This thesis is an analysis of the use of the homecoming ('nostos' in Greek) in Greek tragedy. I concentrate not just on the treatment of the nostos-theme within the plot and the imagery of the plays in question but also on nostos as part of Greek cultural experience. In order to illuminate the nature of nostos both as a life-event and as a story-pattern in the early literary tradition I begin with an overview of nostos in life and literature, and then give a detailed account of nostos in the Odyssey, since it is a major example of the nostos-pattern for Greek culture. By considering the literary treatment of nostos in the Odyssey one may understand the nature of nostos as a story-pattern and how that influences audience expectations. This is particularly important since the analysis of nostos in Greek tragedy will be especially related to the Odyssey. Specifically the thesis aims to describe and analyse common elements within the plot and the imagery of the plays that might be called nostos-plays. Primary nostos-plays are those where nostos serves as the fulcrum of the action, such as Aeschylus' 'Persians' and Agamemnon and Sophocles' 'Trachiniae'. The bulk of this study is devoted to the structural use of nostos in these plays. I stress at the outset, however, that the nostos-pattern in Greek tragedy is exploited more widely, and there are many occasions in Greek drama where nostos is an element of the plot. Among these, those with closest association to the treatment of nostos in the second half of the Odyssey are the Orestes-plots (notably Aeschylus' 'Choephori', Sophocles' 'Electra' and Euripides' 'Electra'). I also consider the use of nostos in Euripides' 'Andromache' and 'Heracles' since both plays illustrate that nostos is a means of creative variation on the part of the poet. Interpretation of the specific plays shows that the nostos-pattern common to these plays is a flexible set of conventions with significant variation in each case. Common themes and roles are developed in divergent ways, expectations raised are not necessarily met. Thus the thesis will recognise the variety of specific uses of the nostos-pattern on tragic stage. Finally, I suggest in the Appendix a new reading of Seferis' poem. In particular I relate the return of the exile in Seferis' poem to the return of Orestes, which underlines the idealistic nature of the notion of a return to the same. This notion is embodied in both the nostos-plays and Seferis' poem.

This thesis examines the transition from the Roman republic to the Principate of Augustus through the lens of the pontifex maximus, the office of the head of the pontifical college. Despite burgeoning interest in this role, current scholarship still regards the elevation of the chief pontiff to a politically significant position as a by-product of Caesar’s ambition and, subsequently, Octavian’s quest for both power and legitimacy. It is my contention that the trajectory of this priesthood’s ascendancy has been incorrectly plotted and that a proper understanding of the pontificate requires an analysis of the events surrounding the politically motivated murder of a tribune by the chief pontiff in 133 and subsequently over the next century. After a survey of literature and a summary of the key features of the office, the thesis argues that the position of chief pontiff had long since conferred a stable prominence which was unique in the Roman republic. This prominence brought with it a particular kind of power which interacted with the auctoritas of the men who occupied the priesthood: in this way, the holders of an office which was bound up with some of the most revered traditions of the city were empowered to improvise courses of action which further enhanced the standing and influence of the chief pontiffs. It was through this cycle of action and perception that the pontifex maximus became a mechanism of political change – and was itself transformed in the process. In considering this cycle, particular emphasis is placed on the phenomenon of ‘sacro-political’ violence which, as a novelty instigated by one chief pontiff, became a recurrent motif in Roman political life thereafter. I argue that Scipio Nasica Serapio made deliberate use of his office to sanction an intervention which would have serious consequences for the republic and which radically altered how the Romans saw this priesthood. The thesis then explores how subsequent holders of the office either negotiated or exploited this ‘legacy’ to further their careers, to respond to unprecedented constitutional crises or simply to stay alive. Although all the pontifices maximi from 141 B.C. to 14 AD are considered, this thesis focuses on the lives and times of Nasica Serapio, Quintus Scaevola, Julius Caesar and Augustus as their tenures are particularly emblematic of the tensions between the mos maiorum and an increasingly extreme political climate. I argue that the new dispensation established by the first princeps, with all the restorationist rhetoric which accompanied it, relied decisively on Augustus’ assumption of the role. Even if Augustus had absorbed virtually all of the available priesthoods, the long wait he had to endure for the office of chief pontiff says a great deal about the nature of the pontificate and its strategic value to the heir of Caesar. Two case-study Appendices discuss the disputed pontificate of Q. Servilius Caepio and the relationship between Cicero, Clodius and the pontifical college. These studies exemplify the prosopographical challenges in reconstructing republican priesthoods (even the most prominent) and the interaction between law, religion and politics in the mid first century B.C.

This work is the first full-length study of the dissemination of Greek tragedy in the earliest period of the history of drama. In recent years, especially with the growth of reception studies, scholars have become increasingly interested in studying drama outside its fifth century Athenian performance context. As a result, it has become all the more important to establish both when and how tragedy first became popular across the Greek world. This study aims to provide detailed answers to these questions. In doing so, the thesis challenges the prevailing assumption that tragedy was, in its origins, an exclusively Athenian cultural product, and that its ‘export’ outside Attica only occurred at a later period. Instead, I argue that the dissemination of tragedy took place simultaneously with its development and growth at Athens. We will see, through an examination of both the material and literary evidence, that non-Athenian Greeks were aware of the works of Athenian tragedians from at least the first half of the fifth century. In order to explain how this came about, I suggest that tragic playwrights should be seen in the context of the ancient tradition of wandering poets, and that travel was a usual and even necessary part of a poet’s work. I consider the evidence for the travels of Athenian and non-Athenian poets, as well as actors, and examine their motives for travelling and their activities on the road. In doing so, I attempt to reconstruct, as far as possible, the circuit of festivals and patrons, on which both tragedians and other poetic professionals moved. This study thus aims to both chart the process of tragedy’s dissemination and to situate the genre within the context of the broader ‘song culture’ of the Greek wandering poet.

The thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the characterisation of two of the major figures in the Aeneid, Aeneas and Turnus. Particular attention is paid to their direct speeches, all of which are examined and, where relevant, compared to Homeric models and parallels. To this purpose considerable use is made of the indices in Knauer's Die Aeneis und Homer. A more general comparison is made between the dramatic (direct speech) role of Aeneas and those of Homer's Achilles (Iliad) and Odysseus (Odyssey). An appraisal is made (from the viewpoint of depiction of character) of the relationship between the direct and indirect speeches in the Aeneid. Reasons are given to suggest that it is not mere chance, or for the sake of variety, that certain speeches of Aeneas and Turnus are expressed in oratio obliqua. In addition, the narrative portrayal of Aeneas and Turnus is considered in apposition to that of the speeches. A distinction is drawn between Vergil's direct method of characterisation (direct speeches) and his indirect methods (narrative/oratio obliqua). Inevitably, the analysis involves major consideration of the Roman values which pervade the work. All speeches, thoughts and actions of Aeneas and Turnus are assessed in terms of pietas, impietas, furor, virtus, ratio, clementia, humanitas (etc.). It is shown that individual concepts (such as pietas and impietas) are reflected in Vergil's direct and indirect methods of characterisation. The workings of fate and their relevance to the pietas concept are discussed throughout.

No description available.

In the present thesis the author professes to offer neither a systematic account of Sophoclean theology (if indeed there is such a thing) nor a study of the epistemological problem per se in Sophoclean tragedy. His purpose is rather to illuminate - partly expanding on a brief but suggestive study by Hans Diller ("Gottliches und menschliches Wissen bei Sophocles", Kiel 1950) - the ways in which the epistemological chasm between Man and God in Sophoclean tragedy becomes manifest through a 'collision' between the incompleteness and limitedness of human knowledge on the one hand and the transcendence and the unknowability of the gods on the other. An introductory chapter is prefixed which deals with the development of the idea of divine unknowability in archaic Greek literature and in Presocratic philosophy. There follows a detailed examination of the extant plays one by one (with special emphasis on the close reading of practically all the choral odes), by means of which the author endeavours to demonstrate that the centrality of the epistemological problem (in relation, always, to the inscrutability of the Godhead) in Sophocles, far from reducing his dramas to abstract philosophical treatises, contains a tremendous tragic potential and makes for powerful plays. Aspects of each play's structure, of its thematic articulation and of its vocabulary are studied, while a variety of methodological approaches are employed in order to illuminate problems of interpretation. All important secondary literature is cited and / or discussed. Thus, while never losing sight of its central concern (divine unknowability, limitedness of human knowledge), the present thesis also aims to be a thorough study of Sophoclean tragedy as a whole.

This study comprises a translation, textual commentary, and discussion of the fragments of the Old comic dramatist Strattis which engage with tragedy. It forms the centre of a wider examination of the art of paratragedy and tragic parody in Old Comedy because paratragedy represents the earliest reception of tragedy and one that is contemporary with the initial live performances of tragic plays. Ancient and modern scholarship alike has viewed Aristophanes as the dominant figure in the art of paratragedy and tragic parody. Strattis, a contemporary of Aristophanes, was active in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC and the fragments of his comedies indicate a sustained and wide ranging interaction with contemporary tragedy which is rivalled only by Aristophanic comedy. This is particularly remarkable since the extant corpus of Strattis numbers less than ninety fragments. This work explores the phenomenon of paratragedy beyond Aristophanic paratragedy and raises awareness of the importance of Strattis in this respect. It begins with a survey of paratragedy in other non-Aristophanic fragments of Old Comedy and it examines the various ways that comedy engages with tragedy, indicating the depth and breadth of paratragedy in comic fragments. This provides the foundations on which to examine the fragments of Strattis through a text, translation and commentary on those fragments that engage with tragedy. It leads to a discussion of the works of Strattis overall for their use of tragedy and myth, which allows us to note characteristics of Strattis’ work. This enables a comparison of the paratragedy in the comedies of Strattis and Aristophanes which allows us to reassess the uniqueness of Aristophanic paratragedy and to consider reasons for the popularity of paratragedy in the late fifth century BC.

This dissertation explores Pausanias’ depiction of the (mythical) Messenian revolt against the Spartans in book 4 of his Periegesis in comparative perspective with ancient depictions of slave revolts and Flavius Josephus’ Jewish War. I concentrate on how Pausanias portrays Aristomenes and the other rebels, as well as the Messenians in general. Although recently the Messenian Wars have been the subject of scholarly interest from literary critics, historians, and archaeologists, who have fruitfully combined their disciplines in their interpretations of the story, Pausanias’ aims and agenda in his representation of the Messenians have so far been left unexplored. This dissertation therefore asks: What stance did Pausanias take in the contested history of Messenia? In my analysis of Pausanias’ figuration of Messenian history, in chapters 1 (the introduction) and 2 I concentrate on his frequent use of τόλμη and in particular in its combination with ἀπόνοια (‘despair’). Τόλμη, translated as daring, contains both positive and negative connotations. It is a necessary ingredient of courage, but can also lead to recklessness if uncontrolled. My comparative framework in chapters 3 to 6 puts this reading of Pausanias’ book 4 to the test. In chapter 3 I compare Pausanias’ depiction of Aristomenes’ leadership qualities with Athenaeus’ use of the story of Drimakos, the rebel leader of a slave revolt on the island of Chios. In chapters 4 and 5 I pursue the connection between slavery, τόλμη and ἀπόνοια further in a comparison of the Messenian revolt with Diodorus’ depiction of the two Sicilian slave wars, along with Plutarch’s and Appian’s account of Spartacus’ revolt. In the sixth chapter I interpret the Messenian revolt as a ‘nationalistic’ uprising and compare Pausanias’ account with Josephus’ Jewish War.

The main purpose of this thesis is to establish a level of connection between the epic and satiric genres. The popularity of the epic genre was not always matched by its authors' talents, and the exclusively Roman satiric genre seems to have been one of a handful of genres that rose up as an alternative to the perhaps trite and conventional epic format. It will be shown that one of the techniques by which the satirists sought to replace the pre-eminent literary genre on the populace's reading lists with their own allegedly 'lesser' satiric poetry, involved the exploitation of various aspects familiar from the epic genre, but in an original and often unexpected way. This exploitation of epic material by the satirists can be seen in several different ways, and indeed many of these methods have been briefly pointed out by earlier commentators at specific points in the texts, or have even been discussed in their totality with regard to certain individual satirists. The innovation of this thesis will be to show that these different techniques, gathered together under the umbrella heading of 'exploitation of the epic realm', actually existed, to a greater or lesser extent, in each of the satirists' works, and should therefore be understood as a recurring motif which the satiric genre. The various elements of the epic realm that are exploited by the satirists will be systematically explored: beginning with simple opinions regarding the epic genre; building up through the satirists' utilisation of various stylistic and linguistic devices, recurring themes and motifs, and historical and mythological characters, that were usually associated with epic; then covering the satirists' frequent references to specific moments in earlier epic works, either through quotation or scenic parody; before climaxing with those satires that seem to have a wider epic framework and a 'heroic' central figure. The different levels of exploitation will also be discussed in each case: this can range from a serious and sincere appeal to the past that the epic genre represents, through a comical presentation of a stock satiric subject in ironically exaggerated epic terms, to a totally subversive parody of the epic genre itself.

The Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus) is a work that follows in a tradition of writing on rhetoric, a tradition that dates back to the fifth century B.C. My thesis establishes Quintilian and his work within this tradition, and encourages the reader both to consider one aspect of the convention of technical instruction in rhetoric, namely criticism, and to reflect on the originality of criticism in Quintilian's work. Accordingly, I have two main aims. Firstly, I intend to give full detail of examples of criticism in the Institutio Oratoria, and this will include identifying, where possible, people who are targeted by Quintilian for criticism. Thus, in detailing examples - which I do by paraphrase and translation - and assigning them to chapters in this thesis, I follow the structure that Quintilian provides for his work in the preface to his first book. Targets of criticism include groups, such as parents, pupils, teachers, philosophers, actors, dancers, and specific individuals. My second aim is to assess the originality of Quintilian's criticism. Thus, I examine the works of predecessors, notably, but not exclusively, other writers on rhetoric, whose works are extant or partly extant. My feelings indicate that there is much criticism that can serve as precedent for criticism in the Institutio Oratoria. However, it is evident that Quintilian has not indulged in mere repetition. He has changed and adapted criticisms in a way that reflects his educational and forensic background. He also implies that many of these still relate to his own time. I have also found that much criticism lacks apparent precedent - apparent, because other works on rhetoric that precede the Institutio Oratoria and have not survived could feasibly have provided precedents for criticisms in Quintilian's work that appear novel - and I suggest that the underlying intention of this is to relate practice more closely to theory, and theory more closely to practice.