The Origins of Theater in Ancient Greece and Beyond: From Ritual to Drama

by Eric Csapo (Editor), Margaret C. Miller (Editor)

Overview

This volume is the most thorough examination on the origins of Greek drama to date. It brings together seventeen essays by leading scholars in a variety of fields, including classical archaeology, iconography, cultural history, theatre history, philosophy, and religion. Though it primarily focuses up on ancient Greece, the volume includes comparative studies of ritual drama from ancient Egypt, Japan, and medieval Europe. Collectively, the essays show how the relationship of drama to ritual is one of the most controversial, complex, and multi-faceted questions of modern times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521836821
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/15/2007
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	462
Product dimensions:	7.32(w) x 10.31(h) x 1.14(d)

About the Author

Eric Csapo is Professor of Classics at the University of Sydney. He is an expert on the history of the ancient theatre and coauthor of The Context of Ancient Drama. His most recent book is Theories of Mythology.

Margaret C. Miller is Arthur and Renee George Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Sydney. She specializes in Greek iconography and cultural history. Her book, Athens and Persia in the Fifth Century BC: A Study in Cultural Receptivity, won the Prix Ghirshman of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 2001.

Table of Contents

1. General introduction E. Csapo and M. C. Miller; Part I. Komasts and Pre-Dramatic Ritual: 2. Introduction T. H. Carpenter; 3. The corpus of Komast vases: from identity to exegesis T. J. Smith; 4. Komasts, mythical imaginary and ritual C. Isler-Kerenyi; 5. Let's hear it for the fat man: padded dancers and the prehistory of drama J. R. Green; 6. Discussion T. H. Carpenter; Part II. Emergence of Drama: 7. Introduction and discussion G. Nagy; 8. From hymn to tragedy: Aristotle's genealogy of poetic kinds D. Depew; 9. Myths of ritual in Athenian vase-paintings of Silens G. Hedreen; 10. From ritual to narrative M. Steinhart; 11. 'And now all the world shall dance!' (Eur. Bacch. 114): Dionysus' choroi between drama and ritual B. Kowlazig; Part III. Comparing Other Cultures: 12. Introduction K. C. Patton; 13. Ritual drama in an ancient Egypt R. J. Leprohon; 14. Ritual and performance, dance and drama in ancient Japan G. Zobel; 15. Representation in European devotional rituals: the question of the origin of medieval drama in medieval liturgy N. H. Petersen; 16. Discussion K. C. Patton; Part IV. From Ritual to Drama: 17. From ritual to drama: a concluding statement R. Seaford.

Editorial Reviews

'Jane Harrison and the Cambridge Ritualists, early in the twentieth century, fixed firmly in our minds the view that drama developed out of religious ritual. But how did this happen? And is the view unassailable? This important book, consisting of seventeen essays that grew out of a colloquium, is the most thorough and wide-ranging attempt for surprisingly many years to address these and related questions.' Robin Waterfield, Heythrop Journal

From the Publisher