Troy, Carthage and the Victorians: The Drama of Classical Ruins in the Nineteenth-Century Imagination

414 Pages·2018·62.214 MB·English

by  Rachel Bryant Davies

Troy,CarthageandtheVictorians
Playful,popularvisionsofTroyandCarthage,backdropstotheIliad
and Aeneid’s epic narratives, shine the spotlight on antiquity’s star-
ringroleinnineteenth-centuryculture.Thisisthestoryofhowthese
ruined cities inspired bold reconstructions of the Trojan War and
itsaftermath,howarchaeologicaldiscoveriesintheTroadandNorth
Africasparkeddramaticdebates,andhowtheirruinswereexploited
toconceptualiseproblematicrelationshipsbetweenpast,presentand
future. Rachel Bryant Davies breaks new ground in the afterlife of
classical antiquity by revealing more complex and less constrained
interactionwithclassicalknowledgeacrossabroadersocialspectrum
than yet understood, drawing upon methodological developments
fromdisciplinessuchashistoryofscienceandtheatrehistoryinorder
todoso.Shealsodevelopsathoroughcriticalframeworkforunder-
standing classical burlesque and engages in in-depth analysis of a
toy-theatreproduction.
RACHEL BRYANT DAVIES holds an Addison Wheeler Research
Fellowship in Classics with the Centre for Nineteenth-Century
StudiesatDurhamUniversityandisanEarlyCareerResearchAsso-
ciate for the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama,
UniversityofOxford.
Frontispiece: Hand-colouredbackdrop,intendedforuseintoytheatres,showingascenefromTheGiantHorse,ortheGiantHorseofSinon,performed
fromApril1833atAstley’sAmphitheatre,London.
No.12&No.13fromHodgson’sCharactersintheGiantHorse:‘DescentoftheGreekSpiesfromtheGiantHorseBurstingoftheGatesEntranceofthe
Grecian&burningofthecityofTroy’[sic].PublishedbyO.Hodgson,10ClothFair[London],5August1833.
Source:HerbertHinkinsCollection,V&ATheatrePerformanceCollectionsarchives:THM/DIS/2016/HH/1.
Photograph:V&AImages,Victoria&AlbertMuseum.
Troy, Carthage and the Victorians
The Drama of Classical Ruins in the
Nineteenth-Century Imagination
RACHEL BRYANT DAVIES
DurhamUniversity
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107192669
DOI:10.1017/9781108131605
©RachelBryantDavies2018
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2018
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJInternationalLtd.PadstowCornwall
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Davies,RachelBryant,author.
Title:Troy,CarthageandtheVictorians:thedramaofclassicalruinsin
thenineteenth-centuryimagination/RachelBryantDavies,Universityof
Oxford.
Description:Cambridge,UK;NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress,2017.
|Basedontheauthor’sdissertation(doctoral)–UniversityofCambridge,
2011.|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2017026019|ISBN9781107192669
Subjects:LCSH:Englishliterature–19thcentury–Historyandcriticism.|
Troy(Extinctcity)–Inliterature.|TrojanWar–Literatureandthewar.
|Carthage(Extinctcity)–Inliterature.|Englishliterature–Classical
influences.
Classification:LCCPR468.C6D382017|DDC820.9/3583921–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2017026019
ISBN978-1-107-19266-9Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
Contents
ListofPlates pagevii
ListofFigures ix
Acknowledgements xvii
Prologue 1
1 Introduction:TheRuinsofTroyandCarthage‘Still
FlamingtotheImagination’intheNineteenthCentury 5
WhytheNineteenthCentury? 11
WhyTroyandCarthage? 16
AnInterdisciplinaryApproachtoTroyandCarthageinthe
NineteenthCentury 25
‘TheGoldenStream’and‘ClassicalReception’:AComplexWeb
ofSources 36
ChapterOverviews 42
2 ‘AnImaginaryTroy’:HomericPilgrimage,Topography
andArchaeology 47
‘Scholars,inTheirZeal’:TheAntiquariesvs‘TheTaxpayer’ 55
‘TheBattleofBunarbashi’(1795–1804):AModernTrojanWar 67
‘IngeniousTravellers’:ScepticismvsRomanticImagination 75
‘ConsecratedGround’:HigherCriticismvstheProofofthe
Spade 96
‘An Archaeological Joke’: Responses to Schliemann’s
‘Disconveries’ 103
‘IntheTrenchesofHisarlik’or‘AmongtheMusesWhoDwellon
Olympus’? 117
3 ‘NotClassic,butQuiteCorrect’:TheTrojanWaratthe
Circus 125
‘SimpleMindsinEveryRankofLife’:Cross-ClassAudiencesat
theCircus 131
The1833SiegeofTroyatAstley’s:TheGiantHorseofSinon 141 v
vi Contents
The1854SiegeofTroyatAstley’s:TheMiss-JudgmentofParis 170
‘NotAllStrictlyGreekandTrojan’:RecreatingAntiquityatthe
Circus 187
4 ‘FreelyPervertedfromClassicTexts’:TheIliadandAeneid
Burlesqued 203
‘ThoseWhoAreBestAcquaintedwithHomer’:Deconstructing
Knowing,Confusedand‘ClassicallyMinded’Audiences 211
‘TooClassical’?CollapsingDistinctionsBetweenPrimary
SourcesandSecondaryBurlesques 224
‘Aeneas Familiar with Cigars’: Burlesques as Part of the
ContemporaryLandscapeofClassics 246
‘Surprise!’ Dramatising Tensions Between a Real or
ImaginedTroy 261
5 ‘SittingAmongtheBricksofCoventGarden’:Carthageand
theFutureRuinsoftheNineteenthCentury 271
‘EnglandandCarthage’:TranslatioImperiiandtheClassical
Heritage 280
‘ScipioBurstintoaPassionofTears’:TheRomanConqueror
Weeping 286
‘MariusSittingamidtheRuinsofCarthage’:ARomanConsulin
Exile 295
‘ANation’sSepulchre’as‘ProfitableLesson’:Mariusinthe
CityscapeofCarthage 311
‘LondonintheTwenty-NinthCentury’:ImaginingtheFuture
RuinsofModernCities 324
Epilogue:TroyandCarthageas‘ABeaconandaWarning’ 339
AppendixA ListofBurlesques 347
AppendixB SelectChronology 349
References 353
Index 376
List of Plates
Frontispiece Hand-coloured backdrop, intended for use in toy the-
atres,showingascenefromTheGiantHorse,ortheGiant
Horse of Sinon, performed from April 1833 at Astley’s
Amphitheatre,London.No.12&No.13fromHodgson’s
CharactersintheGiantHorse:‘DescentoftheGreekSpies
from the Giant Horse Bursting of the Gates Entrance of
theGrecian&burningofthecityofTroy’[sic].Published
by O. Hodgson, 10 Cloth Fair [London], 5 August 1833.
Photograph:V&AImages,Victoria&AlbertMuseum.
3.15 ‘GrandTempleoftheBlazingAltars–tobeplacedatthe
back of the Stage’. No. 4 in ‘Hodgson’s Scenes in Troy
or the Giant Horse’, published by O. Hodgson (London,
10 Cloth Fair [1833]). Source: Marcus Stone Collection,
V&ATheatrePerformanceCollectionsarchives:HC289.
Photograph:V&AImages,Victoria&AlbertMuseum.
3.16 Plate 9 of ‘Hodgson’s Characters for the Giant Horse’,
showingacombatscenewithUlyssesandadditionalmod-
ern characters. London, published by O. Hodgson, 10,
Cloth Fair. July 17 1833. Source: Herbert Hinkins Col-
lection, V&A Theatre Performance Collections archives:
THM/DIS/2016/HH.Photograph:V&AImages,Victoria
&AlbertMuseum.
3.17 JohnLeech,‘GrandeveningrehearsaloftheMillerandhis
Men, and terrific explosion in the housekeeper’s room’.
Source: Young Troublesome; or, Master Jacky’s Holidays,
wood engraving by William Jay after John Leech’s etch-
ings(originallypublishedLondon,December1849).This
image stereotyped and printed by George Charles and
published by Willis Pope Hazard (Philadelphia, Pennsyl-
vania,1860),p.13.
3.18 ‘MrDucrowastheRomanGladiator’.Source:portrait[by
Skelt?],coloured,cutoutandmountedonanalbumleaf.
vii
viii ListofPlates
3.19 No. 6 of ‘Hodgson’s Scenes in Troy or the Giant Horse’:
‘Ruins of temple and staircase. Pubd Decr 1833 by O.
Hodgson,10ClothFair[London]’.Source:HerbertHink-
ins Collection, V&A Theatre Performance Collections
archives:THM/DIS/2016/HH.Photograph:V&AImages,
Victoria&AlbertMuseum.
3.20 ‘Amphitheatre and arena’ from Orlando Hodgson’s
‘ScenesinTroyortheGiantHorse’.Source:HerbertHink-
ins Collection, V&A Theatre Performance Collections
archives:THM/DIS/2016/HH.Photograph:V&AImages,
Victoria&AlbertMuseum.200
3.21 ‘Hodgson’sWingsinTroyortheGiantHorse.PubdDecr
1833 by O. Hodgson, 10 Cloth Fair [London]’. Source:
Herbert Hinkins Collection, V&A Theatre Performance
Collections archives: THM/DIS/2016/HH. Photograph:
V&AImages,Victoria&AlbertMuseum.
3.22 Playbill for ‘The Siege of Troy; or, The Giant Horse of
Sinon’ at Astley’s Amphitheatre (29 April 1833). Source:
PrintedbyT.Romney.Woodcutandletterpress,London.
Photograph: V&A Images, Victoria & Albert Museum
(V&AS.2–1983).
Thecolourplatesectioncanbefoundbetweenpp.204and205.