Slaves and Slavery in Ancient Greek Comic Drama

283 Pages·2013·2.16 MB·English

by  Ben Akrigg

SLAVES AND SLAVERY IN ANCIENT
GREEK COMIC DRAMA
HowdidaudiencesofancientGreekcomedyreacttothespectacleof
mastersandslaves?Iftheywereexpectedtolaughataslavethreatened
withabeatingbyhismasteratonemomentbutlaughwithhimwhen
they bantered familiarly at the next, what does this tell us about
ancient Greek slavery? This volume presents ten essays by leading
specialists in ancient Greek literature, culture and history, exploring
thechangingrolesandrepresentationsofslavesincomicdramafrom
Aristophanes at the height of the Athenian Empire to the New
Comedy of Menander and the Hellenistic world. The contributors
focusvariouslyonindividualcomicdramasoronparticularhistorical
periods,analysingawiderangeoftextual,material-cultureandcom-
parativedataforthepracticesofslaveryandtheirrepresentationonthe
ancientGreekcomicstage.
benakriggisAssociateProfessorofGreekHistoryattheUniversity
ofToronto.Hisprincipalresearchinterestistheeconomicandsocial
historyofclassicalGreece.
robtordoffteachesGreekandRomanliteratureintheDepartment
ofHumanitiesatYorkUniversityinToronto.Hisresearchfocuseson
Aristophanes, social and cultural history and the reception of ancient
Greekliterature.
Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 131.211.208.19 on Sat Aug 31 06:40:07 WEST 2013.
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511919985
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2013
SLAVES AND SLAVERY
IN ANCIENT GREEK COMIC
DRAMA
edited by
BEN AKRIGG
and
ROB TORDOFF
Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 131.211.208.19 on Sat Aug 31 06:40:07 WEST 2013.
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511919985
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2013
cambridge university press
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,
Singapore,SãoPaulo,Delhi,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridgecb28ru,UK
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107008557
©CambridgeUniversityPress2013
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2013
PrintedandiboundiinitheUnitedKingdombyitheMPGiBooksiGroup
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
SlavesandslaveryinancientGreekcomicdrama/editedbyBenAkriggandRobTordoff.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-00855-7
1. Greekdrama(Comedy)–Historyandcriticism. 2. Slaveryin
literature. I. Akrigg,Ben. II. Tordoff,Rob.
pa3166.s57 2013
8820.0109352625–dc23
2012024806
isbn978-1-107-00855-7Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto
inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 131.211.208.19 on Sat Aug 31 06:40:07 WEST 2013.
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511919985
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2013
Dedication
To the memory of Katharine Elizabeth Atock
18 June 1950 – 27 December 2010
Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 131.211.208.19 on Sat Aug 31 06:40:07 WEST 2013.
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511919985
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2013
Contents
Listoffigures page ix
Notesoncontributors x
Preface xiii
AnoteonthespellingofancientGreekinEnglish xiv
Listofabbreviations xv
1 Introduction:slavesandslaveryinancientGreekcomedy
rob tordoff 1
2 SlavesandpoliticsinearlyAristophaniccomedy
s. douglas olson 63
3 Slavery,dramaandthealchemyofidentityinAristophanes
susan lape 76
4 SlavesinthefragmentsofOldComedy
donald sells 91
5 Aristophanes,slavesandhistory
ben akrigg 111
6 Acomedyoferrors:thecomicslaveinGreekart
kelly wrenhaven 124
7 Menander’sslaves:thebanalityofviolence
david konstan 144
8 Copingwithpunishment:thesocialnetworkingofslavesin
Menander
cheryl cox 159
9 SexslavesinNewComedy
c. w. marshall 173
vii
Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 160.36.192.221 on Sat Aug 31 05:28:24 WEST 2013.
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511919985
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2013
viii Contents
10 ‘Phlyax’slaves:fromvasetostage?
kathryn bosher 197
11 TokensofidentityinMenander’sEpitrepontes:slaves,citizens
andin-betweens
christina vester 209
References 228
Indexlocorum 248
Generalindex 262
Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 160.36.192.221 on Sat Aug 31 05:28:24 WEST 2013.
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511919985
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2013
Figures
6.1 Terracottafigurineofaseatedslave.London,British
Museum743.©TheTrusteesoftheBritishMuseum. page 134
6.2 DioscuridesMosaic,Pompeii.©ArtResource. 138
6.3 Terracottafigurineofanursewithchild.London,British
Museum2008.©TheTrusteesoftheBritishMuseum. 139
9.1 SvayPakgraffiti.OnceSvayPak,Cambodia.Courtesyof
C.W.Marshall. 195
9.2 SvayPakgraffiti.OnceSvayPak,Cambodia.Courtesyof
C.W.Marshall. 195
10.1 EarlyLucanianred-figurecalyx-krater.BerlinF3043.
©ArtResource. 201
ix
Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 131.211.208.19 on Sat Aug 31 06:40:17 WEST 2013.
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511919985
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2013
Notes on contributors
ben akrigg isAssociateProfessorattheUniversityofToronto,wherehe
hastaughtGreekhistorysince2006.Hisprincipalresearchinterestisin
theeconomicandsocialhistoryofclassicalGreece.
kathryn bosher is Assistant Professor of Classics at Northwestern
University. She is editor of Theater outside Athens: Drama in Greek
Sicily and South Italy (2012) and is at work on a monograph on the
historyofearlyGreektheatreinSicily.
cheryl cox hasretiredfromtheDepartmentofForeignLanguagesand
LiteraturesattheUniversityofMemphis.SheistheauthorofHousehold
Interests: Property, Marriage Strategies, and Family Dynamics in Ancient
Athens (1998). She has written a number of articles on the family and
kinshipinancientAthens.
david konstan is Professor of Classics at New York University and
ProfessorEmeritusofClassicsatBrownUniversity.Amonghisbooksare
Sexual Symmetry: Love in the Ancient Novel and Related Genres (1994),
Greek Comedy and Ideology (1995), The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks:
StudiesinAristotleandClassicalLiterature(2006)andBeforeForgiveness:
TheOriginsofaMoralIdea(2010).Heiscurrentlyworkingonabookon
theancientGreekconceptionofbeauty.
susan lape isAssociateProfessorofClassicsattheUniversityofSouthern
California. Her publications include Reproducing Athens: Menander’s
Comedy, Democratic Culture, and the Hellenistic City (2004) and Race
andCitizenIdentityintheClassicalAthenianDemocracy(2010).
c.w. marshall is Professor of Greek at the University of British
ColumbiainVancouver.
s.douglas olson is Distinguished McKnight University Professor at
theUniversityofMinnesota,andHumboldtforschungspreisträgeratthe
University of Freiburg. He is the author of seventeen books, including
x
Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 131.211.208.19 on Sat Aug 31 06:40:19 WEST 2013.
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511919985
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2013
Notesoncontributors xi
thestandardeditionsofAristophanes’Acharnians,Peaceand(withColin
Austin) Thesmophoriazusae. He is currently at work on a new critical
edition and commentary on Aristophanes’ Wasps (with Zachary Biles),
andonacompletecriticaltextofAthenaeus’Deipnosophistae.
donald sells is Assistant Professor of Greek at the University of
Michigan. His interests include Greek drama, Greek historiography
and South Italian vase-painting. He is currently writing a monograph
onparodyinOldComedy.
rob tordoff teachesGreekandRomanliteratureintheDepartmentof
Humanities at York University in Toronto. At present he is writing a
bookonthelateplaysofAristophanes.
christina vester is Associate Professor of Classical Studies at the
University of Waterloo and a cultural historian of Greek and Roman
drama.SheiscurrentlyworkingonwarandidentityinSeneca’sTroades
and on the representation of Julio-Claudian women in Pseudo-Seneca’s
Octavia.
kelly wrenhaven is Assistant Professor of Classics at Cleveland State
University. Her main area of interest is Greek slavery, in particular the
ideologyofslaveryintheclassicalGreekworld.Herbook,Reconstructing
theSlave:TheImageoftheSlaveinAncientGreece,waspublishedin2012.
Among her other publications are ‘The identity of the wool-workers in
theAtticManumissions’(Hesperia78,2009)and‘Greekrepresentations
of the slave body: a conflict of ideas?’ (in Reading Ancient Slavery, ed.
R. Alston, E. Hall and L. Proffitt, 2011). Her current project is a
comparative study of Graeco-Roman and American slave ideologies,
focusing on the reception, use and abuse of Graeco-Roman ideas in
Americanslavery.
Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 131.211.208.19 on Sat Aug 31 06:40:19 WEST 2013.
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511919985
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2013
Preface
SlavesandSlaveryinAncientGreekComicDramabeganwithaconference,
held in Toronto in December 2008, which was generously funded by a
numberof differentinstitutions andsupportedbya numberof wonderful
colleagues at the University of Toronto and York University. At York
UniversitywewouldliketothanktheFaculty ofArts (nowtheFaculty of
LiberalArtsandProfessionalStudies),theDivisionofHumanities(nowthe
Department of Humanities), the Council of Masters and the Program in
ClassicalStudies,andattheUniversityofTorontowewouldliketothank
theDepartmentofClassicsandtheDepartmentofReligiousStudies.Atthe
University of Toronto, Brad Inwood, John Magee and Victoria Wohl
provided invaluable support, as did our colleagues in Classical Studies
at York University, Matthew Clark, Jonathan Edmondson and Jeremy
Trevett,andthethenChairoftheDivisionofHumanities,PatrickTaylor.
The resulting conference could not have been held without the enthu-
siasm of the speakers and the audience, many of whom travelled great
distances to a cold and wintry Toronto to attend; we are very grateful to
allwhowereinvolved.
At Cambridge University Press, Gillian Dadd, Josephine Lane, Laura
Morris and Christina Sarigiannidou diligently steered the volume towards
publication; we are very grateful to them all. To Merle Read, our copy-
editor,whocarefully andpatientlyread themanuscriptandsavedus from
innumerableerrors,weoweagreatdebtofgratitude.Wearealsofortunate
to have had the help of Angelique Jenkins, in the Humanities Program at
YorkUniversity,whocollatedandcheckedthelistofthereferences.
xiii
Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 131.211.208.19 on Sat Aug 31 06:40:21 WEST 2013.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511919985.001
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2013