Table Of ContentGREEK COMEDY AND THE
DISCOURSE OF GENRES
Recentscholarshiphasacknowledgedthattheintertextualdiscourseofancient
comedy with previous and contemporary literary traditions is not limited
to tragedy. This book is a timely response to the more sophisticated and
theory-groundedwayofviewingcomedy’sinteractionswithitsculturaland
intellectualcontext.Itshowsthatintheprocessofitsself-definition,comedy
emergesasvoraciousandmultifariouswithawidespectrumofliterary,sub-
literary and paraliterary traditions, the engagement with which emerges as
centraltoitsprojectedliteraryidentityand,subsequently,tothereception
of the genre itself. Comedy’s self-definition through generic discourse far
transcendsthe(narrowlyconceived)‘high–low’divisionofgenres.Thisbook
explores ancient comedy’s interactions with Homeric and Hesiodic epic,
iambos,lyric,tragedy,thefabletradition,theritualperformancesoftheGreek
polis, and its reception in Platonic writings and Alexandrian scholarship,
withinaunifiedinterpretativeframework.
emmanuela bakolaisLeverhulmeECFellowatKing’sCollegeLondon.
ShehaspublishedamonographonCratinus(CratinusandtheArtofComedy,
)andseveralarticleswhichexploretherelationshipofcomedytoother
genres.Hercurrentproject,entitledAeschyleanTragedyandEarlyEnviron-
mentalDiscourse,arisesfromherstudyoffifth-centurycomedyasreception
oftragedy.Usingacultural-anthropologicalframework,thisprojectrereads
the tragedies of Aeschylus, arguing that their dramaturgy, imagery, stage
action,andengagementwithcultandritualshow thatAeschyleantragedy
isprofoundlypreoccupiedwiththehumanrelationshiptotheEarthandits
resources.
lucia prauscello is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of
CambridgeandFellowofTrinityHall.SheistheauthorofSingingAlexandria:
Music between Practice and Textual Transmission () and has variously
published on Greek archaic and Hellenistic poetry, drama, Greek religion
andancientmusic.
mario telo` isAssistantProfessorofClassicsattheUniversityofCalifornia,
LosAngeles.HisresearchinterestsmainlyfocusonAtticdrama,andespecially
onOldComedy,buthehasalsopublishedinotherareasofGreekliterature
(the Greek novel, ecphrastic literature, Roman tragedy and comedy). In
he published a commentary on Eupolis’ Demoi, the best-preserved
fragmentary play of Old Comedy. He has now completed a book entitled
Aristophanes’WaspsandtheGenerationofGreekComedy.
GREEK COMEDY AND THE
DISCOURSE OF GENRES
edited by
`
E. BAKOLA, L. PRAUSCELLO AND M. TELO
cambridge university press
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Greekcomedyandthediscourseofgenres/editedbyE.Bakola,L.PrauscelloandM.Telo`.
pages cm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn----(hardback)
.Greekdrama(Comedy)–Historyandcriticism. .Greekdrama(Comedy)–Influence.
.Intertextuality. I.Bakola,Emmanuela.
pa.g
′.–dc
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Contents
Listoffigures pagevii
Notesoncontributors viii
Acknowledgements xii
Notetothereader xiii
Listofabbreviations xiv
Introduction:Greekcomedyasafabricof
genericdiscourse
EmmanuelaBakola,LuciaPrauscelloandMarioTelo`
part i: comedy and genre: self-definition
and development
TheGreekdramaticgenres:theoreticalperspectives
MichaelSilk
ComedyandthePompe:Dionysiangenre-crossing
EricCsapo
Iambos,comedyandthequestionofgenericaffiliation
RalphRosen
part ii: comedy and genres in dialogue
comedy and epic
Paraepiccomedy:point(s)andpractices
MartinRevermann
Epic,nostosandgenericgenealogyinAristophanes’Peace
MarioTelo`
v
vi Contents
comedy and lyric
Comedyandthecivicchorus
ChrisCarey
Aristophanes’Simonides:lyricmodelsforpraise
andblame
RichardRawles
comedy and tragedy
ComedyversustragedyinWasps
MatthewWright
Crimeandpunishment:Cratinus,Aeschylus’Oresteia,
andthemetaphysicsandpoliticsofwealth
EmmanuelaBakola
FromAchilles’horsestoacheese-seller’sshop:onthe
historyoftheguessinggameinGreekdrama
MarcoFantuzziandDavidKonstan
comedy, the fable and the ethnographic tradition
TheAesopicinAristophanes
EdithHall
ThemirrorofAristophanes:thewingedethnographersof
Birds(–,–,–)
JeffreyRusten
part iii: the reception of comedy and
comic discourse
ComedyandcomicdiscourseinPlato’sLaws
LuciaPrauscello
ComedyandthePleiad:Alexandriantragediansandthe
birthofcomicscholarship
NickLowe
References
Indexlocorum
Generalindex
Figures
. Atticred-figurefragmentsbytheBerlinPainter,c.bc;
Athens,NationalArchaeologicalMuseum,Akr..
CourtesyoftheNationalArchaeologicalMuseum.Photo:
M.C.Miller page
. Atticred-figurecupfragments,AntiphonGroup,–
bc;Paris,LouvreC.Photo:F.Lissarrague
2.3a Atticred-figurecup,PistoxenosPainter,c.bc;Orvieto.
andb Faina.Drawing:Hartwig,pl.a,b
2.4a Atticred-figurecup,SabouroffPainter,c.bc;Malibu,
andb J.P.GettyMuseum.AE..CourtesyofJ.P.Getty
Museum
. Atticred-figurelekythos,c.bc;Athens.(cid:2)´Ephoria,inv.
no.A.Photo:E.Csapo,withpermission
. Atticred-figurechous,c.bc;Hermitage.(cid:3)(cid:4).
CourtesyoftheStateHermitageMuseum,StPetersburg
. Atticred-figurebellkrater,Hare-HuntPainter,c.–bc;
S.Agatade’Goti.DrawingfromGerharda,pl.
. Atticred-figurebellkrater,–bc;Naples,Private
collection.Photo:courtesy,K.Schauenburg
. FragmentsofanAtticred-figurebellkrater,–bc;
Castulo,(Linares,Jae´n).A.J.Dom´ınguezand
C.Sa´nchez,fig.,withpermission
vii
Notes on contributors
emmanuela bakolaisLeverhulmeECFellowatKing’sCollegeLondon.
She has published a monograph on Cratinus (Cratinus and the Art
of Comedy, ) and several articles which explore the relationship
of comedy to other genres. Her current project, entitled Aeschylean
TragedyandEarlyEnvironmentalDiscourse,arisesfromherstudyoffifth-
centurycomedyasreceptionoftragedy.Usingacultural-anthropological
framework,thisprojectrereadsthetragediesofAeschylus,arguingthat
theirdramaturgy, imagery, stageaction, and engagement withcult and
ritualshowthatAeschyleantragedyisprofoundlypreoccupiedwiththe
humanrelationshiptotheEarthanditsresources.
chris carey isProfessorofGreekatUniversityCollegeLondon.Hehas
published extensively on Pindar and early lyric, Homer, drama, Greek
law and politics, and the Attic Orators. His most recent work includes
a new OCT edition of Lysias. He is currently writing a commentary
toBookofHerodotusforCambridgeUniversityPress,AthenianLaw
andabookofessaysonPindar’sOlympianOdes.
eric csapo is Professor of Classics at the University of Sydney. He has
a special interest in ancient drama and theatre history and is author
of Actors and Icons of the Ancient Theater (), Theories of Mythol-
ogy (), and co-author with William Slater of Context of Ancient
Drama (). In collaboration with Peter Wilson, he is preparing a
multi-volume history of the Classical Greek theatre to be published by
CambridgeUniversityPress.
marco fantuzziisProfessorofGreekLiteratureatColumbiaUniversity,
NewYork,andattheUniversityofMacerata(Italy).Heistheauthorof
BionisSmyrnaeiAdonidisepitaphium();RicerchesuApollonioRodio
();TraditionandInnovationinHellenisticPoetry(co-authoredwith
R. Hunter, Cambridge ); Achilles in Love (). He co-edited
viii
Notesoncontributors ix
(with R. Pretagostini) Struttura e storia dell’esametro greco (–) and
(with T. Papanghelis) Brill’s Companion to Greek and Latin Pastoral
(). He is now co-editing for Cambridge University Press (with
C. Tsagalis) A Companion to the Epic Cycle, and completing (under
contractforthe‘CambridgeClassicalTextsandCommentaries’)afull-
scalecommentaryontheRhesusascribedtoEuripides.
edith hall, afterholdingpostsattheUniversitiesofCambridge,Read-
ing, Oxford, Durham and Royal Holloway (–), where she also
directed the Centre for the Reception of Greece and Rome, is now
Research Professor at King’s College London. She is also Co-Founder
and Consultant Director of the Archive of Performances of Greek and
Roman Drama in Oxford. Her research focuses on representations of
ethnicity, the role played by theatre (especially Greek tragedy) in both
the ancient and modern worlds and the uses made by classical culture
inEuropeaneducation,identityandpoliticaltheory.Herbooksinclude
Inventing the Barbarian (); a commentary on Aeschylus’ Persians
(); Greek Tragedy and the British Theatre (, with Fiona Mac-
intosh); The Theatrical Cast of Athens (); The Return of Ulysses:
a Cultural History of Homer’s Odyssey (); Greek Tragedy: Suffering
undertheSun().
david konstan is Professor of Classics at New York University, and
Professor Emeritus at Brown University. He is the author of Roman
Comedy (); Sexual Symmetry: Love in the Ancient Novel and Related
Genres();GreekComedyandIdeology();FriendshipintheClas-
sicalWorld();PityTransformed();TheEmotionsoftheAncient
Greeks: Studies in Aristotle and Classical Literature (); Terms for
Eternity: Aioˆnios and a¨ıdios in Classical and Christian Texts (with Ilaria
Ramelli, ); ‘A Life Worthy of the Gods’: The Materialist Pyschology
of Epicurus (); and Before Forgiveness: the Origins of a Moral Idea
(). He is currently working on a verse translation of Seneca’s Her-
cules on Mount Oeta and Hercules Furens, and a book on the ancient
Greekconceptionofbeauty.
nick lowe is Senior Lecturer in Classics at Royal Holloway, University
ofLondon,andauthorofTheClassicalPlotandtheInventionofWestern
Narrative (Cambridge ). His research interests include Greek and
Roman comedy, formalist literary theory, and the reception of anti-
quity in the nineteenth century. He is currently writing a book on the
constructionofancientGreeceinmodernfiction.
x Notesoncontributors
lucia prauscello is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of
Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity Hall. She is the author of Singing
Alexandria:MusicbetweenPracticeandTextualTransmission()and
hasvariouslypublishedonGreekarchaicandHellenisticpoetry,drama,
Greekreligionandancientmusic.
richard rawles hastaughtattheUniversityofStAndrews,University
College London and the University of Edinburgh, and is now at the
University of Nottingham. He is the author of a number of articles
on Greek poetry and of a forthcoming book about Simonides and his
ancient reception. With Peter Ago´cs and Chris Carey, he is the editor
of Reading the Victory Ode (Cambridge ) and Receiving the Komos
().
martinrevermannisAssociateProfessorinClassicsandTheatreStudies
at the University of Toronto. His research interests lie in the areas
of Greek drama (especially its performance analysis, iconography and
cultural history), Brecht, theatre sociology and theatre theory. He is
the author of Comic Business: Theatricality, Dramatic Technique and
Performance Contexts of Aristophanic Comedy (). In addition to
various articles he is the co-editor (with P. Wilson) of Performance,
Iconography, Reception: Studies in Honour of Oliver Taplin () and
co-editor (with I. Gildenhard) of Beyond the Fifth Century: Interactions
withGreekTragedyfromthe4thCenturyBCEtotheMiddleAges(),
aswellastheeditoroftheforthcomingCambridgeCompaniontoGreek
Comedy.
ralph rosen is Rose Family Endowed Term Professor of Classical
Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published widely
on ancient Greek literature (especially comic genres), philosophy and
ancient medicine. His most recent book is Making Mockery: the Poetics
of Ancient Satire (). He is also co-founder (with Ineke Sluiter, of
LeidenUniversity,NL)ofthePenn–LeidenColloquiaonAncientValues.
jeffrey rusten is Professor of Classics at Cornell University. He has
published widely in the field of Greek literature, including Hellenistic
mythography,historiography,tragedyandcomedy.WithJ.Henderson,
D. Konstan, R. Rosen and N. Slater, he has co-edited The Birth of
Comedy: Texts, Documents, and Art from Athenian Comic Competitions,
486–280 (). He is now working on a Loeb edition of Philostratus’
Heroicus and Gymnasticus and completing a commentary on Thucy-
dides,Book.
Description:Recent scholarship has acknowledged that the intertextual discourse of ancient comedy with previous and contemporary literary traditions is not limited to tragedy. This book is a timely response to the more sophisticated and theory-grounded way of viewing comedy's interactions with its cultural and
