Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century : A Survey From Ca. 400 BC to Ca. AD 400

Did Greek tragedy die along with Euripides? This accessible survey demonstrates that this is far from being the case. In it, thirteen eminent specialists offer, for the first time in English, broad coverage of a little-studied but essential part of the history of Greek tragedy. The book contains in-depth discussions of all available textual evidence (including inscriptions and papyri), but also provides historical perspectives on every aspect of the post-fifth-century history of tragedy. Oft-neglected plays, such as Rhesus, Alexandra, and Exagōgē (the only surviving Biblical tragedy), are studied alongside such topics as the expansion of Greek tragedy beyond Athens, theatre performance, music and dance, society and politics, as well as the reception of Greek tragedy in the Second Sophistic and in Late Antiquity, and the importance of ancient scholarship in the transmission of Greek tragic texts. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title page 5 Copyright information 6 Contents 7 Figures and Tables 9 Contributors 10 Preface 13 Abbreviations 14 Introduction 17 Postclassical Tragedy and the Theories of Decline 17 Continuity and Change in Tragedy After the Fifth Century 22 The Status Quaestionis 27 The Contents of This Volume 31 Part I Texts 39 Chapter 1 Greek Tragedy in the Fourth Century: The Fragments 41 Diogenes of Athens 42 Dicaeogenes 43 Antiphon 44 Patrocles 46 Astydamas 46 Achilles 48 Hector 48 Alcmeon; Antigone; Nauplius; Unidentified Plays 51 Carcinus Junior 54 Aëropē; Ajax 56 Alopē; Amphiaraus(?) 57 Medea 58 Oedipus 59 The 'Sicilian Fragment' 61 Chaeremon 63 The Centaur 65 Alphesiboea 67 Oeneus 68 Theodectas 70 Ajax 71 Alcmeon 71 Helen 72 Lynceus 72 Oedipus; Philoctetes 73 Unidentified Plays: Bellerophon or Hippolytus(?); Thyestes(?) 74 Dionysius of Syracuse 75 Diogenes of Sinopē 76 Sosiphanes of Syracuse 78 Epilogue 79 Chapter 2 The Rhesus 82 Scene and Setting; Cast of Characters; Distribution of Roles 82 The Plot 83 Sources 84 Iliad 10 and Homer 85 Other Greek Sources 86 Rhesus of Thrace 87 Structure and Meaning 88 Dramaturgy and Stagecraft 91 Language and Style 94 Authenticity and Date 99 Literary Reception in Antiquity 102 Conclusion 104 Chapter 3 Hellenistic Tragedy and Satyr-Drama; Lycophron's Alexandra 106 Introduction: Hellenistic Tragedy and Society; the General Character of Hellenistic Tragedy 106 The 'Pleiad'; Moschion 111 Plays on Papyrus 119 The Alexandra of Lycophron 123 Hellenistic Satyr-Drama 136 Conclusion 139 Chapter 4 The Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian 141 Ezekiel and His World 142 Transmission of the Text 145 The Subject of the Exagoge 147 Is the Exagoge Tragedy? 148 The Dramatization of the Biblical Text 150 The Exagoge and the Evolution of Tragedy in the Hellenistic Era 155 The Exagoge: Possible Performance Contexts 158 Part II Contexts and Developments 163 Chapter 5 Beyond Athens: The Expansion of Greek Tragedy from the Fourth Century Onwards 165 The Expansion of Tragedy in the Fourth Century 165 Sicily and South Italy 165 From Macedon to the Kingdom of Alexander 168 Other Locales 170 The Dissemination of Tragedy in the Hellenistic Era 173 Proliferation of Festivals with Theatrical Components and Tragic Contests 174 The Guilds of the Artists of Dionysus 179 New and Old Tragedies 183 Known Contests for New and/or Old Tragedy 184 Old and New Tragedies, Choruses and Dionysiac Artists 189 Conclusion 194 Chapter 6 Theatre Performance After the Fifth Century 196 The Formation of a Canon and the Emergence of a Repertory Tradition 196 Fourth-Century Tragedy and the Tragic Canon 197 The Influence of Euripides and Aeschylus on New Tragedy 199 Innovation in Later Tragedy 201 Canonization and Lycurgus: Why 338 BC? 204 The Theatrical Environment and Equipment 206 Drama as an International Art Form 206 Expansion of Theatres Across the Greek-Speaking World 209 Architecture of the Theatres: The Innovation of the Raised Stage in Hellenistic Times 210 Theatrical Machinery 210 Performance 211 The Rise of the Actor 211 Acting Style 213 Standardization of Masks 214 The Chorus in Fourth-Century Tragedy 216 Conclusion 219 Chapter 7 Music and Dance in Tragedy After the Fifth Century 220 How Much Music and Dance Was There in Post-Fifth-Century Tragedy? 224 Documentary Evidence for Post-Fifth-Century Music and Dance in the Theatre 233 Changing Melodies, Tunings, Musical Styles 238 Musical Notation and the Evidence from Papyri 245 Developments in Dance 248 Reperformance of 'Old' Tragedies 249 Conclusion 257 Chapter 8 The Fifth Century and After: (Dis)Continuities in Greek Tragedy 259 Song 260 Plot 263 Naturalism 266 Language 267 Characters and Situations 270 Secular Content 271 Self-Consciousness 272 Choral Self-Reference 273 Metatheatre 274 Allusion 276 Ethical Contingency 279 Conclusion 285 Chapter 9 Society and Politics in Post-Fifth-Century Tragedy 286 Aristotle on 'Poets Nowadays' 287 Post-Aeschylean Tragedy as a Rhetorical Art Form 292 Free Speech and Democratic Discourse 299 Moschion on Burial 302 Suppliant Drama and the Imperial Legacy 306 Conclusion 309 Part III Reception and Transmission 311 Chapter 10 Attitudes Towards Tragedy from the Second Sophistic to Late Antiquity 313 Setting the Stage 313 Tragedy Performed 315 Tragedy and Other Performance Types 318 Tragedy on the Page 320 Teaching Tragedy: Grammar, Morality and Rhetoric 321 The Utility of Tragedy 322 Tragedy and Rhetoric 327 Tragedy and Imagination 328 Tragedy in Rhetorical Practice 332 Tragic Actor as Sophist 333 Tragedy and Alterity 335 Laughter and Fear 337 Conclusion 338 Chapter 11 Scholars and Scholarship on Tragedy 340 Taking Stock: Athenian Archives and Editions 342 Aristotle and the Scholarly Turn 345 From the Athenian Archive to the Alexandrian Library 349 Rome and Back Again 357 Tragic Scholia and Tragedians' Lives 361 Bibliography 366 Index Locorum 408 General Index 419 Did Greek tragedy die along with Euripides? This accessible survey demonstrates that this is far from being the case. In it, thirteen eminent specialists offer, for the first time in English, broad coverage of a little-studied but essential part of the history of Greek tragedy. The book contains in-depth discussions of all available textual evidence (including inscriptions and papyri), but also provides historical perspectives on every aspect of the post-fifth-century history of tragedy. Oft-neglected plays, such as Rhesus, Alexandra, and Exagoge (the only surviving Biblical tragedy), are studied alongside such topics as the expansion of Greek tragedy beyond Athens, theatre performance, music and dance, society and politics, as well as the reception of Greek tragedy in the Second Sophistic and in Late Antiquity, and the importance of ancient scholarship in the transmission of Greek tragic texts.--Publisher description What Happened To Greek Tragedy After The Death Of Euripides? This Book Provides Some Answers, And A Broad Historical Overview.