Nothing to Do with Dionysos: Athenian Drama in Its Social Context
(Paperback)
Publishing Details
Nothing to Do with Dionysos: Athenian Drama in Its Social Context
By (Author) John J. Winkler
Edited by Froma I. Zeitlin
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press
13th July 1992
United States
Classifications
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
Literary studies: plays and playwrights
Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval
Cultural studies
882.01
Physical Properties
Paperback
440
Width 152mm, Height 235mm
652g
Description
These critically diverse essays are aimed at restoring the social context of ancient Greek drama. Theatrical productions, which included music and dancing, were civic events in honour of the god Dionysos and were attended by a politically stratified community, whose delegates handled all details from the seating arrangements to the qualifications of choral competitors. The growing complexity of these performances may have provoked the Athenian saying "nothing to do with Dionysos", implying that theatre had lost its exclusive focus on its patron. This collection considers how individual plays and groups of dramas pertained to the concerns of the body politic and how these issues were presented in the convention of the stage and as centrepieces of civic ceremonies.
Reviews
"[A] valuable volume... [The essays] are generally not only adventurous and various, but ... thought-provoking advances."--Oliver Taplin, The Times Literary Supplement
