Why Athens A Reappraisal of Tragic Politics [Hardcover]

This collection of fourteen essays and six short responses reconsiders Greek tragedy as a reflection of Athenian political culture. The contributors try to avoid making the controversial assumption that the politics of tragedy were of simple relevance to the Athenian democracy. Instead, they look for other ways to explain the Athenianness of tragedy. These include: the polyphonic discourse of tragedy; the presentation of Athens in some plays (and the representation of foreigners too); tragedy as an Athenian form of choral performance; and the ways in which family matters are presented, for example marriage alliances or inheritance law.Why Athens?opens up important new ways of considering tragedy as a political art form.

Introduction,Mark Griffith & D. M. Carter
I. Context
1. The glue of democracy? Tragedy, structure and finance,Peter Wilson
2. Plato, drama, and rhetoric,D. M. Carter
3. Nothing to do with Athens? Tragedians at the courts of tyrants,Anne Duncan
Response,Richard Seaford
II. Discourse
4. Athenian tragedy as democratic discourse,Peter Burian
5. Euripidean euboulia and the problem of 'tragic politics',Jon Hesk
6. 'Possessing an unbridled tongue': frank speech and speaking back in Euripides' Orestes,Elton T. E. Barker
Response,Malcolm Heath
III. FamiliesMark Griffith
7. Extended families, marriage, and inter-city relations in (later) Athenian tragedy: Dynasts II,Mark Griffith
8. Inheritance and the Athenian nature of Sophoclean tragedy,Eleanor OKell
Response,Peter Rhodes
IV. Choruses
9. Choroi achoroi: the Athenian politics of tragic choral identity,Sheila Murnaghan
10. Pity and panhellenic politics: choral emotion in Euripides' Hecuba and Trojan Women,Eirene Visvardi
Response,Ian RuflÓ.