Theatre in Ancient Greek Society

257 Pages·2013·13.035 MB·English

by  J. R. Green

THEATRE IN
ANCIENT GREEK
SOCIETY
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Frontispiece Tarentine Gnathia calyx-krater with comic actor playing Derkylos.
Tampa (Florida), coll. William Knight Zewadski
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THEATRE IN
ANCIENT GREEK
SOCIETY
J. R. Green
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London and New York
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First published 1994
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledae
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
First published in paperback 1996
Routledge is an International Thomson Publishing company I X'P
£ 1994 J.R.Green
Typeset in Baskerville by Solidus (Bristol) Ltd
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Biddies Ltd, Guildford and King's Lynn
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 Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 0-415-14359^ (pbk)
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CONTENTS
List of figures vii
Preface xii
List of abbreviations xvii
1 INTRODUCTION
Early Athenian theatre - setting and context 1
2 THE EARLY PERIOD AND THE FIFTH CENTURY
The visual evidence 16
3 THE LATE FIFTH AND THE FOURTH CENTURIES 49
4 THEATRE AT THE TRANSITION TO THE
HELLENISTIC WORLD 89
5 THEATRE IN THE HELLENISTIC WORLD 105
6 CONVENTIONS AND THE CLASSICS
Greek theatre in the Roman world 142
Notes 172
Bibliography 207
General Index 227
Index of Principal Objects Discussed 231
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FIGURES
Frontispiece Tarentine Gnathia calyx-krater with comic actor playing
Derkylos
2.1 Attic red-figure column-krater with a chorus of youths raising
a figure from a tomb, c. 490 BC 17
2.2 Attic red-figure hydria with Andromeda about to be tied to
stakes, c. 450-440 BC 19
2.3 Attic red-figure pelike with Andromeda tied to stakes,
c 450-440 BC 20
2.4 Attic white-ground calyx-krater with Andromeda tied to
stakes, c. 450-440 BC 21
2.5 Attic red-figure calyx-krater with Andromeda tied to a rock,
late fifth century BC 23
2.6 Attic red-figure pelike with maenad before piper, c, 470 BC 25
2.7 Attic black-figure amphora with comic chorus of Knights,
c. 540-530 BC 28
2.8 Attic black-figure hydria with comic chorus of males,
c. 550 BC 29
2.9 Attic red-figure calyx-krater with two members of a bird
chorus about a piper, c. 414 BC 30
2.10 Attic black-figure oinochoe with bird chorus and piper,
c. 480 BC 31
2.11 Attic red-figure psykter with chorus of dolphin-riders,
c. 510 BC 32
2.12 Attic black-figure lekythos with piper and dolphin-riders,
c. 480 BC 33
2.13 Terracotta figurines, comic actors, end of the fifth century BC 35
2.14 Attic terracotta figurine of young woman, early fourth
century BC 36
2.15 Attic red-figure hydria with council of elder satyrs before the
Sphinx, c. 467 BC 40
2.16 Attic red-figure cup with young man and satyrs,
c. 430 BC 41
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FIGURES
2.17 Attic red-figure hydria with piper and satyr-chorus building
throne, c. 480-470 BC 42
2.18 Attic red-figure calyx-krater with satyr playing kithara and
leading Return of Hephaistos, c. 470-460 BC 43
2.19 Attic red-figure volute-krater with the piper Pronomos and
cast of a satyr-play in the Sanctuary of Dionysos, late fifth
century BC 44
2.20 Attic red-figure bell-krater fragments, with piper and
satyr-players, c. 425 BC 45
2.21 Tarentine red-figure bell-krater with comic scene showing a
slave (Pyrrhias) and two choregoi with a figure of Aigisthos,
C.380BC 46
3.1 Campanian red-figure hydria with Niobe at her grave being
turned to stone, third quarter of fourth century BC 53
3.2 Tarentine red-figure loutrophoros with Alcestis on her
death-bed, third quarter of fourth century BC 53
3.3 Tarentine red-figure volute-krater, herdsman producing twin
sons of Melanippe, third quarter of fourth century BC 55
3.4 Tarentine red-figure calyx-krater, punishment of Dirce, third
quarter of fourth century BC 57
3.5 Tarentine Gnathia calyx-krater with messenger, mid-fourth
century BC 59
3.6 Sicilian red-figure calyx-krater, report of death of Polybos
from Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, c. 330 BC 60
3.7 Tarentine red-figure bell-krater with scene from
Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazousai, c. 380-370 BC 64
3.8 Tarentine black-glaze guttus with figure with sword at altar,
c. 330-320 BC 66
3.9 Provenances of Middle Comedy material, c. 400-375 BC 68
3.10 Provenances of Middle Comedy material, c. 375-350 BC 68
3.11 Provenances of Middle Comedy material, c. 350-325 BC 69
3.12 Proportions of character-types in comic scenes on
vases 71
3.13 Listings of Middle Comedy material other than vases 72
3.14 Popularity of character-types in Middle Comedy 74
3.15 Relative quantities of comic representations 77
3.16 Attic red-figure chous, a boy frightening another with a
mask, c. 420 BC 79
3.17 Attic red-figure volute-krater fragment, celebrations in the
Sanctuary of Dionysos, end of the fifth century BC 80
3.18 Attic red-figure bell-krater, Dionysos in his sanctuary,
beginning of fourth century BC 81
3.19 Marble votive relief with masks from satyr-play, third quarter
of fourth century BC 82
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FIGURES
3.20 Marble grave relief of a comic poet from Athens, third
quarter of fourth century BC 83
3.21 Marble relief with Menander holding the mask of a youth,
perhaps after an Early Hellenistic original 83
3.22 Attic red-figure hydria with Hermes introducing chorusmen
to Dionysos, c. 490-480 BC 84
3.23 Tarentine red-figure bell-krater with head of Dionysos and
two actors discovering wine, early fourth century BC 86
3.24 Reverse of Figure 3.23, with Dionysiac thiasos 87
3.25 Attic red-figure volute-krater with Dionysiac thiasos, end of
fifth century BC 88
4.1 Paestan red-figure bell-krater with Dionysos and Pan, third
quarter of fourth century BC 89
4.2 Paestan red-figure bell-krater with Dionysos and comic actor
as slave, third quarter of fourth century BC 90
4.3 Paestan red-figure bell-krater with Dionysos and actor as
papposilenos, third quarter of fourth century BC 92
4.4 Paestan red-figure bell-krater with actor as papposilenos
pulling Dionysos and Ariadne in procession, third quarter of
fourth century BC 93
4.5 Tarentine skyphos in Gnathia technique with mask of hetaira
set within vine, c. 325 BC 96
4.6 Paestan red-figure bell-krater with symposion and actor as
papposilenos asleep on floor and masks of slave, girl and man
above, third quarter of fourth century BC 98
4.7 Paestan red-figure calyx-krater with Dionysos reclining in the
presence of an actor as papposilenos and maenads, third
quarter of fourth century BC 99
4.8 Terracotta miniature mask of wavy-haired youth, later fourth
century BC 100
4.9 Marble portrait-herm with portrait of Alexander the Great,
Roman copy of Early Hellenistic original 101
4.10 Terracotta miniature mask of energetic youth, late fourth
century BC 102
5.1 Provenances of Middle Comedy material, c. 400-325 BC 108
5.2 Provenances of New Comedy material, c. 325-250 BC 108
5.3 Comparative numbers of masks and figures in fourth-century
and Hellenistic comedy 109
5.4 The material of surviving objects representing comedy,
c. 325-250 BC 110
5.5 Mosaic from Pompeii with Menander, Theophoroumene Act 2,
late second century BC 111
5.6 Terracotta plaque with masks of the key characters from a
comedy, Early Hellenistic 113
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