The Play of Space: Spatial Transformation in Greek Tragedy

463 Pages·2002·3.66 MB·English

by  Rush Rehm

THE PLAY OF SPACE
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THE PLAY OF SPACE
S PAT I A L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N
I N G R E E K T R A G E D Y
Rush Rehm
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON AND OXFORD
COPYRIGHT(cid:2) 2002 BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PUBLISHED BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 41 WILLIAM STREET,
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 08540
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 3 MARKET PLACE, WOODSTOCK,
OXFORDSHIRE OX20 1SY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ISBN 0-691-05809-1 (ALK. PAPER)
BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA IS AVAILABLE
THIS BOOK HAS BEEN COMPOSED IN BERKELEY BOOK
PRINTED ON ACID-FREE PAPER. (cid:2)
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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Contents
LIST OF FIGURES vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
A NOTE TO THE READER xi
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER ONE
The Theater and Athenian Spatial Practice 35
The Theater of Dionysus 37
The Sanctuary of Dionysus Eleuthereus 41
The City Dionysia: Procession, Sacrifice, and the Secular 44
Inside Out, Outside In: Land, Livelihood, and Living Space in the Polis 54
CHAPTER TWO
Space for Returns 76
The Oresteia: Homecoming and Its Returns 77
Heracles and Home 100
CHAPTER THREE
Eremetic Space 114
Antigone: Desolation Takes the Stage 115
Ajax: Alone in Space, In and Out of Time 123
Philoctetes: The Island ere¯mia 138
Prometheus Bound: The Ends of the Earth 156
CHAPTER FOUR
Space and the Body 168
Hecuba: The Body as Measure 175
Euripides’ Electra: The Intimate Body 187
The Bacchae: The Theatrical Body 200
CHAPTER FIVE
Space, Time, and Memory: Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus 215
CHAPTER SIX
Space and the Other 236
Persians 239
The Other Medea: Woman, Barbarian, Exile, Athenian 251
CONCLUSION 270
vi CONTENTS
APPENDIX
Theories of Space 273
NOTES 297
BIBLIOGRAPHY 405
INDEX 435
Figures
(following p. 62)
1. Theater of Dionysus in Athens, view from above.
2. Map of Athens (Travlos).
3. Theater of Dionysus, view toward the south.
4. Theater of Dionysus, view toward the southeast.
5. Theater of Dionysus, view toward the southwest.
6. Sanctuary of Dionysus Eleuthereus.
7. Sanctuary of Dionysus Eleuthereus (plan, Roman period).
8. Athenian agora plan, ca. 500 B.C. (Thompson and Wycherley)
9. Aerial view of the city of Athens.
10. Plan of the first Pnyx (Travlos).
11. Plan of the old and new Athenian bouleute¯ria (Dinsmoor).
12. Plan of the Athenian Long Walls (Travlos).
All photos courtesy of the Deutsches Archa¨ologisches Institut-Athen; my thanks to
Hans Rupprecht Goette. Plans are courtesy of Travlos 1971, and the Agora excava-
tions, American School of Classical Studies, Athens (Thompson and Wycherley 1972,
and Camp 1992 [Dinsmoor]).
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Acknowledgments
I
NITIAL WORK on this book was spurred by David Wiles, who invited
me to give a paper on space at the Classical Association conference in
Exeter in 1994, organized by Richard Seaford and Christopher Gill. This
invitation encouraged me to think about theatrical space in a way I never
had before, and I am grateful to the organizers and participants at the confer-
ence for that opportunity. The Donald Andrewes Whittier Fellowship at the
Stanford Humanities Center in 1995–96 allowed me time to begin shaping
ideas toward a book, in which the editors at Princeton University Press—
Brigitta von Rheinberg and, later, Chuck Meyers—showed interest and con-
fidence. I am also grateful to Lorna Hardwick of the Open University, Lon-
don, for inviting me to address its conference on Classical Theatre in 1998,
where I discussed space and Aeschylus’ Oresteia, and to Eric Csapo who
kindly included me in a panel on performance at the conference on Eurip-
ides at the Banff Center in 1999, organized by Kevin Lee and Martin Cropp.
There I presented an early version of space in Euripides’ Heracles, now pub-
lished in Euripides and Tragic Theatre in the Late Fifth Century (ICS 24–25,
1999–2000), edited by M. Cropp, K. Lee, and D. Sansone (Champaign, Il.,
2000). I benefited greatly from participation and discussion on all these
occasions.
I owe special thanks to the anonymous readers of the Press, to the copy-
editor Brian Macdonald, and to those who have shared their thoughts with
me about space and the ancient theater, including David Wiles, Oliver Tap-
lin, Deborah Boedeker, Steven Scully, Jenny March, Hans Rupert Goette, and
particularly Pat Easterling, whose comments on parts of the manuscript have
improved it enormously. I owe a great deal to my former Emory colleagues
Dick Neisser (now back at Cornell, who set me on to James J. Gibson),
Richard and Cynthia Patterson (whose work and company are an ongoing
delight), and Bonna Wescoat (the nonpareil of on-site companions). At Stan-
ford I have depended on the invaluable support of Ron Davies, and have
profited from conversations with Sissy Wood, Aleksandra Wolska, Charles
Junkerman, and Mark Edwards. I owe special thanks to Reviel Netz, who
offered helpful comments on the appendix; Michael Jameson, whose ency-
clopedic knowledge of Greek history, culture, and religion saved me from
many errors; and Andrea Nightingale, who read and responded to the manu-
script with insight and magnanimity.
Finally, I offer this book in grateful memory of two teachers from whom I
learned much, George Gellie (1918–88) and Charles R. Lyons (1933–99).