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The present thesis examines the recurrent characters in Greek Tragedy. This category comprises the named and human personae but excludes types and deities. The study was originally concerned with the extant plays of Euripides only. However it soon became clear that a comparative analysis of Aeschylus and Sophocles was necessary, to assess the contribution of the earlier playwrights and to establish, in its proper context, the achievement of Euripides. The findings indicate that the degree of consistency in the characterization is much higher than has hitherto been recognized. The evidence for this judgement is based upon literary and stylistic considerations, as well as upon the general behaviour and thoughts of the characters concerned. The first chapter is devoted to Aeschylus. Here it is argued that he began the practice of using recurrent characters because it was appropriate for the trilogic format of the plays and his philosophic view of the continuity in the cosmic and human order. For the first time, too, the psychology of the characters assumed importance and the sympathy of Aeschylus for women is revealed. The second chapter centres upon Sophocles. He extended the scope of the device by employing it in dramas that were connected in themes and ideas but not written as a set trilogy at the same time. The consistency in his personae throws fresh light on his belief in the fundamental unchangeability of human nature. The next three chapters deal with Euripides in the following order: the male characters, then the female characters, and finally the lesser characters. Influenced in his views by Aeschylus, Euripides advanced further, with the result that the device reached its height under him. It became a means of conveying his beliefs about the effects of war and conflict between human beings, and of achieving psychological realism in his characterization.

The goal of this thesis is to analyse the differences and similarities in the perceptions of fate and aleatory events in the Antigone, the Oedipus Tyrannus, and the Oedipus at Colonus of Sophocles. Rather than dwelling on the anachronistic question of “determinism versus freewill”, the focus will be on the ways in which the characters themselves interpret the things that happen to them in their lifespan, in terms of luck, fate, or things that could have been different had they known better at a given moment of time. The conditions in which they perform the determining actions of their lives will be under scrutiny. Actions that seem to arise from contingency, from the previous moves of other actors, from accidental miscalculation, or even from voluntary offence will be contrasted with those for which there is no visible chain of cause and effect, and that are thus attributed to the desires of the gods or to inborn misfortune. There is, from one play to another, a contrast between authoritative assertions of characters with acknowledged prophetic power (Tiresias in the first two works, Oedipus in the later play) that lead the audience to hope for different things: in the Antigone, it shall be argued, there is more room for the possibility of a timely solution for the conflict, than in the Oedipus Tyrannus, where everything has happened already before the start of the play. In the Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus’ new status means that he has understood more about the functioning of reality and the workings of destiny. The ways in which the plot structure itself conveys a view on the workings of fate will also be analysed, from the series of coincidences in the Oedipus Tyrannus to the function of the episodes in the other two plays. Even though the Theban plays are not philosophy treatises, the echoes of contemporary philosophical ideas are a constant in their text. Wherever relevant, a contrast with the Presocratic corpus has been made in an attempt to identify some of the thought patterns reused and adapted by Sophocles for his specific purposes and portrayals of the human position in the vaster cosmos.

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This thesis investigates the significance of ritual movements in theatre and society of fifth-century Athens. The focus falls on processional movement, the definitive characteristics of which are drawn from the ancient Greek concept of pompe, i.e. a movement towards a defined destination, involving the conveyance of a ritual symbol (or an object or a person) between specific points of departure and arrival. The social contexts of divine and heroic cult, funerals and weddings prove to be the main occasions for the performance of such processional movements. In the world outside the theatre, processions are shown to be crucial in defining transitions, shaping social relations, and manifesting the action and inviting the attention of the divine. The socio-religious significance of processions is fully appropriated and explored by tragedy. Processional action, recurrently evoked in the tragic plays, proves to be crucial for the articulation of the tragic δρώμενα. This is argued in the collection and analysis of a number of scenes from extant fifth-century tragedy in which processional resonances permeate the action. The interpretation of the scenes in the light of the ritual background which shapes them considerably enhances the understanding and appreciation of the plays as theatrical experience - experience which explores the potential of spatial configurations and visual symbolism, in a context of symbolic communication which is largely defined by participation in the rituals of the community. The thesis argues that the importance of processions in the theatre is inextricably connected with their power - as manifested in the ritual life of the polis - to gather the community and to initiate the process of θεάσασθαι, implicating both active participants and θεαταί in the performed action. Greek tragic theatre builds upon this basic function of processions and activates their power. Thus it also combines their potential to define transitions with the significance of tragic μετάβασις; and with the importance of demarcation of space and transformation of time in the theatre. Ritual experience is activated, reshaped and enlarged, enabling the re-creation and transformation of the experience of the audience. Processions can illuminate the nature of tragedy itself.

The thesis is a study of the language of Menander Comicus (c.341-292/1 B.C.). The core of the thesis is a partial description of his language. Using a sociolinguistically informed model of koineisation, Menander's language is related to developments in the linguistic history of Greek. The first chapter therefore reviews the literature on Menander's language and details the theory of koineisation that will inform the subsequent chapters; accommodation theory is here of particular importance. The second chapter reviews nominal word-formation, used elsewhere in the literature as a criterion of the Koiné. It is pointed out that word-formation is not a good criterion, as the assessment of productivity patterns in a dead variety is difficult. However, by a detailed philological study of the data in Menander, some conclusions are reached about the productive and non-productive suffixes in Menander. The derivational patterns he attests for the most part look classical, but some changes are detected. The third chapter looks at the phonology and morphology of Menander. It is suggested that the vocalism of Menander betrays some characteristic Koiné developments, while the consonantism is mostly conservative. Noun and pronoun morphology are mostly conservative, while verbal morphology shows some signs of paradigm levelling. This is in line with the developments expected of a koineising variety, which are characterised by levelling. The final chapter is much more descriptive and focuses on syntax, particularly subordinate clauses. Some difficult examples of relative clauses are discussed which may anticipate later developments. Adverbial and complement clauses show that the optative, while morphologically stable, is no longer used in certain syntactic contexts (the oblique optative has more or less disappeared). An overall assessment attempts to distinguish the synchronic and the diachronic conclusions: the thesis deliberately discussed both together. It points out some concrete results establishing some spurious Menandrean texts while discussing the status of Menander's dialect. The main conclusion is that the terms of the debate about Menander's language have been misconceived: 'Attic vs. 'Koiné' is a false dichotomy in fourth-century Attica.

Taking as its starting point Nancy's and Barthes' concepts of myth, this thesis investigates discourses around community, democracy, 'origin' and 'Western identity' in stage adaptations of 'classical' Greek tragedy on contemporary European stages. It addresses the ways in which the theatre produces and perpetuates the myth of 'classical' Greece as the 'origin' of Europe and how this narrative raises issues around the possibility of a transnational European community. Each chapter explores a pivotal problem around community in modern appropriations of Greek tragedy: Chapter 1 analyses the notion of collectivity as produced by approaches to the Greek chorus. It investigates shifting paradigms from Schiller to twentieth-century avant-garde experiments and focuses on case studies by Müller, Vinaver, Ravenhill and others. Chapter 2 explores the representation of violence and sex, assessing the 'obscene' as a historically-constructed notion, comprising those segments of reality that are deemed unsuitable for public consumption in a given cultural context. Through a comparative analysis of five adaptations of the myth of Phaedra - from Euripides to Sarah Kane - it assesses changing attitudes towards 'obscenity', touching upon legal, aesthetic and moral issues. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the limits of representation in relation to censorship through Castellucci's Purgatorio and Warlikowski's (A)pollonia. Chapter 3 explores the myth of the simultaneous birth of theatre and democracy in 'classical' Athens and investigates the ideological assumptions implied by imagining the audience as the demos of democracy. It argues that adaptations of Greek tragedy have been used in the 'democratic' West to achieve self-definition in the context of globalization and European 'transnationalisation'. This idea is explored through adaptations of Aeschylus's The Persians, which defined 'democratic' Athens in opposition to the 'barbarians'. Works by Sellars, Bieito, Gotscheff and Rimini Protokoll are discussed in this context. The thesis concludes with an analysis of Rimini Protokoll's Prometheus in Athens.

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Cette étude a porté principalement sur deux traités de Plutarque, le De Iside et les Questions romaines, sur La Déesse syrienne de Lucien et son pamphlet Alexandre ou le faux prophète, enfin sur La Vie d’Apollonios de Tyane de Philostrate. Elle questionne le sens philosophique, euristique et rhétorique de l’utilisation des mystères antiques dans ces textes littéraires d’époque impériale. Sont concernés les mystères d’Adonis, de la Déesse-Mère et de Glycon. La première partie, qui se focalise sur les Adonies, tente de démontrer que Philostrate, dans la Vie d’Apollonius, 7.32, non seulement renoue avec les sarcasmes d’Aristophane – et de ses héritiers – sur le culte, mais encore, utilise l’interprétation platonicienne sur les jardins d’Adonis, pour expliquer le sens qu’il donne au règne de Domitien. La lecture platonicienne de ce rituel semble du reste être l’une des raisons du silence de Plutarque sur Adonis dans le De Iside. De fait, la théologie philosophique déployée dans le texte nous paraît incompatible avec les pratiques grecques ou sémitiques en l’honneur de l’Amant d’Aphrodite-Astarté. La deuxième partie ensuite examine l’utilisation de la notion de ‘déesse mère’. D’une part, nous avons tenté de démontrer que la notion permet de prendre en considération d’abord la maternité d’Isis, ensuite la représentation d’Apollonios en Anti-Attis, enfin la déformation caricaturale du portrait d’Alexandre, le faux prophète. D’autre part, la fonction euristique de la notion, qui apparaît dans ces exemples, semble développée aussi dans le contexte mystérique de La Déesse syrienne. Lucien en effet interroge le culte du pays natal par la langue et la culture de son pays d’adoption. Pendant qu’il affirme sa grécité, il (re)devient pleinement ce qu’il n’a jamais cessé d’être : un Assyrien. L’enquête sur le culte de Glycon enfin, dans la troisième partie, propose une autre lecture de l’Alexandre ou le faux prophète. Les mythes et les mystères traditionnels y sont peut-être utilisés dans un but rhétorique. La rhétorique de Lucien semble proposer au lecteur une sorte de mythologie de Glycon-Alexandre. Cette mythologie que nous avons essayé de déterminer, suivant la tradition des mystères (presque toujours associés à une mythologie), contribue à rendre la caricature d’Alexandre plus efficace. / This study focuses mainly on two treaties of Plutarch, the De Iside and the Roman Questions, on the Lucian’ Syrian Goddess and his lampoon Alexander or the false prophet, at last on Philostratus’ Life of Apollonios of Tyana. It questions the philosophical, euristic and rhetoric meaning of the ancient mysteries’ use in these literary texts of imperial period. Are concerned the mysteries of Adonis, the Goddess Mother and Glyco. The first part, which is focused on the Adonia, tries to show that Philostratus, in The Life of Apollonius 7. 32, not only revives Aristophanus’s sarcastic remarks (and its heirs) on the worship, but also uses the Platonic interpretation on the gardens of Adonis, in order to explain the meaning he gives to Domitian’s reign. The Platonic reading of this ritual seems moreover to be one of the reasons of Plutarch’s silence on Adonis in the De Iside. In fact, the philosophical theology developed in the text appears inconsistent to us with the Greek or Semitic practices in honour of the Lover of Aphrodite-Astarte. The second part furthermore examines the use of ‘the goddess mother’. On the one hand, we tried to show that the concept allows to consider the maternity of Isis, then the representation of Apollonius into Anti-Attis, at last the caricatural deformation of Alexander’s portrait, the false prophet. On the other hand, the euristic function of the concept, which appears in these examples, seems developed also in the mysteric context of The syrian goddess. Lucian indeed examines the religion of the native land by the language and the culture of his adopted country. While he proclaims his Greekness, he became fully what he never ceased to be : an Assyrian. The investigation into the worship of Glyco, in the third part at last, offers another interpretation of Alexander or the false prophet. Perhaps, the traditional myths and mysteries are used there in a rhetorical purpose. Lucian’s rhetoric seems to present to the reader a sort of Glyco-Alexander’s mythology. This mythology we tried to define, according to the tradition of the mysteries (almost always related to a mythology), helps to make the caricature of Alexander more effective.