This edition first published 2014

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Storey, Ian Christopher, 1946–

A guide to ancient Greek drama / Ian C. Storey & Arlene Allan. – Second edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-118-45512-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-1-118-45511-1 (epub) – ISBN 978-1-118-45513-5 (mb) – ISBN 978-1-118-45514-2 (epdf) 1. Greek drama–History and criticism–Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Allan, Arlene. II. Title.

PA3131.S83 2014

882′.0109–dc23

2013030058

Paperback 9781118455128

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover image: Red-figure krater with detail of two actors, 5th century BC, Valle Trebba. Ferrara, Archaeological Museum. © 2013. Photo Scala, Florence - courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali

Cover design by Richard Boxhall Designs Associates

Dedicated to the memory of
Kathryn (Kate) Grace Bosher
(1974–2013)

In this Guide we have attempted to provide an introduction to all three of the genres that comprised ancient Greek drama. Many critical studies focus solely on tragedy or on comedy with only a nodding glance at the other, while satyr-drama often gets lost in the glare of the more familiar genres. We begin with a consideration of the aspects and conventions of ancient Greek drama, so like and at the same time different from our own experience of the theater, and then discuss the connections that it possessed with the festivals of Dionysos and the polis of Athens. Was attending or performing in the theater in the fifth and fourth centuries a “religious” experience for those involved? To what extent was ancient drama a political expression of the democracy of the Athenian polis in the classical era?

We consider first tragedy, the eldest of the three dramatic sisters, both the nature of the genre (“serious drama”) and the playwrights that have survived, most notably the canonical triad (Aeschylus, Sophokles, Euripides), but also some of the lesser lights who entertained the spectators and won their share of victories. We have given satyr-drama its own discussion, briefer to be sure than the others, but the student should be aware that it was a different sort of dramatic experience, yet still part of the expected offerings at the City Dionysia. As Old Comedy is inextricably bound up with Aristophanes, much of the discussion of that poet will be found in the section on Old Comedy proper as well as the separate section devoted to Aristophanes. A short chapter addresses how one should watch or read (and teach) Greek drama and introduces the student to the various schools of interpretation. Finally we have provided a series of one-page synopses of each of the forty-six reasonably complete plays that have come down to us, which contain in brief compass the essential details and issues surrounding each play.

We would thank our students and colleagues at Trent University, who over the years have been guinea-pigs for our thoughts on ancient Greek drama. Martin Boyne, in particular, gave us much useful advice as the project began to take shape. Kevin Whetter at Acadia University read much of the manuscript and provided an invaluable commentary. Colleagues at Exeter University and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand have also been sources of ongoing advice and support. Kate Bosher (Michigan) very kindly gave us the benefit of her research into Epicharmos. Karin Sowada at the Nicholson Museum in Sydney has gone out of her way to assist in providing illustrations for the book. We have enjoyed very much working with the staff at Blackwell. Al Bertrand, Angela Cohen, Annette Abel, and Simon Alexander have become familiar correspondents, responding unfailingly to our frequent queries.

Drama is doing, and theater watching. We both owe much to the Classics Drama Group at Trent University, which since 1994 has sought to bring alive for our students the visual and performative experience of ancient drama. This volume is dedicated to them, with admiration and with thanks.

Commenting on the revision of Eupolis' lost comedy Autolykos (420 bc), an ancient scholar defines the technical term “revision” as: “when a book is rewritten from the original version, having the same plot and most of the same text, but with some things removed from the previous version, some things added, and some things altered.” This might well serve as an apt description of the second edition of our guide to ancient Greek drama. Much of the presentation of basic facts about the production of ancient plays, information about the dramatists, and details of the dramas themselves, has remained as it was in the original edition, taking into account the significant studies of the past ten years. However, in the first chapter we have conflated into one sub-section (“Drama, Dionysos, and the Polis”) the discussions of the connections of Greek drama to its patron god Dionysos and to the city (polis) in which most of the dramas that we have were produced, Athens. In so doing we are trying not to create artificial pigeon-holes in which to insert discussions of drama as “religious” or “political,” but to see the overall experience of all concerned (poets, performers, officials, spectators) as one that directly affected their lives and identities as member of ancient Greek polis.

Similarly in chapter 2 we have for the most part reproduced the original descriptive material, but the section on Sophokles and the polis has been expanded considerably. Whereas for Aeschylus and Euripides it is possible to see specific contemporary issues reflected in their dramas, Sophokles seems to be dramatizing the issues of the polis more subtly, showing how matters of general import are worked out on and by individual men and women. We speculate whether Sophokles should not be considered the most politically engaged of the three extant tragic poets. To chapter 4 (“Greek Comedy”) we have added two new discussions: one on the comic poet, Alexis, who had somehow slipped between the two stools of Middle and New Comedy, and the other on the so-called phlyax-vases, some of which are now regarded as illustrating scenes from Athenian comedy, both Old and Middle. We have also expanded our discussion of later comedy, in part to take into account the excellent recent treatments by Arnott (2010), Ireland (2010), and Traill (2008).

Chapter 5 (“Approaching Greek Drama”) has been almost entirely recast. We have retained most of the approaches outlined in the previous edition, but re-organized them into groups with related themes. “Formal Criticism” includes textual criticism and commentary, the “New” criticism by which ancient dramas are read as works of literature, and the comparative approach (or “version”). Within “Interdisciplinary Approaches” we have grouped structuralist readings, drama and ritual, gender-based studies, and psychological analyses. A third category, “Visual Interpretations,” includes both the conventions of ancient stagecraft and also the depiction of scenes from tragedy, comedy, and satyr-drama, principally on vases and in the form of terracotta statuettes. A final section, “Reception Studies” comprises the “classical tradition” as applied to drama and what we now call “performance studies.”

To the appendices we have added a “Timeline,” providing in three parallel columns: military and external events having to do with the ancient Greek world, political and social events (principally at Athens), and the development of Greek drama. These cover the period from roughly 600 bc to 300 bc. The other major change in the second edition will be found in the area of “Further Reading.” The presentation of bibliography in the first edition in various sub-sections proved to be cumbersome in appearance and difficult to use. At the end of each chapter we now provide a short series of “recommended reading,” usually five or so annotated entries on each of a number of topics raised in that chapter. At the end of the volume will be found a full list of “Further Reading,” covering both works cited in the text and our suggestions for other books, articles, and collections of essays that will (we hope) be of use to both student and instructor.

We would again like to thank our students and colleagues at Trent University and the University of Otago, who have often been the first recipients of our thoughts on ancient Greek drama and have in turn offered many insightful comments. The Classics Drama Group (the Conacher Players) at Trent University, now in their twentieth year, continues to flourish and provide us with opportunities to examine how ancient plays were (and can still be) performed. Dr. Martin Boyne (Trent) gave us a great deal of advice as the project first developed and has done so again for this second edition. We are especially grateful to those who reviewed the first edition and provided a wealth of useful suggestions on how to improve the second. We would acknowledge with thanks the support from James Morwood (Oxford), Eric Dugdale (Gustavus Adolphus), Robin Bond (Canterbury), Toph and Hallie Marshall (UBC), George Kovacs (Trent), and Donald Sells (Michigan). We have enjoyed very much working (again) with the staff at Wiley-Blackwell. Haze Humbert, Rebecca du Plessis, and Ben Thatcher have become familiar correspondents, responding unfailingly to our frequent queries. Many thanks also to Bryn Snow for doing the index to this edition.

Finally and on a very sad note, we acknowledge the contributions to both editions made by Kathryn (Kate) Bosher (Northwestern), who gave us the benefit of her expert knowledge of Epicharmos and the tradition of drama in the Greek West. Kate's early and unexpected passing in March 2013 shocked and dismayed her many colleagues and admirers. This revised edition of our guide to ancient Greek drama is thus dedicated to her memory.

1.1 Theater of Dionysos, Athens

1.2 Theater at Epidauros

1.3 Seating in the fifth-century theater at Argos

1.4 Lysikrates Monument, Athens

1.5 Theater of Dionysos, looking toward the Acropolis

1.6 South slope of the Acropolis (artist’s reconstruction)

1.7 Theater at Megalopolis

1.8 Theater at Delphi

1.9 Throne of the Priest of Dionysos Eleuthereus

1.10 Tragic performers dressing for their role as maenads

1.11 Costumed actor holding his mask

1.12 Aulos-player

2.1 Basel Choristers

2.2 Resolution (Euripides' securely dated plays)

2.3 Resolution (Euripides' extant tragedies)

2.4 Tableau scene from a volute-krater, ca. 340s

3.1 The Pronomos Vase

3.2 Performers in a satyr-drama

3.3 Depiction of Satyr and maenad

4.1 Padded dancers

4.2 The Chorēgoi Vase

4.3 The Würzburg Telephos

4.4 Cairo Papyrus, Plate XLV

5.1 Two scenes illustrating the opening scene of Aeschylus' Libation-Bearers

5.2 The “Cleveland Medea”

5.3 Tableau scene likely influenced by the death scene in Euripides' Alkestis

5.4 “Orestes at Delphi”

0.1 Map of the Eastern Mediterranean

0.2 Map of Greece

1.1 Map of Attica

1.2 Map of Athens

1.3 Theater of Dionysos (classical period)

1.4 Theater at Thorikos

“F” designates the fragments of the dramatic poets. For tragedy these are cited from the volumes of TrGF, and for comedy from PCG. Several volumes in the Loeb Classical Library contain the text of most fragments with an English translation and some notes: Sommerstein 2008 vol. 3 (Aeschylus), Lloyd-Jones 1996 vol. 3 (Sophokles), Collard & Cropp 2008 (Euripides), Henderson 2007 vol. 5 (Aristophanes), Storey 2011 (the other poets of Old Comedy), and Arnott 1990 (Menander). “D” designates a play performed at the City Dionysia at Athens; “L” a play performed at the Lenaia at Athens.

All dates are bc, unless otherwise indicated. Except for some names which have become too familiar to alter (Homer, Aeschylus, Plato, Aristotle, Menander ∼ more properly Homeros, Aischylos, Platon, Aristoteles, Menandros), we have used Hellenized spellings (“k” to represent Greek kappa, endings in “-os” rather than the Latinate “-us”). Among other things it does allow the student to distinguish a Greek author (Kratinos) from a Roman one (Plautus).