth century BCE was the golden age of the city of Athens, with art, the economy and the new notion of democracy thriving. The Ancient Greeks developed words to describe the world around them, such as anarchy, astronomy, comedy, diplomacy, drama, economics, mathematics, music, philosophy, poetry, theatre, tyranny and even zoology. Their alphabet was taken from the Phoenicians, but unlike the Phoenicians, they used it to write history, philosophy, poetry and plays. These plays and the theatrical conventions invented alongside them reveal the lives, values and relationships of Athenian citizens; and the impact of Ancient Greek theatre can still be seen over two and a half thousand years later.

For as long as it has existed, theatre has sought to entertain and educate audiences, exploring events of the past. From Euripides’ Hippolytus to Shakespeare’s Richard III to Miranda’s Hamilton, it is clear that throughout history, theatrical entertainment has permeated the educational entertainment atmosphere. However, does theatre have a strong connection to key historical events or periods? What constitutes historical legitimacy? This essay will seek to explore these age-old questions, critically analysing the potential for theatre to be judged as a valid form of history, as well its ability to reflect its context. This essay will aim to examine all potential modes through which a historical text’s integrity may be impinged upon, and whether or not it is possible to reach a balance between historical authenticity and creative licence.

This is a comparison of Agathon’s role in Aristophanes’ Thesmophoriazusae and Plato’s Symposium. Firstly, I examine the Platonic version, and the unique, idiosyncratic part Plato gives Agathon to play, as a host to all, and a hostage to Socrates. Secondly, I discuss his interaction with Inlaw, the ordinary Athenian, in Aristophanes’ play. Such parallel reading allows us not only to refine our outlook on the dramatic construction both of the “talking party” and of the comic performance, but also to capture how really poikilos, for better or worse, that urban love could be. Finally, I analyze the significance of this juxtaposition, as an intertext. Plato, I argue, produces a proper palinode of Agathon, as an erotikos and a mimetic poet. By taking seriously the face-to-face between Agathon and Agathon, two dissonant and yet compatible variations on one man, our picture of Athenian erotic culture emerges sharper, and in greater detail. 
Key words:
Eros, sensuality, praise, blame, softness, manliness, effeminacy, body, language.

Clouds and Wasps share a common theme: the problematic relationship between father and son. Is it a simple affinity, or is there something more? The first part of this paper aims to show that the two plays share more profound features. The second part of the paper will offer a parallel reading of Clouds and Wasps, showing that the two fathers are described in a similar way, but with quite opposite ends.

This article provides an analysis of Eccl. 730-745, where a citizen loyal to the new women’s regime, in alienating his objects in favour of the community, personifies them and addresses them as if they were the personnel involved in the procession of the Panathenaea. The analysis is aimed at understanding the function of the objects’ ersonification in this scene against the backdrop of the employment of this device in ancient Greek comedy. I first show that the parody of public rites by means of daily objects is a typical feature of comic literature. I then distinguish the different types of object-personification within Greek comedy. This was probably a common comic device, employed in order to trigger hilarity in the audience. However, in Crates’ fragment 16 K.-A. it is used ›seriously‹, as moving objects can free men from the necessity of working. In Aristophanes, on the contrary, no serious message is to be found in personification. Finally, I examine the following scene in Eccl., where the loyal citizen is confronted by a sceptical one, who declares that he will not alienate his belongings. The sceptic does not personify objects, and the contrast between the two views on the objects expresses the different political positions of the two characters. In the conclusions, I explore the implications of this contrast between the two characters on the general issue of utopia in the Eccl.

Keywords:
personification, automatos bios, utopia

Ανοικτό Πανεπιστήμιο Κύπρου / Σχολή Ανθρωπιστικών και Κοινωνικών Επιστημών. Μεταπτυχιακό Πρόγραμμα Σπουδών: “Ελληνική Γλώσσα και Λογοτεχνία”. Θεματική Ενότητα: ΕΓΛ 51: «Θεωρητικές Προσεγγίσεις στην Αρχαία Ελληνική Λογοτεχνία». Τμήμα Αθήνας (ATH1). Διδάσκουσα – Συντονίστρια ΕΓΛ 51 (ATH1): Ζαχαρούλα Πετράκη.
Εργασία 2η – Τίτλος: «Αισχύλου, “Πέρσαι”: Αφηγηματολογική προσέγγιση των χορικών μερών της τραγωδίας (Πάροδος: στ. 1-154, Α΄ Στάσιμο: στ. 532-597, Β΄ Στάσιμο: στ. 852-907) και συμπεράσματα για τον ρόλο του Χορού».


Open University of Cyprus / Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. M.A. Program in Greek Linguistics and Literature. Module EGL 51: «Theoretical Approaches in Ancient Greek Literature». Athens’ Section (ATH1). Professor – Moderator EGL 51 (ATH1): Zacharoula Petraki.
Paper 2 – Title: «Narratological approximation of the choral parts of Aeschylus' “Persians” (Parodos: 1-154, 1st Stasimon: 532-597, 2nd Stasimon: 852-907) and conclusions about the role of the Chorus».

In this chapter I argue that the ‘socio-political dimension’ of fifth-century Greek tragedy amounts to its engagement with the collective ideology and competitive ethos of the democratized classical polis on the one hand, and more traditional Homeric and mythic conceptions of religion and heroic self-assertion on the other. In addition, I consider the Greek tragedians’ interest in framing dilemmas of action with debates over the merits and meanings of certain key fifth-century socio-political concepts. I address the pressing question of how far Greek tragedy’s ‘socio-politics’ speak to watching Athenians and their guests from other Greek states as polis-dwellers in
general as opposed to singling out the democratic aspects of the Athenian civic experience. We see that while Greek tragedy sometimes used tales of monstrous royal goings-on and heroic extremism to highlight the civilized values of Athens, this city’s democratic citizenry rarely watched a play which would not have unsettled their senses of social and political well-being. However, any claim to the effect that Greek tragedy had real socio-political ‘bite’ for its audience has to be tempered with a recognition that Greek tragedy’s overarching mythical idiom should preclude any reading of it as a vehicle for specific messages or manifestos.

Having dealt with the case of classical Athens, I briefly argue that the social and political force of tragedy did not diminish after the classical period. Neither the facts of Hellenistic or Roman ‘appropriation’ nor the paucity of available evidence should prevent us from realizing that Roman Republican tragedy spoke provocatively and productively to its audience’s specific socio-political milieu. The politics of writing tragedy under the Roman emperors were a different matter again. I show briefly that Seneca’s distinctively baroque, bloody and highly rhetorical mode of tragic presentation reflects the socio-politics of Nero’s Rome through its very eschewal of direct political ‘comment’ or allusion.

PREFACE Colour as a universal aesthetic category has dominated the thoughts of a large number of scholars and scientists from the ancient times till nowadays. Colour has been studied and discussed by chemists, physicists and biologists, theologists, philosophers and psychologists, art experts, literary critics and linguists. Colour has a particular function not only in the spheres directly related to it, like fine arts and architecture, but in fiction as well. While discussing the peculiar and "strange" character of colour vision, the most popular points to consider are the thoughts of ancient philosophers on the one hand and fiction on the other. However, scholars are basically concerned with the identification of the meaning and use of colour terms and the degree of their correspondence with the modern perception of colours. But on what concerns particular observations by individual scholars, purely literary or conceptual aspects of colour use are not substantially studied. Therefore, our ideas on the principles and opportunities of colour use are incomplete and insufficient. The aim of the present work is to fill this gap. The book targets on the following objectives: identification of colour function and systemic study of the colour phenomenon in the writings of the ancient tragedians (in complete surviving pieces, and not in fragments). The analysis of chromatism in a particular text poses a whole set of questions connected to colour: what is the colour, who uses it, where, when and why. The present book attempts to answer these very questions. As an outcome, the book intends to determine: what are the colours the tragedians use, which words are used to convey the colour senses, which structural forms prevail-simple or compound, which parts of the dramas have more colour terms-chorus parts or dialogue. These are the commonly applied criteria for the lexicological analysis of drama; however, a similar investigation focusing on colour has not yet been carried out. Aeschylus', Sophocles' and Euripides' writings enjoy ever-increasing interest since the ancient times. Scholars usually study the tragedies in terms of their linguistic and artistic properties, socio-political and religious-mythological aspects, as well as the vision of the playwrights. The style of the tragedians has become the object of profound and important researches; however, the colour phenomenon as represented in the writings has so far escaped close consideration, although colour is to be regarded as an intrinsic 1 The author would like to thank Mrs. Helen Tatishvili and Mr. Yorgos Voudiklaris for the English translation of the summary.

This thesis is an analysis of the performance reception of Aristophanes’ Frogs across the English-speaking world; in which I include Britain, North America, Africa and Australasia. It will draw on the growing trend of performance reception as a branch of Classical Reception, approaching the material from both a classical and dramatic outlook.

Following an introduction which outlines the methodology, models and background literature, Chapter One outlines the academic reception of the play in the 20th and 21st centuries, drawing out key themes that have been interpreted as being within the play. Chapter Two discusses transmission and translation of the play, following the manuscript’s journey from ancient Athens to modern day English translations. Chapter Three discusses reflections on the play, that is other plays that are not direct adaptations, but can be seen to have been influenced by it in some way. Chapters Four, Five, Six and Seven focus on the theatrical reception of the play, divided geographically. Chapter three therefore focuses on Britain, chapter four North America and chapter six Africa and Australasia. Chapter five focuses solely on the most influential and high-profile adaptation, the 2004 Broadway version with music by Stephen Sondheim. These chapters draw patterns throughout the performance reception, both within individual geographical areas and across the thesis as a whole. Trends include politics, staging, music and the
pedagogical interest in performing Frogs.

The thesis will conclude with a short conclusion reiterating the general themes and trends seen throughout.

La presente tesi si propone di elaborare uno status quaestionis sul mito di Palamede verso la fine del V secolo a.C., con particolare attenzione al Palamede di Euripide e a due orazioni che testimoniano la fioritura della sofistica: l'Apologia di Palamede di Gorgia e l'Odisseo di Alcidamante.

This thesis aims to elaborate a status questionis concerning Palamedes' myths around the end one the V century B.C., focusing in particular on Euripides' "Palamedes", but also on the use of this myth in the contemporary Sophistic, analyzing both Gorgia's "Defense of Palamedes" and Alcidamas' "Odysseus".

Relatrice: Prof.ssa Elisabetta Matelli
Corelatrice: Prof.ssa Cinzia Bearzot