Friday, 28 November 2014

The Structure of Drama


Epiparodos

The return of the chorus after it had left the orchestra during the performance of a play (μετάστασις χοροῦ; metástasis choroû, cf. Poll. 4,108), as in: Aesch. Eum. 231, 244; Soph. Aj. 814, 866 ; Eur. Alc. 746, 861, Hel. 385, 515, Rhes. 564, 674 ; Aristoph. Eccl. 310, 478.  http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/freytag.jpg



References

Dramatic structure - Wikipedia

Climax (narrative) - Wikipedia

Poetics (Aristotle) - Wikipedia

Aristotle (1997). Aristotle's Poetics. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-0-7735-1612-0.

Structure of Tragedy  - Donald J. Mastronarde

The Structure of Greek Tragedy: An Overview - Kosmos Society

CHAPITRE XII L'INTERPRÉTATION pp 189 -229
§70. Structure de la tragédie grecque

 The Internet Classics Archive
The poetics of Aristotle trans. by S.H. Butcher
Poetics by Aristotle - http://goo.gl/TfJdy, archived at http://goo.gl/GNi5WW
Outline of Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy archived at http://goo.gl/6FeCq3.



Manifesto for a Theory of Drama and Irrational Choice
Nigel Howard, Peter Bennett, Jim Bryant and Morris Bradley
The Journal of the Operational Research Society
Vol. 44, No. 1 (Jan., 1993), pp. 99-103
Published by: Palgrave Macmillan Journals
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2584447

The Origins of Greek Drama. A Summary of the Evidence and a Comparison with Early English Drama
N. P. Miller
Greece & Rome
Second Series, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Oct., 1961), pp. 126-137
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Article Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/641643

Toward a Semiotic Theory of the Drama
Susan Wittig
Educational Theatre Journal
Vol. 26, No. 4 (Dec., 1974), pp. 441-454
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Article Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/3206607

Tragedy and Theory: The Problem of Conflict Since Aristotle

Michelle Gellrich
Series: Princeton Legacy Library
Publication Date: July 2014, Pages: 312
Published by: Princeton University Press
eISBN: 978-1-4008-5938-2
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7ztmbs

Michelle Gellrich (2014). Tragedy and Theory: The Problem of Conflict Since Aristotle. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-5938-2.

Parode and Related Terms in Ancient Greek Plays

cuip.uchicago.edu/~ldernbach/msw/xhgkaristrag.pdf

Simon Goldhill (2012). Sophocles and the Language of Tragedy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-997882-3.

James C. Hogan (1991). A Commentary on the Plays of Sophocles. SIU Press. ISBN 978-0-8093-1665-6.

Structure of Old Comedy

Sommerstein, A. H. (1984). ACT DIVISION IN OLD COMEDY. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies31, 139–152.     http://www.jstor.org/stable/43646814.

Whittaker, M. (1935). The Comic Fragments in Their Relation to the Structure of Old Attic Comedy. The Classical Quarterly, 29(3/4), 181–191. http://www.jstor.org/stable/636611.

G. M. Sifakis. (1992). The Structure of Aristophanic Comedy. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 112, 123–142. https://doi.org/10.2307/632156 https://www.jstor.org/stable/632156

Der Monolog im Drama ein Beitrag zur griechischrömanischen Poetik: Friedrich Leo - Internet Archive




Thursday, 27 November 2014

Hamartia or Tragic Flaw, and the Tragic Hero

The concept of a tragic flaw dates back to Aristotle's Poetics. In Poetics, Aristotle used the term hamartia to refer to the innate quality that leads a protagonist towards his or her own downfall. The term fatal flaw is sometimes used in place of tragic flaw. Aristotle discusses all this in Part 14 of his book entitled Poetics.

To have Hamartia you have to have a Tragic Hero who experiences having a Tragic Flaw. This hero is usually the principal protagonist or character acting in the Tragedy, a type of drama characterised by high-stakes conflict and a fatal outcome for that protagonist. Such protagonists are Oedipus, Antigone, Ajax and Medea who all figure in plays with their own names in the title.

Aristotle identifies three key qualities that a tragic hero must possess:

Excellence: The tragic hero must be a person of high status and reputation. They must be someone who is admired and respected by others.

Flaw: The tragic hero must also have a flaw or hamartia. This flaw is often a character flaw, such as pride, ambition, or hubris.

Tragic error: The tragic hero must make a tragic error or peripeteia. This error is often a mistake of judgment that leads to the hero's downfall.

Aristotle believed that the tragic hero must possess these three qualities in order to evoke pity and fear in the audience. Pity is the feeling of sympathy that we feel for someone who is suffering, and fear is the feeling of apprehension that we feel when we see someone who is in danger. Aristotle believed that these two emotions are essential to the experience of tragedy.

Hamartia is the tragic or fatal flaw which leads to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine. It is when the hero makes a mistake or an error of judgement. The origin of the word is Greek, meaning ‘fault, failure, guilt’; the term was used in Aristotle's Poetics with reference to ancient Greek tragedy. In Oedipus Rex Sophocles treats Hamartia rather like St. Augustine's concept of Original Sin, that is the state of sinfulness that all humans are born into as a result of the Fall of Adam and Eve, resulting in their banishment from the Garden of Eden. Adam fell 
because he ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, thereby disobeying God. This act of disobedience corrupted their nature and led to the state of sinfulness that all humans have subsequently inherited.



References

Whether Aristotle regards the “flaw” as intellectual or moral has been hotly discussed. It may cover both senses. The hero must not deserve his misfortune, but he must cause it by making a fatal mistake, an error of judgement, which may well involve some imperfection of character but not such as to make us regard him as “morally responsible” for the disasters that follow although they are nevertheless the consequences of the flaw that he has within him, and his wrongdoing and wrong decision at a crisis is the inevitable outcome of his character.

The Poetics translated by S. H. Butcher/ Part XIV Whole text - Wikisource

Bartky, E. (1992). Plato and the Politics of Aristotle’s “Poetics.” The Review of Politics54(4), 589–619. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1407670.

Atē, Its Use and Meaning: a study in the Greek poetic tradition from Homer to Euripides: Doyle, Richard - Internet Archive 

Hamartia in Aristotle and Greek Tragedy
T. C. W. Stinton
The Classical Quarterly
New Series, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Dec., 1975), pp. 221-254

The Tragic Flaw: Is it a Tragic Error?
Isabel Hyde
The Modern Language Review
Vol. 58, No. 3 (Jul., 1963), pp. 321-325
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3721422

Hamartia, Ate, and Oedipus
Author(s): Leon Golden
Source: The Classical World, Sep., 1978, Vol. 72, No. 1 (Sep., 1978), pp. 3-12
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/4348969

Knox, B. (1985). Oedipus at Thebes: Sophocles’ Tragic Hero and His Time. Yale University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hk119

ARISTOTLE'S "HAMARTIA" RECONSIDERED
Author(s): Ho Kim
Source: Harvard Studies in Classical Philology , 2010, Vol. 105 (2010), pp. 33-52
Published by: Department of the Classics, Harvard University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/41429141

Iván Nyusztay (2002). Myth, Telos, Identity: The Tragic Schema in Greek and Shakespearean Drama. Rodopi. pp. 30–. ISBN 90-420-1540-3.

Michael J. Sidnell (1991). Sources of Dramatic Theory: Volume 1, Plato to Congreve. Cambridge University Press. pp. 49–. ISBN 978-0-521-32694-0.

R. J. Tarrant (1990). Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. Traditional Elements In The Concept Of Hamartia: Harvard University Press. pp. 137–. ISBN 978-0-674-37940-4.

Ian C. Storey; Arlene Allan (8 November 2013). A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama. Wiley. pp. 111–. ISBN 978-1-118-45511-1.

Anne Norris Michelini (2006). Euripides and the Tragic Tradition. Univ of Wisconsin Press. pp. 282–. ISBN 978-0-299-10764-2.

Jonathan Barnes (1995). The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle. Bibliography on Tragic ErrorCambridge University Press. pp. 382–. ISBN 978-0-521-42294-9.

Jan Maarten Bremer (1969). Hamartia: Tragic Error in the Poetics of Aristotle and in Greek Tragedy. Adolf M. Hakkert.

On the Art of Poetry, by Aristotle

Aristotle (1951). Aristotle on the Art of Poetry. Library of Alexandria. pp. 22–. ISBN 978-1-61310-707-2
Aristotle (1951). Aristotle on the Art of Poetry. Library of Alexandria. pp. 7–. ISBN 978-1-61310-707-2.
Aristotle (1997). Aristotle's Poetics. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. pp. 26–. ISBN 978-0-7735-1612-0.

hamartia (drama) -- Encyclopedia Britannica

Hamartia - Examples and Definition of Hamartia

Tragedy, Fate And Hamartia

Dramatic structure - Wikipedia

Sophocles Study Guide- the Theban Plays - http://goo.gl/ZLDSJj

A Companion to Greek Religion - Google Books: Chapter 6 The Cult of Heroes

The political uses of hero cult at Olympia and Delphi [Greece] - TSpace Repository

Harsh, P. W. (1945).  

Ἁμαρτία Again

. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 76, 47–58. https://doi.org/10.2307/283324 https://www.jstor.org/stable/283324


Theatre of Gythio



References



Wikimapia - Theatre of Gythion

Theatre of Fthiotis Thebes



References

DIAZOMA - ANCIENT THEATRE OF PHTHIOTIDAI THEBES

THEBAI PHTHIOTIS - Theatrum

Wikimapia - Fthiotis Thebes

Monday, 24 November 2014

Hubris (or Hybris)

Fall of Icarus



Hubris
, in Greek tragedy, is the excessive pride towards or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis. The overbearing pride leads humans to follow paths or projects which lead to certain self-destruction. In Greek drama hubris is more or less followed by nemesis. This is the lesson learned and presented in the drama: the notion of hubris in Greek drama is the downfall of a powerful, over-proud man. In this sense hubris is a crime of powerHubris is the extreme pride or self-confidence of an individual character. which , when it offends the gods, that character is usually punished severely. Hubris is arrogance in word, deed and thought. For example, hubris is having or maintaining stubbornly an attitude which goes against or ignores, say, the prophecies, counsel or pronouncements of the Delphic Oracle. The central meaning of hubris is doing deeds and thinking thoughts more than a mere mortal human should do and think, thereby showing impiety towards the gods. Other clear examples of hubris include Xerxes' and Darius' hubris in Aeschylus' Persae. And King Creon's in Sophocles' Antigone. 

Hubris is the sin of arrogance and pride. Wealth and hubris are often coupled together. Hubris leads characters to break divine laws. Hubris is outrageous insolence or impiety and failing to do the honour due to the gods. Hubris is punished by the gods. Socrates was executed for asebeia or impiety towards the gods.

Traditional heroes have virtue and attempt to follow the code of honour [kleos] for heroes expected of them. Kleos is striving for superlative status as a virtue. But it is easy for this virtue to turn into hubris: they are vulnerable. This can create a great tragedy. Some traditional heroes fall into the trap of an illusion of their own greatness and fail due to a lack of identification and gratification to the gods. When a traditional hero remains humble he/she earns blessings from the gods, the reward of ending the journey, and being able to go back to society. The journeys and lives of traditional heroes are dependent on supernatural forces, not themselves. This is the very nature of mythology. 

 Greek tragic theatre is essentially courtroom drama where the audience is invited to judge just how guilty of Hubris the hero or protagonist in the play has been and to decide whether the punishment inflicted upon them was just for the crime they had committed. In this role members of the audience act like jurors. Indeed theatre taught the citizens of Ancient Athens how to perform one of their most important civic duties within a democratic state.



Atë (ἄτη) is the Greek goddess of mischief, delusion, ruin, and folly.

Book of Proverbs, 16:18
Proverbs 16-18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

Antonym of hubris:  sophron  
Being of a sound mind, sane, in one's senses. Curbing one's desires and impulses, self-controlled, temperate, prudent, sensible. Hubris is a mode of behaviour, arising out of a state of mind. A man who is sophron will not act hubristically, conversely a man who acts hubristically cannot be sophron. Hubris and sophrosune can be regarded as antithetical.

Latin for hubris is contumēlia ("contumely, insult").
Hubris or Hybris was the mother with Zeus as father, of the god Pan. [Appollodorus]. Hybris was the personification of arrogance,

Nemesis is the inescapable agent of someone’s or something’s downfall. Nemesis was the goddess or spirit of divine retribution against those who had succumbed to hubris. Nemesis is the psychological feeling of deep shame for what one has done.

What are the concepts of hubris and nemesis?

Hubris denotes over-confidence, exaggerated pride. It can be associated with a lack of knowledge or interest in history, also with shaming or contempt of others. Nemesis is the goddess of retribution and denotes the destruction, suffering or punishment that can follow in the wake of hubris.

Hubris describes arrogant confidence, which transforms to Atë​,​ a ruinous folly or madness, then onto Nemesis, a force of retribution that resets the natural order.

References



Liddell & Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon- Hubris or ὕβρις

Lewis, & Short, A Latin Dictionary, con-tŭmēlĭa

Liddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon, σώφρων

The Pattern of Aeschylean Tragedy
Richard S. Caldwell
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association
Vol. 101, (1970), pp. 77-94
Published by: American Philological Association
Article Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/2936041

Nemesis (mythology) - Wikipedia
Kathleen N. Daly (2009). Greek and Roman Mythology, A to Z. Nemesis: Infobase Publishing. pp. 113–. ISBN 978-1-4381-2800-9.

Nicolas Ralph Edmund Fisher (1992). Hybris: A Study in the Values of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greece. Aris & Phillips. ISBN 978-0-85668-144-8.

Douglas L. Cairns (1993). Aidos: The Psychology and Ethics of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greek Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9786610763689.


Catherine Collobert: Chapter on Homeric Ethics - Fame and Prudence in Ancient Ethics
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Ancient_Ethics/9x6YAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=kleos+hubris&pg=PA57&printsec=frontcover


Xerxes’ hubris and Darius in Aeschylus’ Persae (2008) : Papadimitropoulos, Loukas

NEMESIS : Greek Goddess of Retribution & Indignation

HYBRIS : Goddess or Spirit of Insolence, Excessive Pride & Violence

Peitho - Wikipedia

Nemesis - Greek Mythology Link

Atë - Wikipedia
Ate - Greek Mythology

Sexuality, Violence, and the Athenian Law of 'Hubris'
Author(s): David Cohen
Source: Greece & Rome, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Oct., 1991), pp. 171-188
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/642956

Fate and Freedom in Greek Tragedy
Walter R. Agard
The Classical Journal
Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 1933), pp. 117-126 (10 pages)
Published by: The Classical Association of the Middle West and South, Inc. (CAMWS)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3290417

God and Man in "Oedipus Rex"
Lauren Silberman
College Literature
Vol. 13, No. 3 (Fall, 1986), pp. 292-299 (8 pages)
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25111712

Sophocles' Ajax and Sophoclean Plot Construction
James Tyler
The American Journal of Philology
Vol. 95, No. 1 (Spring, 1974), pp. 24-42 (19 pages)
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
DOI: 10.2307/293816
https://www.jstor.org/stable/293816

Douglas L. Cairns. “Hybris, Dishonour, and Thinking Big.” The Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 116, 1996, pp. 1–32. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/631953.

La violence dans les mondes grec et romain - Nemesis, Hybris and Violence - Éditions de la Sorbonne

'Hybris' and Dishonour: I
N. R. E. Fisher
Greece & Rome
Vol. 23, No. 2 (Oct., 1976), pp. 177-193 (17 pages)
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
https://www.jstor.org/stable/642226

'Hybris' and Dishonour: II
N. R. E. Fisher
Greece & Rome
Vol. 26, No. 1 (Apr., 1979), pp. 32-47 (16 pages)
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
https://www.jstor.org/stable/642496

Richard G. A. Buxton (1982). Persuasion in Greek Tragedy: A Study of Peitho. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-24180-9.

Hybris: A Study in the Values of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greece - Nicolas Fisher - Google Books
 

Friday, 14 November 2014

Map of a Select Number of Ancient Greek Theatres in the Mediterranean Region







Theatres listed

Theater of Abdera (Greece)
Theater of Aegeira (Greece)
Theater of Ambracia (Greece)
Theater of Amphipolis (Greece)
Theater of Argos (Greece)
Theater of Athens (Greece)
Theater of Bouthroton (Greece)
Theater of Chaironeia (Greece)
Theater of Corinth (Greece)
Theatre of Delos (Greece)
Theater of Delphi (Greece)
Theater of Demetrias, Volos (Greece)
Theater of Dion (Greece)
Theater of Dodona (Greece)
Theater of Elis (Greece)
Theater of Epidauros (Greece)
Theater of Eretria (Greece)
Theater of Gitana (Greece)
Theater of Gytheion (Greece)
Theater of Hephaistia (Greece)
Theater of Isthmia (Greece)
Theater of Kassope (Greece)
Theater of Kos (Greece)
Theatre of Larissa (Greece)
Theater of Lato (Greece)
Theater of Mantineia (Greece)
Theater of Maroneia (Greece)
Theater of Megalopolis (Greece)
Theater of Messene (Greece)
Theater of Milos (Greece)
Theater of Mytilene (Greece)
Theater of Nikopolis (Greece)
Theater of Oiniades (Greece)
Theater at Olympia (Greece)
Theater of Olynthos (Greece)
Theater of Orchomenos, Arcadia (Greece)
Theater of Orchomenos, Boeotia (Greece)
Theater of Oropos (Greece)
Theater of Palaia Epidauros (Greece)
Theater of Philippi (Greece)
Theater of Rhamnous (Greece)
Theater of Rhodes (Greece)
Theater of Samothrace (Greece)
Theater of Sicyon (Greece)
Theater of Sparta (Greece)
Theater of Stratos (Greece)
Theater of Thasos (Greece)
Theater of Thebes (Greece)
Theater of Thera (Greece)
Theater of Thorikos (Greece)
Theater of Zea, Piraeus (Greece)
Theater of Vergina (Greece)
Theater of Agrigento (Italy)
Theater of Akrai (Italy)
Theater of Catania (Italy)
Theater of Herakleia (Italy)
Theater of Herakleia Minoa (Italy)
Theater of Metaponto (Italy)
Theater of Morgantina (Italy)
Theater of Segesta (Italy)
Theater of Syracuse (Italy)
Theater of Taormina (Italy)
Theater of Tyndaris (Italy)
Theater of Kourion (Cyprus)
Theater of Paphos (Cyprus)
Theater of Alexandria Troas (Turkey)
Theater of Antiphellos (Turkey)
Theater of Aphrodisias (Turkey)
Theater of Arycanda (Turkey)
Theater of Aspendos (Turkey)
Theater of Assos (Turkey)
Theater of Ephesos (Turkey)
Theater of Halicarnassus (Turkey)
Theater of Hierapolis (Turkey)
Theater of Knidos (Turkey)
Theater of Letoon (Turkey)
Theater of Miletos (Turkey)
Theater of Pergamon (Turkey)
Theater of Phocaea (Turkey)
Theater of Pinara (Turkey)
Theater of Priene (Turkey)
Theater of Sardis (Turkey)
Theater of Telmessos (Turkey)
Theater of Termessos (Turkey)
Theater of Troy (Turkey)
Theater of Cyrene (Libya)
Theater of Ptolemais (Libya)





References

The Art of Ancient Greek Theater (Getty Villa Exhibitions) - http://goo.gl/ENBM4j
Ancient Greek Theaters - http://goo.gl/hyRrp1