M.A. / An explanation of what I will be doing. how I will be doing. it, and why I will be doing this research is given below. The purpose of this subsection is to enable the reader to have greater clarity regarding the overall objectives of the thesis. Chapter 1: "Ezekiel the Tragedian" The objective of chapter 1 is to examine the link between apocalypse and tragedy as genre forms. The work of Ezekiel the Tragedian belongs to the world of both tragedy and apocalypse. Ezekiel, the Hellenistic Jew, was clearly influence by a Hellenistic genre form (namely Greek tragedy) in his work the "Exodus of Moses" (an inter-testamental work based on the Exodus of Moses as mentioned in the Old Testament). Ezekiel the Jew adapts his message towards his Hellenistic audience. The question one asks is "Could John, the Jew, likewise have adapted his message towards his Hellenistic audience? Could John have used Greek drama to communicate his prophetic-apocalyptic message to his Hellenistic audience?". 1.Biermann and I.Grabe, ibid,lff. "The Exodus of Moses" has significant points of comparison with the Revelation of John. These include a vision of a figure seated on a throne in heaven (a typically apocalyptic scene), seven plagues of judgement, a battle involving huge armies, the Exodus account of the deliverance of Israel, and a chorus who sings choral songs. Ezekiel adapts and develops the Biblical narrative and expresses it in the genre of Greek drama. Chapter2: "Tragedy and the Hellenistic World" The objective of chapter 2 is to examine the evidence of tragedy in Hellenistic times. This will include examining the influence of traaedy in the seven cities of Asia Minor to whom John writes, as well as the Jews and their association with the theatre. The popularity of tragedy will be researched. The use of tragedy in the Imperial cult will be also be examined. The question that needs to be asked is "Would John be influenced by Greek drama in his communicating with the seven churches of Asia Minor? And were his audience in the seven cities familiar with Greek drama?" Chapter 3: "The Elements of _Greek Drama in the 126 -v'@ation of John" The objective of chapter 3 is to examine research regarding the Revelation of John and Greek drama. The research shall be discussed in terms of certain features common to Greek drama (for example acts and scenes, the role of the chorus. the structure, the dramatic actors etc). Furthermore, my intention is to show that a number of reputable scholars have noted significant similarities between the Revelation of John and Greek drama, with some even arguing that the Revelation of John is written in the form of a Greek drama. The viewpoint that the Revelation is written in the szenre of Greek tragedy is a respectable viewpoint and has a noteworthy following. Chapter 4: The Form of the Revelation" The form of Revelation will be compared with the form of Greek drama in chapter 4. The purpose is to see whether noteworthy similarities of form exist between the Revelation and Greek drama. Chapter 5: The Function of the Revelation" The cathartic' function of Greek tragedy and the cathartic function of the Revelation will be examined. The question asked is: "does the Revelation have a cathartic function? and if so how does this cathartic function compare with Greek tragedy? Why would the revelation have a cathartic effect?" Chapter 6: "The Throne Scene" The "throne scene" of chapter 4 following is one of the most important scenes in the Revelation of John. "Throne scenes"are popular accounts in both prophetic and apocalyptic writings 63. In this chapter we shall examine the "throne scene" from the viewpoint of Greek drama, so as to see whether it would indeed be possible to communicate a throne scene effectively in Greek drama practice. `Catharsis means "healing" in lavmens terms. This is abundantly clear in the throne scenes of Isaiah and Ezekiel in the Old Testament, as well as an abundance of throne scenes in inter-testamental apocalyptic writings.

This study explores how in central plays of Euripides – namely, Alcestis, Hippolytus, Helen, and Bacchae – bodies, landscapes, and objects (both seen on stage and described in speeches, dialogues, and choral odes) serve as media for assessing affective states, materializing the characters’ feelings and sensations and hence enabling the audience to vividly perceive them. My focus is grounded in the ancient conceptions of bodies and the senses in material from the Pre-Socratic and the Hippocratic writings, including theories about how the surrounding environment influences bodily types. It is also underpinned by theoretical perspectives that have come to prominence in recent research in ancient literature and culture. First, it draws on insights from phenomenology, aesthetics, and affective theory that in ancient drama highlight embodiment, synaesthesia, and the circulation of affects among characters and spectators. Second, it engages with works inspired by the new materialisms, which have produced a new attention to the mutual and symbiotic relationship between humans and nonhuman entities. Finally, it is based on the “enactive” approach to cognition, which makes a compelling case for visualization (e.g., spectators’ imagination of the things sung, spoken, or narrated) as grounded in the active, embodied structure of experience. Building on such theories, I posit that Euripides’ plays illustrate how the characters’ feelings and emotions combine with sensory indicators (sight, taste, smell, and touch), so that they operate as visible marks of states usually conceived of as inner. These states are, I suggest, exteriorized not only on bodies but also in their surroundings, such that landscapes as mapped onto the dramatic stage and objects with which the characters interact function as supplements to embodied affective manifestations. In addition to onstage action, I focus on how Euripides’ language triggers a strong resonance in the spectators’ imagination. In this regard, my argument takes up the insights of ancient critics such as Longinus, who has praised Euripides’ ability to generate “emotion” (τὸ παθητικόν) and “excitement” (τὸ συγκεκινημένον) in the audience through “visualization” (φαντασία) and “vividness” (ἐνάργεια). Thus, I examine how references to onstage performance and visualizing language interact, giving the spectators a full picture of the dramatic action. In Alcestis, I explore how embodiment, sensorial phenomena, and physical interactions put the characters’ feelings of pain and grief on prominent display, eliciting the audience’s sensory reaction. In Hippolytus, I examine how the characters’ emotions blend into the surroundings, such that forms, colors, and textures of landscape and objects allow the spectators to perceive inner states more forcefully. In Helen, I investigate how material and nonhuman things, such as rivers, plants, costumes, weapons, statues, ships connect to the characters as parts of an affective entanglement that heightens the experiential appeal of the characters’ feelings and sensations. In the Bacchae, I regard Dionysus’ action as an affective force that spreads throughout the world of the play, cracks, and mutates things, including human and animal bodies, natural elements, and objects. This action creates an enmeshment between things, which is embodied by the thyrsus topped with Pentheus’ head (mask) that gives the spectators a keen sense of the multiple, productive, and transformative nature of Dionysus’ power. In conclusion, this study argues that bodies, landscapes, and objects represent the privileged sites for exploring the affective exchange between the characters and the audience, refining our understanding of the intensity, impact, and reception of the Euripidean theater.

A parallel can be drawn in intellectual development between ancient Greece and late eighteenth century Europe concerning the secularization of the religious myth. This parallel is illustrated in a literary mode in Greece and in a philosophical mode in Europe. In both historical situations the intellectual development of a society was posited in a delicate balance of religious mythical interpretation of human existence and in a growing assertiveness of the self-consciousness of the individual. A significant point of analogy is the similarity of the Greek tragedians’ attempt to define man in relation to the gods and Hegel’s formulation of a philosophy which suspended in a delicate semantic balance the religious terminology of his Christian heritage and the intellectual developments of the preceding century. It is my thesis that a significant point of analogy is the similarity of the Greek tragedians’ attempt to define man in relation to the gods, and Hegel’s formulation of a philosophy which suspended in a delicate semantic balance the religious terminology of his Christian heritage and the intellectual developments of the preceding century.

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Call number: LD2668 .T4 1930 C81

Thesis (doctoral)--Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität, Greifswald, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [255]-281) and indexes.

Thesis (doctoral)--Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität, Greifswald, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [255]-281) and indexes.

Although mythological monsters have rarely been examined in any collective and comprehensive manner, they constitute an important cosmic presence in archaic and classical Greek poetry. This thesis brings together insights from the scholarly areas of 'monster studies' and the 'sensory turn' in order to offer readings of the sounds made by monsters. I argue that the figure of the monster in Greek poetry, although it has positive attributes, does not have a fixed definition or position within the cosmos. Instead of using definitions of monstrosity to think about the role and status of Greek monsters, this thesis demonstrates that by listening to the sounds of the monster's voice, it is possible to chart its position in the cosmos. Monsters with incomprehensible, cacophonous, or dangerous voices pose greater threats to cosmic order; those whose voices are semiotic and anthropomorphic typically pose less serious threats. The thesis explores the shifting depictions of monsters according to genre and author. In Chapter 1, 'Hesiod's Theogony: The Role of Monstrosity in the Cosmos', I consider Hesiod's genealogies of monsters that circulate and threaten in the nonhuman realm, while the universe is still undergoing processes of organisation. Chapter 2, 'Homer's Odyssey: Mingling with Monsters', discusses the monster whom Odysseus encounters and even imitates in order to survive his exchanges with them. In Chapter 3, 'Monsters in Greek Lyric Poetry: Voices of Defeat', I examine Stesichorus' Geryoneis and the presence of Centaurs, Typhon, and Gorgons in Pindar's Pythian 1, 2, 3, and 12. In lyric, we find that these monsters are typically presented in terms of the monster's experience of defeat at the hands of a hero or a god. This discussion is followed by two chapters that explore the presence of the monster in Greek tragedy, entitled 'Centripetal Monsters in Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound and Oresteia' and 'Centrifugal Monsters in Greek Tragedy: Euripides and Sophocles.' Here, I argue that in tragedy the monster, or the abstractly 'monstrous', is located within the figure of the human being and within the polis. The coda, 'Monstrous Mimesis and the Power of Sound', considers not only monstrous voices, but monstrous music, examining the mythology surrounding the aulos and looking at the sonic developments generated by the New Musicians.

In this study, I challenge previous assumptions on Thucydides’ silence on gender in the History in order to understand this erasure as a central component of the historian’s attempt at asserting authorial control over a narrative of crisis. My project investigates the gendered strategies employed by Attic tragedy and historiography to represent defiant speakers – characters who challenge traditional speech, like Antigone or the Corcyreans, or those who speak ambiguously, like Cassandra and Alcibiades – in the context of 5th century Athens. Rather than offering a historical reconstruction of the relationship between Thucydidean historiography and drama, my project presents a theoretical reorientation of how the two genres can and should be read in parallel. Methodologically, I integrate close readings with the insights afforded by Anne Carson’s creative engagements with antiquity in order to analyze how gender structures the meaning-making systems in these narratives. Following a chronotropic trajectory, this dissertation investigates how gender refracts through the ways in which the tragedians and Thucydides represent issues of time, space and place, and perception; it then ends by returning to time to offer a critical re-evaluation of the receptions and afterlives of Greek tragedy and history. Ultimately, this study offers a methodology that helps us model a parallel reading of Attic tragedy and Thucydidean historiography; not in order to “test out” the historicity of tragedy against Thucydides’ account, but rather to use tragedy to fill the gap of gender in the History. Probing this dialogue – a dialogue informed as much by silence and omission as by contact and shared vocabulary – among ancient and modern, tragic and historiographic, originary and receptive models of literary entanglement challenges us to rethink the political potential of transgressive speakers within canonical narratives, and to reflect on the role that gender has in shaping these discursive tensions.

Based on author's thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-238) and index.