This volume comprises a fraction of the papers presented at the fifth decennial Greek Drama conference (Vancouver 2017). Owing to the broad theme of the conference, the collection has no strict thematic focus. However, as the editors themselves note, a unifying aspect is the emphasis on fragmentary plays as well as on the reception of Athenian drama in antiquity.
The chronological range of the volume is established in the first chapter, entitled ‘The politics of Greece’s theatrical revolution, ca. 500 – ca. 300 BCE’. Here Eric Csapo and Peter Wilson explore the question of theatre and politics from the perspective of ancient reception. Although the standard association between theatre and democracy remains strong, the authors’ balanced approach stresses the importance of specifics such as time, place and purpose.
Chapters 2–4 focus on Sophocles. Sheila Murnaghan (‘Selective memory and epic reminiscence in Sophocles’ Ajax’) discusses the multi-faceted portrayal of Sophocles’ Ajax, giving fresh insight into Sophocles’ relationship with Homer. The resonances between Sophocles’ Philoctetes and the elegies of Archilochus, Tyrtaeus and Solon are explored by Kathryn Mattison (‘Elegy and Sophocles’ Philoctetes: a reflection on generic resonance’). Her approach is innovative as well as compelling and invites research into possible generic connections between tragedy and Archaic elegy in general. By examining Sophocles’ Deianira, Eleni Papazoglou (‘A dramaturgy of the self: Deianira between the grid and the couch’) aptly explores the idea of the tragic subject as shaping subjectivity away from social values and roles, and as displaying the psychological profile of an idiosyncratic ‘I’.
The next three chapters each consider a play by Euripides. John Gibert (‘Tragic overliving and deferred funerary ritual in Euripides’ Hecuba’) illuminates several aspects of Euripides’ Hecuba through ‘overliving’, a notion that invests the concept of continued existence with tragic associations. Suspense as a plot device that generates uncertainty about characters and their affective bond is lucidly shown by Francis Dunn (‘Affective suspense in Euripides’ Electra’) to add to the emotional power of the ending of Euripides’ Electra. Ruggiero Lionetti (‘The fall of Troy, the glory of Athens: chorus and community in Euripides’ Trojan Women’) investigates the interaction between the fictitious community of Troy and the Athenian civic body, and convincingly discusses the way in which Euripides projects Athens onto Troy within choral interventions.
Chapters 8–10 shed light on fragmentary plays. Rosa Andújar (‘Choral mirroring in Euripides’ Phaethon’) demonstrates that the secondary Chorus in Euripides’ Phaethon produces a ‘mirroring’ effect, in which the spectators are invited to witness contrasting realities. This effect serves to accentuate Euripides’ innovative treatment of Phaethon’s myth. Anastasia Stavroula Valtadorou (‘Eros in pieces(?): tragic Eros in Euripides’ Andromeda and Antigone’) rightly challenges the standard view of erotic love in Greek tragedy as destructive. In one of the most reasoned contributions to the volume (‘The case against domestic seclusion in (Euripides) fr. 1063’), Elizabeth Scharffenberger discusses an unattributed tragic fragment (fr. 1063) in which the female speaker criticizes women’s domestic isolation. The author explores intertextual links to Aristophanes’ Thesmophoriazusae and suggests either Euripidean authorship or composition by an emulator.
Three chapters on the reception of Aeschylus’ Oresteia follow. Anna Simas (‘Aeschylus and the iconography of the Erinyes’) carefully examines the description of the Furies in Aeschylus’ Oresteia in relation to vase-paintings. She shows that Aeschylus both uses language that evokes depictions of female monsters and situates Orestes and the Furies within the pursuit scene common in visual art. In one of the most original chapters (‘The women of Thebes as Aeschylean Erinyes: the first messenger speech of Euripides’ Bacchae’) Paul G. Johnston suggests an intertextual link between the presentation of the Theban women in the first messenger speech of Euripides’ Bacchae and the portrayal of Aeschylus’ Furies, while also discussing the increased level of metatheatricality achieved. Brett M. Rogers (‘Electra-style: reception(s) of Aeschylus’ Oresteia in Aristo-phanes’ Clouds’) provides a thorough discussion of the links between Aristophanes’ play and Aeschylus’ trilogy.
The last three chapters explore comedy. A. Novokhatko (‘Making terminology: on the use of generic vocabulary in Old Attic Comedy’) adduces ample evidence to corroborate her view that the use of generic terms in comedy is crucial for the establishment of scholarly terminology. Meanwhile Niall Slater (‘Stratophanes the Ephebe? The hero’s journeys in Menander’s Sikyonioi’) carefully reconstructs the complicated plot of Menander’s fragmentary play, finds echoes from tragedy and views Stratophanes’ journey of self-discovery as an ephebe’s journey to adulthood. Finally, in his well-researched contribution (‘The pre-history of the miles gloriosus in Greek drama’) Wilfred E. Major argues against the standard scholarly view of the miles gloriosus, the braggart soldier, as an established stock figure prior to Plautus.
Overall, this is a wide-ranging volume, which employs various critical methods to offer fresh readings mainly of individual plays, though undoubtedly the questions raised throughout have broader and insightful implications for the rest of the dramatic corpus.
