The material of this thesis is the area of personal humour roughly covered by τὸ ὸνομαστὶ κωμῳ<greek letter>ε<greek letter>ν - the body of jokes which involve reference or allusion to individuals from the contemporary or near contemporary world, and which gave rise to the ancient compilation of κωμῳδούμεν<greek letter>ι. In an introductory chapter I draw on the combined evidence of plays and fragments to give some impression of the role of this type of satire in Old Comedy as a whole in the later fifth century, stressing in particular the overlap between Aristophanes' choice of targets and his rivals', and suggesting that this indicates the genre's capacity to create publicity for its own exploitation. The second chapter analyses the treatment of personal jokes in the scholia on Aristophanes, and shows that this typically involves a questionable model of satire, largely taken over by modern commentators on the plays, as a reflector of the truth about its targets. In the third chapter I argue that we need to adopt a view of Aristophanes as a much more active creator of publicity and of satirical images which may often owe as much to the appeal of popular stereotypes of disapproved behaviour as to the facts about the individuals to whom they are comically attached. Chapter four concentrates on choral jokes, demonstrating in particular the special scope for inventive satirical colour allowed by the separation of the major choral sections from the concerns of the dramatic episodes. The final chapter focusses on a variety of functional, formal and technical aspects of personal jokes: these include the ways in which jokes are integrated into the composition of dialogue; comically expressive uses of antilabe; the importance of the position of a name within the structure of a joke; and visual elements in personal satire. An index of names and references is included.

Aquest treball s’insereix en una línia d’investigació en què la reflexió sorgeix de la confrontació amb el text, per aquesta raó els problemes de comprensió que han sorgit en el moment de posar-nos a llegir la tragèdia de les Eumènides han estat els que ens han permès una nova aproximació al que podria significar que quelcom fos tràgic, i per tant, a allò que podria ser una tragèdia. El treball d’exegesi del text grec, així com les dificultats de la seva traducció han posat de manifest la distància que separa Grècia de la Modernitat, en la mesura que el text només s’ha obert a la comprensió quan hem estat capaços de deixar endarrere els supòsits que ens conformen en tant que moderns i hem intentat una interpretació que busqués la coherència interna del text més enllà de preconcepcions tradicionals. D’aquesta manera hem intentat donar cobertura a diferents escenes de les Eumènides i assajar algun tipus de solució als diversos problemes que ens havien impulsat a fer d’aquest treball la lectura d’una tragèdia, entre ells la importància de la figura de Dionís com a déu de la tragèdia, la irrenunciabilitat a l’oposició entre el cor i els personatges, la possibilitat de la tragèdia com a festa en què la pólis es detenia per anar al teatre o la relació d’aquesta amb la mort. En el curs de la investigació la tragèdia s’ha revelat com a obra radicalment grega, i per tant, com l’expressió del que nosaltres des de la nostra posició moderna no podem deixar de percebre com la seva estructura. En aquest moment es feia rellevant Grècia com allò altre, i per tant, com el més necessari per entendre qui érem nosaltres. / This work fits with research in that reflection arises from the confrontation with the text, which is why understanding the problems that have arisen in the moment we read the tragedy of the Eumenides have been those that have allowed us a new approach to what it might mean something to be tragic, and therefore what could be a tragedy. The work of exegesis of the Greek text and translation difficulties have highlighted the gap between Modernity and Greece, because the text has only been open to understanding when we were able to leave behind the assumptions that shape us as a moderns and tried an interpretation to look for internal coherence of the text beyond traditional preconceptions. In this way we tried to cover different scenes in the Eumenides and try some kind of solution to various problems that had driven to make this work the reading of a tragedy, including the importance of the figure of Dionysus as the god of tragedy, the indispensability of opposition between the chorus and the characters, the possibility of tragedy as the polis party that stops the activity for going to the theatre and its relationship with death. The course of the investigation has revealed tragedy as a work radically Greek and therefore, as an expression of what, our modern position cannot fail to perceive as its structure. At this time, Greece became relevant as the other, and therefore, as the most necessary to understand who we were.

Proefschrift--Utrecht. / "Stellingen": [2] leaves inserted. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Princeton University, 1924. / Bibliography, p. 3-7.

Originally presented as the author's thesis, Bern. / Bibliography: p. 7-10.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1907. / Includes index. Bibliography: p. 64-66.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 199-205).

Program--Tübingen (Doktorenverzeichnis der Philosophischen Facultät).

Thesis--University of Amsterdam. / Summary in French. Notes bibliogr.

Thesis (doctoral), Bayerische Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [262]-284) and index.