Modern readings of ancient Athenian drama tend to view it as a presentation of social or moral problems, as if ancient drama showed the same realism seen on the present-day stage. Such views are belied by the plays themselves, in which supremely violent actions occur in a legendary time and place distinct both from reality and from the ethics of ordinary life. Offering fresh readings of Attic tragedy, Anne Pippin Burnett urges readers to peel away twentieth-century attitudes toward vengeance and reconsider the revenge tragedies of ancient Athens in their own context. After a consideration of how our view of Elizabethan drama has obscured an accurate view of the ancient tragedies, Burnett reviews early Greek notions of vengeance as expressed in the Odyssey, Heracles' tales, Pindar's odes, Attic judicial processes, and the legend of Harmodius and Aristogeiton. Then, setting aside post-Platonic and Judeo-Christian notions of criminality, she provides new interpretations of all the Attic tragedies in which revenge is a central theme: Aeschylus' Libation Bearers, Sophocles' Ajax, Electra, and Tereus, and Euripides' Children of Heracles, Hecuba, Medea, Electra, and Orestes. Burnett shows that for the ancients, revenge meant a redress of imbalances in both human and divine worlds, achieved through human actions. The vengeful heroines thus appear in a new light. Electra, Hecuba, Medea, and others cease to be the picture of depravity in dramas that are grotesque and sensational, and are instead representative human figures who respond with grandeur to the outsize demands of necessity and supernatural powers.

This book is a historical and philosophical meditation on paying back and buying back, that is, it is about retaliation and redemption. It takes the law of the talion - eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth - seriously. In its biblical formulation that law states the value of my eye in terms of your eye, the value of your teeth in terms of my teeth. Eyes and teeth become units of valuation. But the talion doesn't stop there. It seems to demand that eyes, teeth, and lives are also to provide the means of payment. Bodies and body parts, it seems, have a just claim to being not just money, but the first and precisest of money substances. In its highly original way, the book offers a theory of justice, not an airy theory though. It is about getting even in a toughminded, unsentimental, but respectful way. And finds that much of what we take to be justice, honor, and respect for persons requires, at its core, measuring and measuring up.

A COMPANION TO EURIPIDES A COMPANION TO EURIPIDES Euripides has enjoyed a resurgence of interest as a result of many recent important publications, attesting to the poet’s enduring relevance to the modern world. A Companion to Euripides is the product of this contemporary work, with many essays drawing on the latest texts, commentaries, and scholarship on the man and his oeuvre. Divided into seven sections, the companion begins with a general discussion of Euripidean drama. The following sections contain essays on Euripidean biography and the manuscript tradition, and individual essays on each play, organized in chronological order. Chapters offer summaries of important scholarship and methodologies, synopses of individual plays and the myths from which they borrow their plots, and conclude with suggestions for additional reading. The final two sections deal with topics central to Euripidean scholarship, such as religion, myth, and gender, and the reception of Euripides from the 4th century BCE to the modern world. A Companion to Euripides brings together a variety of leading Euripides scholars from a wide range of perspectives. As a result, specific issues and themes emerge across the chapters as central to our understanding of the poet and his meaning for our time. Contributions are original and provocative interpretations of Euripides’ plays, which forge important paths of inquiry for future scholarship.

This is a vital and accessible overview of Greek drama from its origins to its later reception, including chapters on authors and dramas in their social and religious context as well as key aspects such as structure, character, staging and music. With contributions by 13 international scholars, world experts in their field, it provides readers with clear, authoritative, up-to-date considerations of both the theory and practice of Greek drama. While each chapter can stand in isolation, the overall structure takes readers on a natural progression – beginning with sources of evidence and origins, considering the major genres and their authors, examining the traditional Aristotelean components of drama in the context of performance, and ending with later reception. In doing so, it explores Greek drama as at once a religious act, a stage for political propaganda, an opportunity for questioning social issues, and pure entertainment – a stunning melange of poetry, music, dance, and visual spectacle, specific to, yet transcending, its immediate context. Written for students, practitioners and a general readership, it forms part of Bloomsbury's Looking at... series, appealing to the same readership and providing context to existing volumes which focus on individual plays.

This book is the first to focus on war and peace in the ancient world from a global perspective. The first book to focus on war and peace in the ancient world Takes a global perspective, covering a large number of early civilizations, from China, India and West Asia, through the Mediterranean to the Americas Features contributions from nineteen distinguished scholars, all of whom are experts in their fields Offers remarkable insights into the different ways in which ancient societies dealt with a common human challenge Requires no prior historical knowledge, making it suitable for non-specialists

A Companion to Sophocles presents the first comprehensive collection of essays in decades to address all aspects of the life, works, and critical reception of Sophocles. First collection of its kind to provide introductory essays to the fragments of his lost plays and to the remaining fragments of one satyr-play, the Ichneutae, in addition to each of his extant tragedies Features new essays on Sophoclean drama that go well beyond the current state of scholarship on Sophocles Presents readings that historicize Sophocles in relation to the social, cultural, and intellectual world of fifth century Athens Seeks to place later interpretations and adaptations of Sophocles in their historical context Includes essays dedicated to issues of gender and sexuality; significant moments in the history of interpreting Sophocles; and reception of Sophocles by both ancient and modern playwrights

Classical Myth and Culture in the Cinema is a collection of essays presenting a variety of approaches to films set in ancient Greece and Rome and to films that reflect archetypal features of classical literature. The diversity of content and theoretical stances found in this volume will make it required reading for scholars and students interested in interdisciplinary approaches to text and image, and for anyone interested in the presence of Greece and Rome in modern popular culture.

This comprehensive study of families in the Mediterranean world spans the Bronze Age through Late Antiquity, and looks at families and households in various ancient societies inhabiting the regions around the Mediterranean Sea in an attempt to break down artificial boundaries between academic disciplines.

An accurate and readable new translation, with introduction, extensive explanatory notes, and up-to-date bibliography, of four of Aeschylus' plays, including the unique historical tragedy Persians and the hugely influential Prometheus Bound.

A new, accurate, and readable translation of four of Aeschylus' plays: Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Suppliants, and Prometheus Bound. It is based upon the most authoritative recent edition of the Greek text and particular care is taken with the many lyric passages. A lengthy introduction sets the plays in their original context, and includes short appreciative essays on them. The explanatory notes treat dramatic issues, structure and form, and theatrical aspects, as well as details of content and language. Major difficulties in the texts themselves, which affect general interpretation, are briefly discussed. The volume as a whole should provide an informative, reliable, and suggestive basis for study and enjoyment.