Sophocles Ajax [Paperback]

Not since 1896 has Sophocles' Ajax received such a sustained analysis on so many levels: literary, dramatic, textual and metrical.This is the first full-scale treatment of the play since the nineteenth century. Presenting a newly constituted text and apparatus, it takes full advantage of subsequent developments in scholarship to analyse the play on a variety of levels: literary, dramatic, textual, metrical.This is the first full-scale treatment of the play since the nineteenth century. Presenting a newly constituted text and apparatus, it takes full advantage of subsequent developments in scholarship to analyse the play on a variety of levels: literary, dramatic, textual, metrical.Sophocles' Ajax describes the fall of a mighty warrior denied the honour which he believed was his due. This new edition of the play presents a text and critical apparatus which take full advantage of recent advances in our understanding of Sophoclean manuscripts and scholarship. The introduction and commentary scrutinise all important aspects of the drama  from detailed analysis of style, language and metre to consideration of wider issues such as ethics, rhetoric and characterisation. Notorious dramaturgical problems, including the staging of Ajax's suicide, receive particular attention; so too do questions of literary history, such as the date of the play and Sophocles' creative interaction with previous accounts of the myth. The translation which accompanies the commentary ensures that this edition will be accessible to Hellenists of all levels of experience, as well as to readers with a general interest in the history of drama.Introduction; Text and critical apparatus; Commentary; Bibliography; Indices. This admirable edition of Sophocles Ajax includes detailed and balanced consideration of most aspects of the play . . . This is a valuable and enjoyable new edition of an important play . --Mnemosyne Scholars who have profited from the impressive learning and uncommon good sense displS8