Greek Drama and Dramatists

203 Pages·2002·1.5 MB·English

by  Ala Sommerstein

GREEK DRAMA AND
DRAMATISTS
The history of European drama began at the festivals of Dionysus in
ancient Athens, where tragedy, satyr-drama and comedy were performed.
Understanding this background is vital for students of classical, literary
and theatrical subjects, and Alan H. Sommerstein’s accessible study is
the ideal introduction.
The book begins by looking at the social and theatrical contexts and
different characteristics of the three genres of ancient Greek drama. It
then examines the five main dramatists whose works survive – Aeschylus,
Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes and Menander – discussing their
styles, techniques and ideas, and giving short synopses of all their extant
plays.
Additional helpful features include succinct coverage of almost sixty
other authors, a chronology of significant people and events, and an
anthology of translated texts, all of which have been previously inaccessible
to students. An up-to-date study bibliography of further reading
concludes the volume.
Clear, concise and comprehensive, and written by an acknowledged
expert in the field, Greek Drama and Dramatists will be a valuable
orientation text at both sixth form and undergraduate level.
Alan H. Sommerstein is Professor of Greek at the University of
Nottingham, where he is also Director of the Centre for Ancient Drama
and its Reception. He is the author of Aeschylean Tragedy(1996) and has
produced editions of Aeschylus’ Eumenides, and of all eleven comedies of
Aristophanes.

GREEK DRAMA AND
DRAMATISTS
Alan H. Sommerstein
London and New York
First published 2000 in Italian translation
as Θε´ατρ(cid:6)ν: Teatro greco
(tr. F. De Martino) by Levante, Bari
First published in English 2002
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.
© 2002 Alan H. Sommerstein
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Sommerstein, Alan H.
[Theatron. English]
Greek drama and dramatists / Alan H. Sommerstein
p. cm.
1. Greek drama––History and criticism. 2. Theater––Greece
––History––To 500. I. Title.
PA3131 .S8813 2002
882'.0109––dc21 2001045713
ISBN 0-203-42498-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-44593-7 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–415–26027–2 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–26028–0 (pbk)
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Chapter 1 HISTORY OF THE DRAMATIC GENRES 1
Introduction 1
Festival, theatre, performance 4
Tragedy 15
Satyr-drama 22
Old Comedy 25
Middle and New Comedy 30
Chapter 2 THE AUTHORS 33
Aeschylus 33
Life and works 33
Surviving plays 34
Profile 36
Sophocles 41
Life and works 41
Surviving plays 42
Profile 44
Euripides 48
Life and works 48
Surviving plays 50
Profile 54
Minor tragic poets 60
Aristophanes 63
Life and works 63
Surviving plays 64
v
CONTENTS
Profile 67
Menander 70
Life and works 70
Surviving plays 71
Profile 72
Minor comic poets 75
Chapter 3 CHRONOLOGY OF GREEK DRAMA 77
Chapter 4 ANTHOLOGY OF TEXTS 87
Production records 87
Fasti 87
Didaskaliai 88
Nikai 88
Didascalic hypotheses 89
Aeschylus’ Suppliantsand companion plays 89
Aristophanes’ Frogs 91
Synopses of lost plays 91
Euripides’ Stheneboea 91
Cratinus’ Dionysalexandros 92
Aeschylus 93
The Persians, ll. 796–831 93
Seven against Thebes, ll. 631–676 94
Agamemnon, ll. 160–217 96
Choephoroi, ll. 869–930 98
Sophocles 100
Ajax, ll. 646–692 100
Antigone, ll. 332–375 102
Oedipus the King, ll. 1119–1185 103
Electra, ll. 1126–1170 106
Euripides 107
Medea, ll. 465–519 107
The Trojan Women, ll. 308–340 109
Helen, ll. 437–482 111
The Bacchae, ll. 370–430 112
The Cyclops, ll. 519–589 114
Minor tragedians 118
Euphorion (?), Prometheus Bound, ll. 907–940 118
vi
CONTENTS
Critias, Sisyphus, fr. 19.1–40 119
Chaeremon, Oeneus, fr. 14 120
Theodectas (unknown play), fr. 8 121
Moschion (unknown play), fr. 9 121
Anonymous, Candaules and Gyges, fr. 664.18–32
from Tragica Adespota 122
Ezechiel, Exagoge, ll. 1–58 123
Aristophanes 125
The Acharnians, ll. 43–133 125
The Wasps, ll. 1015–1059 129
The Birds, ll. 209–262 132
The Women at the Thesmophoria, ll. 1098–1135 134
Menander 136
The Curmudgeon(Dyskolos), ll. 189–232 136
The Arbitration(Epitrepontes), ll. 218–360 138
Shorn(Perikeiromene), ll. 486–525 144
The Necklace(Plokion), fr. 296.1–16 146
Unknown play, fr. 602.1–18 147
Unknown play, fr. 804 148
Minor comedians 148
Telecleides, The Amphictyons, fr. 1 148
Cratinus, Cheirones, frs 258 and 259 149
Eupolis, The Flatterers(Kolakes), fr. 172 150
Plato, Phaon, fr. 188.5–21 151
Antiphanes, Poetry(Poiesis), fr. 189 151
Epicrates (unknown play), fr. 10 152
Alexis, Linus, fr. 140 154
Philippides, The Lover of Euripides(Phileuripides), fr. 25 155
Philemon, The Soldier(Stratiotes), fr. 82 156
Anonymous, fr. 1000 from Comica Adespota 157
Chapter 5 TESTIMONIA 159
Aeschylus 159
Sophocles 161
Euripides 163
Aristophanes 167
Menander 169
Chapter 6 SELECT FURTHER READING 172
Texts and translations 172
vii
CONTENTS
Drama and theatre 174
Drama and society 175
Tragedy and satyr-drama 177
Individual tragic dramatists 178
Aristophanes and Old Comedy 179
Middle Comedy 179
Menander and New Comedy 180
Index 181
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is a revised English version of Θε´ατρ(cid:6)ν: Teatro greco, which
was published (in an Italian translation by Professor Francesco De Martino)
by Levante Editori, Bari, in 2000. I am most grateful to Professor De
Martino and Levante Editori for kindly giving permission for the work
to be published in English, to Routledge editor Richard Stoneman and
his assistant Catherine Bousfield, and to their anonymous reader for the
many improvements (s)he suggested.
Alan H. Sommerstein
Nottingham, June 2001
ix