Greek and Roman Actors: Aspects of an Ancient Profession

Description

This collection of twenty essays examines the art, profession and idea of the actor in Greek and Roman antiquity, and has been commissioned and arranged to cast as much interdisciplinary and transhistorical light as possible on these elusive but fascinating ancient professionals. It covers a chronological span from the sixth century BC to Byzantium (and even beyond to the way that ancient actors have influenced the arts from the Renaissance to the twentieth century) and stresses the huge geographical spread of ancient actors. Some essays focus on particular themes, such as the evidence for women actors or the impact of acting on the presentation of suicide in literature; others offer completely new evidence, such as graffiti relating to actors in Asia Minor; others ask new questions, such as what subjective experience can be reconstructed for the ancient actor. There are numerous illustrations and all Greek and Latin passages are translated.

Pat Easterling is Emeritus Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Newnham College and a Fellow of the British Academy. She was Professor of Greek at University College London from 1987 to 1994, and has also served as President of the Classical Association (1989/1990) and the Hellenic Society (1996-1999). In addition to serving as General Editor of the Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics ever since its foundation over thirty years ago, she has published an edition within this series of Sophocles' Trachiniae (1982), co-edited, with B. M. W. Knox, Volume 1 of the Cambridge History of Classical Literature (1985) and edited The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy (1997). She is currently working on an edition of Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus for the Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics series. Edith Hall is Professor of Greek Cultural History at the University of Durham and has previously taught at the Universities of Cambridge, Reading and Oxford. She is Co-Director of the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama at the University of Oxford and author of Inventing the Barbarian (1989), editor of Aeschylus' Persians (1996) and co-editor of Medea in Performance (2000).

'... a well-organized, systematic discussion of the key elements in the evolution of 'classical drama'.' Times Literary Supplement 'This is a collection of essays of rare coherence and quality ... coverage is indeed comprehensive ... Anyone interested in any significant aspect of acting in the ancient world will find this volume valuable. The quality of the chapters is uniformly high ... The chapters are also superbly arranged, each introducing themes that are developed in those that follow ... This volume will be a fundamental resource for all students and scholars whose interests include the ancient theatre; it will also be widely and profitably used by scholars of ancient society and thought, especially for the perspectives it provides on ancient approaches to non-verbal communication, the emotions, and the concept of the self.' Journal of Theatre Research International '... this volume represents, to date, the most valuable companion to actors and acting in Graeco-Roman antiquity ... recommend the volume not only to specialists but also to graduate students and other readers looking for an up-to-date introduction to current scholarship on ancient acting ... a volume which will certainly be a standard reference book for years to come.' Journal of Hellenic Studies