Greek Theater in Ancient Sicily

Description

Studies of ancient theater have traditionally taken Athens as their creative center. In this book, however, the lens is widened to examine the origins and development of ancient drama, and particularly comedy, within a Sicilian and southern Italian context. Each chapter explores a different category of theatrical evidence, from the literary (fragments of Epicharmus and cult traditions) to the artistic (phylax vases) and the archaeological (theater buildings). Kathryn G. Bosher argues that, unlike in classical Athens, the golden days of theatrical production on Sicily coincided with the rule of tyrants, rather than with democratic interludes. Moreover, this was not accidental, but plays and the theater were an integral part of the tyrants' propaganda system. The volume will appeal widely to classicists and to theater historians.

Kathryn G.. Bosher was Assistant Professor of Classical Studies at Northwestern University until her death in 2013. She was editor of Theater Outside Athens: Drama in Greek Sicily and South Italy (Cambridge, 2012) and coeditor of The Oxford Handbook of Greek Drama in the Americas (2015). Edith Hall is Professor of Classics at King's College London. Clemente Marconi is James R. McCredie Professor of Greek Art and Archaeology at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.