Euripides' Electra : a commentary

385 Pages·2011·4.29 MB·English

by  Luschnig

E u r i p i dE s ’
E l Ec t r a
A C o m m e n tA r y
H. m. roisman and C. A. e. Luschnig
Euripides’Electra
Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture
Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture
SERIES EDITOR
Ellen Greene, University of Oklahoma
ADVISORYBOARD
Susan Guettel Cole, State University of New York,Buffalo
Carolyn J. Dewald, Bard College
Thomas M. Falkner, The College of Wooster
Elaine Fantham, Princeton University
Nancy Felson, University of Georgia
Helene P. Foley, Barnard College
Sara Mack, University of North Carolina,Chapel Hill
Thomas R. Martin, College of the Holy Cross
John F. Miller, University of Virginia
Jon Solomon, University of Arizona
Richard F. Thomas, Harvard University
Euripides Electra
A Commentary
H. M. Roisman
and
C. A. E. Luschnig
University of Oklahoma Press : Norman
This book is published with the generous assistance of
The McCasland Foundation, Duncan, Oklahoma.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Roisman, Hanna.
Euripides’Electra : a commentary / H. M. Roisman and C. A. E. Luschnig.
p. cm. — (Oklahoma series in classical culture ; v. 38)
Commentary in English, text in Greek.
Includes full text of Euripides, Electra.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8061-4119-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Euripides. Electra. 2. Greek drama (Tragedy)—History and criticism. 3. Greek
drama (Tragedy)—Criticism, Textual. 4. Electra (Greek mythology)—Drama.
I. Luschnig, C. A. E. II. Euripides. Electra. III. Title.
PA3973.E5R65 2011
882'.01—dc22
2010000149
Euripides’Electra: A Commentaryis Volume 38 in the Oklahoma Series in Classical
Culture.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources, Inc. ∞
Copyright ©2011 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division
of the University. Manufactured in the U.S.A.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-
copying, recording, or otherwise—except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the
United States Copyright Act—without the prior written permission of the University of
Oklahoma Press.
For
Yossi, Elad, and Shalev Roisman
4
Emma and Arlene Eaton
And in memory of John Eaton and Jim Eaton

C
ONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Abbreviations xv
Introduction 3
1. The Three Tragedians 3
2. The Myth 6
3. Euripides’Electraand the Conventions of the Greek Theater 11
4. Nature and Survival of the Texts 23
5. Meter and Prosody 24
6. The Date of Euripides’Electra 28
7. Definitions of Literary Terms Used in the Commentary 32
Electra 35
Notes and Commentary 81
Appendices
1. Metrical Analysis 233
2. Discussions 241
3. Index of Verbs 269
4. Grammatical and Rhetorical Constructions for Review 281
5. Vocabulary 292
Bibliography 345
Index 355
vii

I
LLUSTRATIONS
Family tree from Tantalus through the children of Agamemnon 7
Theater of Dionysus in Athens, mid-fifth century b.c.e. 20
Electra and Orestes with the body of Clytemnesta 21
Probable reconstruction of the mec\hane \for the Theater of Dionysos 22
ix