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The literary epic and critical theories about the epic tradition are traced from Aristotle and Callimachus through Apollonius, Virgil, and their successors such as Chaucer and Milton to Eisenstein, Tolstoy, and Thomas Mann. Newman's revisionist critique will challenge all scholars, students, and general readers of the classics, comparative literature, and western literary traditions.
New Views of an Old Subject
Many dogmas regarding Greek theatre were established by researchers who lacked experience in the mounting of theatrical productions. In his wide-ranging and provocative study, Clifford Ashby, a theatre historian trained in the practical processes of play production as well as the methods of historical research, takes advantage of his understanding of technical elements to approach his ancient subject from a new perspective. In doing so he challenges many long-held views.
Archaeological and written sources relating to Greek classical theatre are diverse, scattered, and disconnected. Ashby's own (and memorable) fieldwork led him to more than one hundred theatre sites in Greece, southern Italy, Sicily, and Albania and as far into modern Turkey as Hellenic civilization had penetrated. From this extensive research, he draws a number of novel revisionist conclusions on the nature of classical theatre architecture and production.
The original orchestra shape, for example, was a rectangle or trapezoid rather than a circle. The altar sat along the edge of the orchestra, not at its middle. The scene house was originally designed for a performance event that did not use an up center door. The crane and ekkyklema were simple devices, while the periaktoi probably did not exist before the Renaissance. Greek theatres were not built with attention to Vitruvius' injunction against a southern orientation and were probably sun-sited on the basis of seasonal touring. The Greeks arrived at the theatre around mid-morning, not in the cold light of dawn. Only the three-actor rule emerges from this eclectic examination somewhat intact, but with the division of roles reconsidered upon the basis of the actors' performance needs. Ashby also proposes methods that can be employed in future studies of Greek theatre. Final chapters examine the three-actor production of Ion, how one should not approach theatre history, and a shining example of how one should.
Ashby's lengthy hands-on training and his knowledge of theatre history provide a broad understanding of the ways that theatre has operated through the ages as well as an ability to extrapolate from production techniques of other times and places.
Vol. 99 (2005) through current issue
Classical World publishes substantive scholarship on Greek and Roman literature, history, and society as well as the classical tradition and the history of classical scholarship. The journal also actively engages the pedagogical community by incorporating pieces on the teaching of Greek, Latin, and classical civilizations. Diverse in nature, Classical World publishes special issues, book reviews, surveys of textbooks and audio-visual materials, and bibliographies of recent research on ancient authors and topics. Classical World represents more than 100 years of peer-reviewed scholarship in Antiquity studies. Classical World is the official publication of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States (CAAS).
Here, translated into modern idiom, are many works of the authors whose ideas have constituted the mainstream of classical thought. This volume of new translations was born of necessity, to answer the needs of a course in Greek and Roman culture offered by the Department of Integrated Liberal Studies at the University of Wisconsin. Since its original publication in 1952, Classics in Translation has been adopted by many different academic institutions to fill similar needs of their undergraduate students. This new printing is further evidence of this collection’s general acceptance by teachers, students, and the reviewing critics.
Here, translated into modern idiom, are many works of the authors whose ideas have consitituted the mainstream of classical thought. This volume of new translations was born of necessity, to answer the needs of a course in Greek and Roman culture offered by the Department of Integrated Liberal Studies at the University of Wisconsin. Since its original publication in 1952, Classics in Translation has been adopted by many different academic insititutions to fill similar needs of their undergraduate students. This new printing is further evidence of this collection's general acceptance by teachers, students, and the reviewing critics.
Ethnography, Heresiology, and the Limits of Knowledge in Late Antiquity
Classifying Christians investigates late antique Christian heresiologies as ethnographies that catalogued and detailed the origins, rituals, doctrines, and customs of the heretics in explicitly polemical and theological terms. Oscillating between ancient ethnographic evidence and contemporary ethnographic writing, Todd S. Berzon argues that late antique heresiology shares an underlying logic with classical ethnography in the ancient Mediterranean world. By providing an account of heresiological writing from the second to fifth century, Classifying Christians embeds heresiology within the historical development of imperial forms of knowledge that have shaped western culture from antiquity to the present.
A Sphinx Revisited
Cleopatra—a brave, astute, and charming woman who spoke many languages, entertained lavishly, hunted, went into battle, eliminated siblings to consolidate her power, and held off the threat of Imperial Rome to protect her country as long as she could—continues to fascinate centuries after she ruled Egypt. These wide-ranging essays explore such topics as Cleopatra’s controversial trip to Rome, her suicide by snake bite, and the afterlife of her love potions. They view Cleopatra from the Egyptian perspective, and examine the reception in Rome of Egyptian culture, especially of its religion and architecture. They discuss films about her, and consider what inspired Egyptomania in early modern art. Together, these essays illuminate Cleopatra’s legacy and illustrate how it has been used and reused through the centuries.
Iconography and Reception of Athenian Vases in the Age of Pericles
The Codrus Painter was a painter of cups and vases in fifth-century B.C.E. Athens with a distinctive style; he is named after Codrus, a legendary Athenian king depicted on one of his most characteristic vases. He was active as an artist during the rule of Pericles, as the Parthenon was built and then as the troubled times of the Peloponnesian War began. In contrast to the work of fellow artists of his day, the vases of the Codrus Painter appear to have been created almost exclusively for export to markets outside Athens and Greece, especially to the Etruscans in central Italy and to points further west.
Amalia Avramidou offers a thoroughly researched, amply illustrated study of the Codrus Painter that also comments on the mythology, religion, arts, athletics, and daily life of Greece depicted on his vases. She evaluates his style and the defining characteristics of his own hand and of the minor painters associated with him. Examining the subject matter, figure types, and motifs on the vases, she compares them with sculptural works produced during the same period. Avramidou’s iconographic analysis not only encompasses the cultural milieu of the Athenian metropolis, but also offers an original and intriguing perspective on the adoption, meaning, and use of imported Attic vases among the Etruscans.
The Genesis and Meaning of a Roman Imperial Monument
In THE COLUMN OF MARCUS AURELIUS, Beckmann offers a study of the form, content, and meaning of the Column and its sculpture. He also provides full documentation of the Column and its sculpture in the form of complete drawings of the frieze (by the author) and full photographic coverage (using the incomparable German photos of 1896, taken before the worst ravages of modern pollution). No modern drawing of the frieze exists anywhere in any form. The 1896 photographs are extremely rare today, and the author has secured permission to include some of these images in this book.