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The purpose of this thesis is to provide a literary commentary and analysis of the first book of Xenophon's <I>Cyropaedia</I>. The work has traditionally been regarded as an enigma, its subject matter being too diverse and its structure and purpose unclear. Moreover, in contrast with Xenophon's other works and other fourth-century prose literature, the text has been treated as being tedious and having little intrinsic worth. In recent years, however, there has been a resurgence of scholarly interest in the <I>Cyropaedia</I>. James Tatum's <I>Xenophon's Imperial Fiction</I>, Bodil Due's <I>The Cyropaedia</I> and Deborah Gera's <I>Xenophon's</I> <I>Cyropaedia</I> have broken new ground in analysing the work as a whole and bringing it into line with the rest of Xenophon's works. What is lacking in this re-evaluation of the <I>Cyropaedia</I> is a detailed literary commentary on the work. Previous commentaries have dealt primarily with grammar, syntax and textual criticism, or have examined the work as a valuable source for Persian history and ethnography. The thesis focuses on Book 1, approaching it not in terms of one particular genre but as a complex work drawing from all the branches of Greek literature as well as from the author's own knowledge and experiences gained during the course of a very eventful life. The commentary accordingly interprets the <I>Cyropaedia </I>in the context of earlier Greek literature, to show that Xenophon uses and refers back to the works of his literary predecessors to construct a work which is innovative rather than derivative. The importance of Book 1 lies in the way Xenophon introduces the themes and ideas which will be explored in the course of the remaining seven books. Xenophon's portrayal of Cyrus the child in the first book is not only remarkably vivid, it is also a very subtle examination of the successful leader in his youth, of how he seeks to educate himself through undergoing a wide range of experiences, and of the various tactics he uses to make his elders carry out his wishes.

Revenge is a concept fundamental to a proper understanding of the <i>Hecuba</i>. The Introduction studies this relationship in six parts. Part I discusses the context of revenge as it relates to the play. Section II shows that the notion of a restorative, morally unambiguous revenge was present in the Ancient Near East and continues into twentieth-century sociological thought. Section III connects the play with the larger body of myth, especially the sacrifice of Iphigeneia. This contrasts with the sacrifice of Polyxena, which is insufficient and non-functional: the windlessness continues, and another solution - Hecuba's revenge - must be found. Section IV pursues the consequences of this interpretation of revenge. In effect there exists an intertextual relationship between the <i>Hecuba</i> and the <i>Oresteia</i> of Aeschylus. At every turn, Euripides undermines the Aeschylean system of vendetta, and replaces it with his own righteous revenge, as embodied by the Erinyes. In this light is Hecuba's metamorphosis, predicted at the play's end, interpreted. Section V examines the date (c.424 B.C.) and dating of the play, with reference to the <i>Cyclops</i>, which is shown to date post-409 B.C. Section VI details aspects of the play's structure and role-division. It then introduces the technique of status analysis as a meaningful way of examining character interaction in drama. The <i>Hecuba</i> is then analysed in terms of status. Hecuba's rise in status is inextricably linked with the play's presentation of revenge. The commentary is based in Diggle's (corrected) Oxford Text, but questions his textual decisions on certain lines; there is a table of suggested divergences from his text. Then, following the 'traditional' commentary format, issues pertaining to individual lines are discussed in detail. These include textual, literary, thematic and dramaturgical matters.

This thesis deals with the representation of all-female family bonds in Virgil’s "Aeneid", Ovid’s "Metamorphoses", Valerius Flaccus’ "Argonautica" and Statius’ "Thebaid". The themes of sisterly unanimity, love and marriage, loss and mourning, and storytelling, provide the framework within which I investigate the literary models in epic, tragedy and other genres, of each episode featuring all-female interaction. Furthermore, I demonstrate how the Roman ideal of unanimity is combined with the Apollonian representation of Medea and Chalciope in the portrayal of Dido and Anna in Virgil, which then provides the basis for four often more extreme pairs of unanimae sorores in Latin epic. The final one in the series, consisting of the sisters-in-law Argia and Antigone, attests to a very Roman view about the power of adoptive relationships. In the same vein, the stories of Amata and Lavinia, and Ceres and Proserpina, are constructed around the Roman mother’s expectations of her role in her daughter’s marriage, while love stories including sisterly interference characterised by envy can be compared to specific examples of legendary Roman women. Roman mourning practices are present in all instances of heroines losing a mother, daughter or sister, and a specific analogy to the lament for Marcellus is identified in the Ovidian myth of Clymene and the Heliades. The suicide of Ismene after Jocasta’s similar death, on the other hand, corresponds to the idea of a Roman daughter following the example set by her mother taken to its limits. Finally, sister storytellers behave similarly to Roman matrons while the stories they tell are once again influenced by the interaction of Ovid’s contemporary women. Overall, I show how these epics can indirectly offer an insight into the lives of Roman women by modelling their mythical heroines both on literary tradition and on contemporary Roman ideals and practices.

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This thesis offers a reading of a Classical Greek play, the "Ion" of Euripides, in terms of the psychoanalytic theories of S. Freud and J. Lacan. There are four chapters, each dealing with a particular aspect, or group of related aspects, of the play. Each chapter offers an exposition of the relevant psychoanalytic concepts, followed by an application of them to a particular aspect, or aspects, of the play. Chapter one introduces some basic Freudian and Lacanian concepts. The Freudian aspects are: the Oedipus complex and its mechanism, repression and its motives, and the unconscious. The Lacanian concepts are: the signifier and the signified, metonymy and metaphor in relation to desire, Lacan's view of the unconscious, and the function of the phallus in the economy of desire. In the light of these notions a psychoanalytic reading is offered of Ion's monody and his interview with Creusa. Chapter two begins with a discussion of the ego and the imaginary. The Freudian notions of the instincts and their vicissitudes, the imaginary ego, aggression and alienation are introduced. Lacan's optical schema of the imaginary is then outlined, together with the general lines, principles and first stage of psychoanalysis. Lacan's paradigmatic reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Purloined Letter" then sets the scene for structuralist overview of the play as presenting the child Ion as a piece of news addressed 'to whom it may concern'. These theoretical considerations are then brought to bear upon two matching developments in the play; Xuthus' acknowledgement of Ion as his son and the response to this challenge by his wife Cresua and her old servant. It is argued that both pairs are impelled by a unique opportunity to satisfy a desire and by a need to conceal their aims and their success from the other pair. The desire of the 'minor' characters is also discussed. It is argued that Xuthus, the old servant and the chorus all harbour impossible desires, the impossibility of which they pass on to Ion and Cresua. The space of the imaginary developments is considered as 'an apprenticeship in appearances'.

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The purpose of this thesis is to give a clear picture of the role of the slaves in Terence's plays. Roman Comedy presents us, in general, with a world whose hero is the slave. He provides much of the action and the humour of the play. So the slave as a character is indispensable. Though Terence and Pleutus differ in aim and thought, a comparison between them does help us to form an idea about Terence's displaying of his characters. We speak in the first chapter about the slaves' status in real life and comedy. The chapter ends by pointing out the reason why Roman comedians have depicted the character of the slave in such a way as we find in their writings. The function of the slave in Roman comedy is two-fold: (1) to manege the intrigue; (2) to provide humour. In Chapter II, accordingly, we show how Terence's "servi callidi" manage the intrigue and explain their methods of cunning and deception and how far Terence's slaves are individuals. The faithfulness of the slave in comedy towards the different members of the family strikes us. Some are devoted to the young masters, others to the old. We speak about these two types in Chapter III. Chapter IV concerns the comic situations. In it we explain the purpose of humour in comedy and examine briefly the different theories of laughter and show how Terence makes his slave provide the humour in the light of these theories end whether the laughter aroused by Terence's slave is an aim or an end in itself. We mention in Chapter V the other slaves in Terence who do not play major roles as "servi callidi". We explain Terence's technique in introducing such characters and show their place and value in the drama. Is Terence, in fact, an original dramatist? In Chapter VI we conclude our subject by summarising the chief features of Terence's slaves and the ways in which our dramatist differs from his originals and his predecessors in portraying his characters.

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