Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « Greek Tragic Fragments »

The satyr play was a small, comic play that closed a Greek tragic trilogy, placing the characters of the tragedy on a different setting where they meet satyrs and are mocked by them. The tragic tetralogy was common during the 5th and 4th centuries b.C., and all major tragedians such as Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides wrote satyr plays, being Aeschylus considered the best of them in this genre. Unfortunately, there are only fragments of his satyr plays and the Diktyoulkoi is the one with the largest numbers of verses preserved. The fragments were discovered separately and put together later. The main ones are the P.S.I. 1209a and P.Oxy.18 2161. They contain enough information about the plot, allusion to the myth of Danae and Perseus to which it is related and typical linguistic characteristics of the satyr play.

<p>The satyr play was a small, comic play that closed a Greek tragic trilogy, placing the characters of the tragedy on a different setting where they meet satyrs and are mocked by them. The tragic tetralogy was common during the 5th and 4th centuries b.C., and all major tragedians such as Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides wrote satyr plays, being Aeschylus considered the best of them in this genre. Unfortunately, there are only fragments of his satyr plays and the <em>Diktyoulkoi </em>is the one with the largest numbers of verses preserved. The fragments were discovered separately and put together later. The main ones are the P.S.I. 1209a and P.Oxy.18 2161. They contain enough information about the plot, allusion to the myth of Danae and Perseus to which it is related and typical linguistic characteristics of the satyr play.</p>

Érōs, érōtos, of the same root as éramai, recorded in Greek from Homer, with little presence in the Homeric poems, greatly increases the uses in the lyrical ones and is quite used by the tragic ones. Euripides picks it up on 79 occasions: 47, in preserved works, plus 32 in fragments. In this work I will only deal with the examples where it is related to the passion of love or to the god Eros, making a selection of the most relevant passages, translated into Spanish and accompanied by a commentary centered on the revised noun. In our language there is no complete study dedicated to this objective, so it could interest the tragic reader, both in relation to said god and in relation to the passion of love.

The close association in the literature of antiquity of seeing with sexual desire inspired the tragic poet Agathon to pun on the similarity between the Greek verb ‘to see’ (ὁρᾶν) and the verb ‘to desire’ (ἐρᾶν), as suggested by a fragment preserved by Zenobius: ἐκ τοῦ γὰρ ἐσορᾶν ἐγένετ' ἀνθρώποις ἐρᾶν. As is the case with many fragments, it is difficult to identify the degree of irony (or seriousness) with which Agathon intended this isolated line, but the passage is repeated (without attribution) in a number of other ancient sources, and it perhaps lays some claim to a measure of ‘folk wisdom’: for human beings the source of erotic desire lies in an act of seeing. In his brief and pithy love-letter ‘To Nicetes’ (Epistle 52), which Nauck observes may well draw on the pun of Agathon, the third-century sophist Philostratus would similarly appeal to the association of ὀρᾶν with ἐρᾶν to refute, in an ironic way, two time-honoured maxims about erōs: that love is a ‘disease’; and that lovers are ‘blind’: οὐ τὀ ἐρᾶν νόσος ἀλλὰ τὸ μὴ ἐρᾶν· εἰ γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὁρᾶν τὸ ἐρᾶν, τυφλοὶ οἱ μὴ ἐρῶντες.

In postwar Western culture, the myth of Antigone has been the subject of noted literary, literary-critical, dramatic, philosophical, and philological treatments, not least due to the strong influence of one of the key plays of the twentieth century, Jean Anouilh’s Antigone. The rich discussion of the myth has often dealt with its most famous formulation, Sophocles’ Antigone, but has paid less attention to the broader ancient context; the epic sources (the Iliad, Odyssey, Thebaid, and Oedipodea); the other tragic versions (Aeschylus’s Seven Against Thebes and his lost Eleusinians; Euripides’s Suppliants, Phoenician Women, and Antigone, of which only a few short fragments have been preserved); and the responses of late antiquity. This paper analyses the basic features of this nearly thousand-year-long ancient tradition and shows how they connect in surprising ways – sometimes even more directly than Sophoclean tragedy does – with the main issues in some unique contemporary traditions of its reception (especially the Slovenian, Polish and Argentine ones): the question of burying the wartime (or postwar) dead and the ideal of reconciliation.

Abstract:This paper argues that, beginning with the Euripidean deus ex machina, dramatic festivals introduced a new standard into epiphanic rituals and experience. Through the scenic double énonciation, gods are seen by mythical heroes as gods, but by the Athenian spectators as costumed actors and fictive entities. People could scarcely believe these were ‘real’ gods, but would have no doubt been impressed by the scenic machinery. Thus the Homeric theme of a hero’s likeness to the gods developed into the Hellenistic theme of the godlike ruler’s (or actor’s) theatrical success (or deceit). So in the Athenians’ Hymn to Demetrius Poliorcetes, a victorious ruler entering a city is welcomed as a better god than the gods themselves. The simultaneous rise in popularity of paradoxical stories and experiences in the Hellenistic period was grounded not in believing, but in disbelieving – a phenomenon associated with antiquarian interests, the self-publicity of religious sanctuaries, or amazed credulity. People were increasingly drawn to ‘real’ gods, leading to long pilgrimages and extensive financial outlay (in the mysteries) in order to see them. I investigate this phenomenon by focusing upon fragments of the ‘mimetic’ or ‘tragic’ Greek historians that survive from this period.

Based on direct field research, our investigation intends to reflect the reaction and the description made by the anonymous creator, in his oral works, of various historical events, and also reflects the creator’s representations of tumultuous episodes, dramatic attempts, and outstanding life aspects that he lived and faced. In our study we treated fragments of the anonymous creations related to the First World War, which recall moments and circumstances of the slaughter outbreak and some information reflecting the historical reality. We debated then one of the most dramatic episodes linked to the Second World War - the concentration of girls to forced labor to Germany, to replace manpower ruined by men going to war. The focus is on the tragic consequences of the lives of women who lived this episode. Regarding the tumultuous events that stirred the imagination of the people, we analyzed songs depicting the tragedy lived by Aurel Vlaicu, the great Romanian aviation pioneer. Another episode full of drama, which we analyzed in our investigation is related to the floods in 1970. It reflects how were immortalized in popular creation the dramatic consequences of that event which had affected so many people. The investigation part of our research is dedicated to some dramatic aspects of the reality of life, especially the peasants’ life during the communist regime. We paid attention to the abolition of the Greek Catholic Church, with all the consequences on both believers and priests. We analyzed more extensively the suffering and humiliation brought on the peasantry by collectivization of agriculture in mountain areas, when peasants were confiscated their entire fortune. We gave proper space to the use of folklore as a means of propaganda to in support and glorification of communism.

La tragédie du quatrième siècle fut considérée depuis l’antiquité comme une phase de décadence du genre tragique. Toutefois, plusieurs spécialistes ont montré qu’il ne s’agissait pas d’un déclin : le théâtre continuait à jouer un rôle important dans la vie culturelle du monde grec. Dans cette thèse nous proposons une nouvelle édition des fragments des poètes tragiques grecs du quatrième siècle, qui furent actifs entre la fin de la guerre du Péloponnèse et la mort d’Alexandre le Grand. L’édition des textes est précédée d’une courte introduction sur chaque poète et suivie de leur apparat critique, leur traduction et des commentaires. Nous proposons également un nouvel ordre des poètes et des témoignages pour faciliter l’étude de ces textes. Nous espérons que cette thèse contribuera à une meilleure compréhension de cette production méconnue et invitera à des nouvelles recherches
After the death of Euripides and Sophocles, tragic poets continue to write tragedies. During the fourth century BC theatre expanded all over the Greek world. In this thesis, I propose a new edition of the tragic fragments of the fourth century BC, by poets who were active from the end of the Peloponnesian war to the death of Alexander the Great. The edition of these texts is preceded by a brief introduction on each poet and followed by a critical apparatus, their translation and commentaries. I also propose a new order of the poets and testimonies in order to facilitate the study of the texts. I hope this thesis will contribute to a better understanding of this relatively unknown production and inspire new researches

This work, a new critical and exegetical commentary to Euripides’ Phaethon, is divided in three different sections: 1) introduction, 2) commentary on the eighteen surviving fragments of the play, 3) four chapters, with a final appendix, dedicated to examination of some main aspects of the tragic plot. The comment on each fragment – preceded by a complete summary with all bibliographical references – is articulated in a) tradition, dedicated to the analysis of direct and indirect sources of the text, b) metrics, only for lyrical fragments, c) critical-textual issues and, finally, d) exegesis and interpretation, in which all the exegetical proposals advanced by the editors on the collocation and the persona loquens of the text are discussed. In the four chapters following the commentary some interpretations of the tragedy have been revised: in particular, 1) some elements of the plot such as the revealed secret of Clymene, the fatal promise of Helios and the search for true paternity by Phaethon, only studied as family-motifs of Euripidean innovation, have an original fairy-tale derivation. 2) The examination focused on the plurality of reasons for discerning reluctance of Phaethon to the marriage with a goddess, probably connected to the rejection of power left to him by Merops, to the identity crisis and to the search of confirmation of divine birth. 3) The analysis has shown that the hypothesis of the possible presence of ‘comic’ in Euripides’ Phaethon, in particular in the love triangle between Clymene, Helios and Merops, in the unveiling of the real divine fatherhood and in the deception hatched by Clymene against the barbarian husband, must be rejected. 4) The four section and the appendix focused on the fortune of paradigmatic myth of the charioteer and his sisters, the Heliades, transformed into poplars dripping tears of amber.

La presente ricerca di dottorato ha come finalità la realizzazione di un'edizione critica con commento di due tragedie frammentarie euripidee ispirate al mito di Eracle: l’Alcmena e l’Auge. Riferimento fondamentale per questo studio sono le edizioni generali dei frammenti di Euripide curate rispettivamente da F. Jouan e H. Van Looy per Les Belles Lettres e da R. Kannicht per il quinto volume dei Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta. L’esiguità e la natura prevalentemente gnomica dei frammenti pervenutici non consentono una ricostruzione certa della trama, mentre le testimonianze dei mitografi (Igino, Apollodoro ecc.) e di altre tragedie ispirate alla medesima saga si scontrano con la nomea di Euripide quale innovatore del mito tradizionale. L'Alcmena era verosimilmente incentrata sul tumultuoso rapporto tra Anfitrione e Alcmena, sospettata di tradimento dal marito al rientro dalla campagna militare contro Tafi e Teleboi. La suggestiva ipotesi di R. Engellmann di una minaccia incendiaria di Anfitrione ai danni della moglie ha suscitato un ampio dibattito tra gli studiosi, in quanto si tratterebbe di un’evidente innovazione euripidea al mito: se Engelmann supporta la sua tesi valendosi della testimonianza di due pitture vascolari del British Museum, R. Aélion pone invece l’accento sul sospetto silenzio delle fonti letterarie; del tutto priva di fondamento è infine l’ipotesi di J. Schwartz, secondo cui il dramma sarebbe stato incentrato sulla morte di Eracle. La divergenza tra le varianti mitiche di Apollodoro e Strabone (che cita espressamente Euripide), la molteplicità di drammi ispirati alla saga Auge-Aleadi-Telefo e la scarsità di informazioni ricavate dall’hypothesis rendono aleatoria anche la ricostruzione della trama dell’Auge. Una delle questioni principali riguarda il ruolo di Eracle, la cui presenza in scena è stata negata da diversi studiosi (Welcker, Hartung) ma accettata da Van Looy, che colloca l’arrivo dell’eroe dopo la partenza di Auge. Delle due tragedie sopravvivono circa una ventina di frammenti per ciascuna (alcuni sono di dubbia attribuzione) che, fatta eccezione per il PHamb. 119 del prologo dell’Alcmena e il PColon. 264 dell’hypothesis dell’Auge, sono tutti di tradizione indiretta; tra le fonti principali si trovano l'Anthologium di Stobeo, il Lexicon di Esichio, l’Onomasticon di Polluce e gli Scoli a testi tragici e comici. Sul piano metodologico, dopo una ricognizione generale della bibliografia esistente, si procederà con l’analisi di ogni singolo frammento a livello linguistico, stilistico e metrico, con una particolare attenzione rivolta ad eventuali hapax, parole chiave o espressioni significative. Il commento sarà corredato anche da una riflessione sul contesto performativo, sulla persona loquens e la collocazione dei versi all’interno del dramma. Nel complesso, l’obiettivo della ricerca consiste in una focalizzazione più specifica su due drammi ispirati alla saga del principale eroe panellenico, nell’ottica di una più ampia riflessione sul trattamento euripideo di tale mito.
The purpose of this doctoral dissertation is to create a critical edition with commentary on two fragmentary Euripides’ tragedies inspired by the myth of Heracles: the Alcmene and the Auge. A basic point for this study are the general editions of the Euripides Fragments edited by F. Jouan and H. Van Looy for Les Belles Lettres and by R. Kannicht for the fifth volume of the Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta. The small amount and the predominantly gnomic nature of the surviving fragments do not allow an assured reconstruction of the plot, while the testimonies of the mythographs (Hyginus, Apollodorus etc.) and the other tragedies inspired by the same saga collide with the reputation of Euripides as an innovator of the traditional myth. The Alcmene was most likely focused on the tumultuous relationship between Amphitryon and Alcmene, suspected of treason by her husband when he returned from the military campaign against Teleboans. The suggestive hypothesis of R. Engellmann of an inflammatory threat of Amphitryon against his wife has given rise to a wide debate among scholars, because it would be an evident Euripides’ innovation to the myth. If Engelmann supports his thesis using the testimony of two vase-paintings of the British Museum, R. Aélion emphasises the suspicious silence of literary sources; finally, the hypothesis of J. Schwartz, according to whom the drama was focused on the death of Heracles, is totally groundless. The disagreement between the mythical sources of Apollodorus and Strabo (which explicitly quotes Euripides), the multiplicity of dramas inspired by the Auge - Telephus saga and the lack of information derived from the hypothesis also make the reconstruction of the plot of the Auge risky. One of the main issues concerns the role of Heracles, whose presence on stage has been denied by several scholars (Welcker, Hartung ecc.), but accepted by Η. Van Looy, which places the hero's arrival after Auge's departure. Of the two tragedies, about twenty fragments survive for each: with the exception of PHamb. 119 and of PColon. 264, they are all of indirect tradition; among, the main sources are the Anthologium of Stobaeus, the Lexicon of Hesychius, the Onomasticon of Pollux, and the Scholia to tragic and comic texts.

The only Hesiodic myths taken up by the Greek tragic dramatists are the related stories of Prometheus and the first woman (Pandora); these were exploited in satyr-dramas by Aeschylus and Sophocles, respectively. More important are the tragedies Prometheus Bound and Prometheus Unbound, attributed to Aeschylus (but probably in fact by another hand, perhaps his son Euphorion), in which the tale of Prometheus’s punishment is combined with several other myths into a new story of a god who becomes the savior both of the human race (twice) and of Zeus (also twice), and who endures terrible suffering before finally gaining honor from Zeus and humans. Hesiod’s ideas also had a profound influence on Aeschylus, traceable especially in the Oresteia and in the unidentified “Dike play” known from papyrus fragments.

This chapter explores the highly original contribution that Tony Harrison made to the world of ancient Greek drama performance through his ground-breaking production, The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus. This created a change in attitude towards the play fragment, which was often overlooked by playwrights and directors in favour of its complete tragic counterparts, such as Euripides’ Medea and Sophocles’ Oedipus. Harrison gave the ancient ‘lost’ play an opportunity to publicly grace the stage again, in a world in which the context and relevancy of the satyr play had been forgotten. The chapter discusses how Harrison engaged with the surviving approximately 400 lines of script that were discovered in an Egyptian rubbish heap, and rather than attempting to ‘complete’ the play, with his own interpretation of what may have concluded the original, bookended the script with new scenes. He used the relatively unknown light-hearted genre of the satyr play to open discussion about serious contemporary topics such as class, education, and social disillusionment in 1980s Britain, through the lens of the ancient. Harrison’s utterly original approach has influenced playwrights and directors not only to engage with the fragmented plays of Ancient Greece but also to utilize this new approach to have open discourse on contemporary issues.

In 1872 the young Basel Professor Friedrich Nietzsche, then among the most promising philologists of his day, shocked the scholarly community with the publication of The Birth of Tragedy. In his first book, filled with more fervor than footnotes, Nietzsche dispensed with the cautious, measured claims that were expected of works in Classics and spun a bold narrative about the origins and decline of Attic Greek tragedy. However striking Nietzsche’s historical story was, classical history for its own sake was never Nietzsche’s aim. Modern cultural health was at this point his paramount concern, and he looked to the ancient world for lessons about the modern one. In the person of Richard Wagner, to whom the book is effusively dedicated, Nietzsche saw someone who might bring together a fragmented and directionless modern society through the creation of a new mythology. Such a mythology would give renewed meaning and purpose to human life, and revitalize a flagging culture, where religious belief was on the wane. The centerpiece of this revival would be a new festival, modeled on the Greek tragic festival of yore. With these great, almost absurd, ambitions for Wagner, and for a renewed form of high culture with the potential to transform modern society, it is little surprise that Nietzsche’s hopes were dashed....

This chapter examines Gilbert’s first two years (1888–1890) as Paine Institute’s new professor of Greek, Latin, and English and explains the development of Paine’s new collegiate curriculum, one based largely on the courses Gilbert had taken at Brown. It also tells the story of Gilbert’s wife Osceola (Ola) Pleasant and her family. From there, the chapter explores the early development of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, with special attention to the role of Gilbert’s Brown professor Albert Harkness, then it turns to investigating when and how Gilbert made his decision to go to Greece and attend the American School. Using evidence from surviving fragments of his letters, the final portion of the chapter traces Gilbert’s route from Augusta across the Atlantic, through London, Paris, and across Italy, by ferry to Patras in Greece, and finally by train from Patras to Athens.

By mid-July, abundant water continues to move in all directions within the beaver meadow. Water flows noisily down the main channel, creating deep pools where it mixes with water entering from secondary channels. Deeper waters well up from beneath overhung banks and the willow stems along the banks remain partly submerged. Pieces of driftwood collect where the channel bends, floating in perpetual circles atop the shadowed water. The water is clear of suspended sediment but stained slightly brown. Flow is noticeably lower in the secondary channels, where algae and bacteria stain the cobbles reddish-brown. Shallow water runs down a beaver trail toward the main channel, and I can easily imagine the trail eroding into a small canal over a period of years. The fern-like stems of rust red that grew beneath the pond waters earlier in the season have now emerged and bloomed, revealing a row of pink flowers of elephant’s head. Diminutive white twinflowers bloom near the conifers at the edge of the meadow. Stalks of pink and white Pyrola flowers rise above their ground-hugging leaves, which have been green since April. Mountain bluebells form clusters of indigo among the green hues of the grasses and sedges. Broad white blossoms of cow parsnip create a canopy above the other herbaceous plants. Aptly named shooting stars resemble tiny bursts of yellow and white trailing spiraling pink petals as they lean over the ground. The songbirds are less vocal than in June now that they are busy tending to nestlings weak at flying, but I can still hear the notes of chickadees, sparrows, and warblers, underlain by the distant croaks of ravens. Hummingbirds continue their mating displays, diving toward the ground as though intent on suicide, only to pull up at the last moment. The red blazes on their throats flash like fragments of momentary flame amidst the thick greenery. Mosquitoes are more noticeable now, despite the damselflies and dragonflies busily hunting back and forth across the openings among the willows. Beds of matted grass lie dispersed across the meadow.