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TEKNOPHAGY AND TRAGICOMEDY: THE MYTHIC BURLESQUES OF TEREVS AND THYESTES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2019

Maria Haley
Maria Haley*
Affiliation:
University of [email protected]
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Extract

Teknophagy (τεκνοϕαγία), or child-eating, is an apt subject for tragedy. It introduces the theme of miasma, it escalates violence and epitomises the destructive family feuds that Aristotle prized as the most suitable stories for tragedy. Therefore, unsurprisingly, the teknophagies of Thyestes and Tereus were dramatised in three fifth-century tragedies, all of them preserved only in fragments: Euripides’ Thyestes, Sophokles’ Thyestes (Β) and Sophokles’ Tereus. What is surprising is the appearance of plays by the same titles in the comic tradition, including Tereus plays by Kantharos (C5 BC), Anaxandrides (C4 BC) and Philetairos (C4 BC) along with Diokles’ Thyestes (Β) (late C5 BC to early C4 BC). Therefore, this study will first consider how Tereus’ teknophagy was adapted to mythical burlesques, to then consider how comic adaptations of Thyestes’ teknophagy influenced Seneca's Thyestes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ramus , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , December 2018 , pp. 152 - 173
Copyright
Copyright © Ramus 2019 

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