The present dissertation deals with the function of memory and forgetfulness within the story of Electra and Orestes, as presented by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. The introductory chapter represents a brief account of the philological and theoretical tools of our research. Chapter One proves that words of active memory as well as expressions of forgetfulness are recurrent in the texts. Chapters Two and Three show how different public roles influence the apparatus of memory for various agents. Memory and forgetfulness operate at three levels: private recollection, public function, and divine agent. We analyze the relationship between the heroic ethos and the collective memory in times of crisis. The three authors treat differently the Electra’s memory and her relationship with the logos of her city, especially because of her liminal tendencies. In Euripideas, we further emphasize a particular aspect of memory: a genos-related aspect of Mnēmosynē that affects both the male and the female functions. Chapter Four further analyzes the feminine liminal potential and the ability to access a transcendental form of memory, ability which at times proves morbid and dangerous. The solution to this burden is either divine intervention, or return to private memory through acts of initiatory forgetfulness. Chapter Five deals with the presence of divine memory and the fissures between the Olympians and the chthonian divinities at the level of mnemonic discourse. The three authors have different ways in recording it. However, there is a general tendency to move from grudging memory to healing amnesty. This effort is sustained by the Olympian divinities in the detriment of the Furies and their pre-cultural form of memory in Aeschylus. The picture is further complicated in Euripides by Helen and her physical presence as a memorial of the war, as well as her ultimate disappearance into thin air. In Sophocles, we witness a similar movement from the "logocentric" memory to the visual and symbolic aspect of social Mnēmosynē. Electra depicts the ambiguities and the failure of monumental memory and the ritualistic return to private memory. Chapter Six analyzes the mnemonic filter in theatrical experience. The dramatic performance is a way to share the social burden of memory: with each show, Orestes' murder is re-tried and collectively re-solved. Beside the memory of the author, the theatrical experience involves the perspective of the public and its function as a “social framework” for the memory of the myths. / text

Αντικείμενο αυτής της μελέτης είναι οι Τραχίνιες του Σοφοκλή και ο τρόπος με τον οποίο ο τραγικός ποιητής επενέργησε τόσο σ΄ επίπεδο μύθου όσο και σ΄ επίπεδο γλωσσικού ύφους επάνω στο υλικό μυθολογικό και λογοτεχνικό, που παρέλαβε και γνώριζε πολύ καλά, προκειμένου να οργανώσει τον ολότελα δικό του ποιητικό λόγο και να πλάσει τον ολότελα δικό του τραγικό κόσμο. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, στο πρώτο κεφάλαιο επιχειρείται μία διακειμενική προσέγγιση του τέλους που επέλεξε για τον Ηρακλή ο Σοφοκλής στις Τραχίνιες του σε σχέση με τον θάνατο και την αποθέωση του μεγάλου ήρωα, όπως παρουσιάζονται στα Ομηρικά Έπη και στον Γυναικῶν Κατάλογο του Ησιόδου. Ο Σοφοκλής ξεπερνά τους προκατόχους του επικούς ποιητές και καινοτομεί καθώς ο θάνατος και η αποθέωση του Ηρακλή δεν είναι μία κατάσταση συντελεσμένη, όπως στον Όμηρο και τον Ησίοδο, αλλά μία ενέργεια σε εξέλιξη: παρακολουθούμε επί σκηνής έναν νέο θεό εν τη γενέσει του. Βλέπουμε τον μεγάλο εκπολιτιστή ήρωα περνώντας μέσα από τον έσχατο πόνο ένα ακριβώς βήμα πριν γίνει ένας νέος θεός δίπλα στους παραδοσιακούς θεούς του Ολύμπου. Τι συμβαίνει όμως στις Τραχίνιες με την ανθρώπινη πλευρά του μεγάλου Ηρακλή; Το δεύτερο κεφάλαιο αυτής της εργασίας επικεντρώνεται στο νόστο του ανθρώπου – Ηρακλή. Ο Σοφοκλής χτίζει αυτόν το νόστο επάνω σε δύο άλλους διάσημους νόστους προκατόχων του ποιητών, τον ομηρικό νόστο του Οδυσσέα και τον αισχύλειο νόστο του Αγαμέμνονα. Ο σοφόκλειος Ηρακλής επιστρέφει ως πολύπαθος Οδυσσέας για να μεταμορφωθεί και να εξοντωθεί λίγο αργότερα ως αισχύλειος Αγαμέμνονας. Όταν στις Τραχίνιες ο νόστος του Ηρακλή ολοκληρωθεί, ο μεγάλος Πανελλήνιος ήρωας δεν θα είναι πια ούτε Οδυσσέας ούτε Αγαμέμνων αλλά ένας νέος ήρωας, ένας ήρωας τραγικός. Λίγο πριν ο Ηρακλής χαθεί μέσα στις φλόγες και γίνει ένας νέος θεός, είναι υποχρεωμένος να φέρει εις πέρας έναν τελευταίο άθλο: είναι υποχρεωμένος να πραγματοποιήσει μία δύσκολη και απαραίτητη μετάβαση από έναν αρχαϊκό ηρωισμό λαγνείας, φυσικής δύναμης και αιματοχυσίας, τον ηρωισμό του παλιού επικού κόσμου, σ’ έναν ηρωισμό πραγματικά τραγικό. Ο Ηρακλής των Τραχινίων αποδεικνύεται ένας νέος τύπος ανθρώπου - ήρωα ο οποίος νικά τον πιο άγριο εχθρό, τα τέρατα που κρύβονται μέσα στην ίδια την ανθρώπινη φύση του. Αυτός είναι ο ηρωισμός ο οποίος ίσως βρει μία τιμημένη θέση μέσα στην πόλη. / The subject of this work is Sophocles’ Trachiniae and how the tragic poet elaborated his mythological and literary sources as far as the plot and the language of his play are concerned, in order to create his own poetic language and his own tragic world. To be more exact, the aim of the first chapter is an intertextual approach of the ending that Sophocles chose for Heracles in his Trachiniae in relation to the death and apotheosis of the great hero, as they are presented in Homer’s epics and Hesiod’s Women’s Catalogue. Sophocles surpassed his preceding epic poets and managed to innovate because Heracles’ death and apotheosis are not a complete state, as in Homer and Hesiod, but an action in progress: in Trachiniae we watch a new god being born on stage. We watch the great civilizing hero suffering the greatest pain of all and at the same time being about to take his place among the old gods of Olympus. But what happens with Heracles’ human side in Trachiniae? The second chapter focus on Heracles’ return home, the great hero’s nostos. Sophocles organizes this nostos based on two other famous heroes coming back home and the description of their journey by two older poets: the Homeric Odysseus and the Aeschylean Agamemnon. Sophoclean Hercules is coming back as a storm – tossed Odysseus in order to be transformed and later murdered as an Aeschylean Agamemnon. When Heracles’ nostos is completed in the Trachiniae, the great Panhellenic hero will not be Odysseus or Agamemnon but a new hero, a tragic hero. Before Heracles disappears into the flames and becomes a new god, he must carry out one last labour: he must enact a painful transition from an archaic heroism of lust, physical strength and bloodshed, the heroism of the old epic world, to a heroism that is truly tragic. In the Trachiniae Heracles is proved to be a new kind of man – hero who beats the worst enemy, the monsters which hide into the human nature itself. This is a heroism which might find a place of honor within the polis.

Nietzsche's view of Socrates has been studied at length by a number of scholars, and yet the accounts resulting from these studies, even when descriptively correct, have not given a full explanation of the relationship between the two philosophers. More specifically, they fail to clarify the proper connection between Nietzsche and Socrates in terms of fundamental aspects of Nietzsche's thought, especially in terms of his view of reason. The most influential interpretation of Nietzsche's relationship to Socrates comes from Kaufmann, who claims that Nietzsche's view of Socrates is one of pure admiration. More recently, scholars such as Nehamas have corrected Kaufmann's flawed interpretation. Although Nehamas has properly understood Nietzsche's view of Socrates to be one of ambivalence, his interpretation is wanting in that it provides only a partial explanation of this ambivalence. My argument will take the following form. I will first establish in Chapters 2-5 (A) Nietzsche's ambivalence toward Socrates. Then, independently of that discussion, I will reveal in Chapter 6 (B) his ambivalence toward reason. The strict parallelism between these two manifestations of ambivalence in Nietzsche will permit me to make the claim that (B) explains (A). By this analysis I will demonstrate that Nietzsche is not only positive and negative in his assessments of both Socrates and reason, but that he is ambivalent to both for the same reasons. More specifically, for Nietzsche, Socrates' emphasis upon dialectical reason as the one and only medium for attaining eudaimonia is ultimately nihilistic. It stands as a singular example of the variety of nihilistic practices that emphasize one perspective over all others; and to deny perspective, is, for Nietzsche, to deny life itself. Thus Nietzsche understands such practices, among which he includes Christianity, ethical objectivism, and Plato's metaphysics, as a misuse of reason. However, the appropriate use of reason involves experimenting with other modes of expression such as aphorisms, the performing arts, and poetry, which grant the individual as much moral and intellectual freedom as necessary so that they may affirm life in the manner they find most satisfying and rewarding. Hence, it is only through a thorough investigation of Nietzsche's view of reason that his ambivalence toward Socrates can be fully understood, namely, as a manifestation of his ambivalence to reason. / Master of Arts

My thesis uses Thebes as case study to focus on Theban religious practices during the Classical age (traditionally defined as between 510 BCE and 323 BCE). By narrowing my study to this geographical and chronological scope, my research aims to add to the traditional narrative of Theban history by focusing on religious history rather than the political or military. More particularly, by using both literature (Classical Greek tragedies) as well as material culture found in exceptional religious settings of the Thesmophoria and Kabeirion, I strive to delineate some of the religious practices taking place in the polis of Thebes during the Classical age. While the Theban tragedies provide a view of religion from a broader perspective, the material evidence of the festival of the Thesmophoria and the rites to the Kabeiroi provide a glimpse into the practices of Theban religion that lie outside the traditional, Olympian pantheon. I argue that studying Theban literature and votive offerings in tandem can provide a perspective at the micro-level of Greek religion that can be expanded in order to understand the religious landscape of ancient Greece on a much deeper and richer level. / Master of Arts / My thesis focuses on Thebes, a city-state in Ancient Greece famous for being the setting of the tragic stories of Oedipus and his family. Many historians focus on this literary tradition or the ways in which Theban military exploits affected their position of power in the Greek world; however, I center my study on the religious landscape of this particular city-state between the years of 510 BCE and 323 BCE. My first chapter takes a step back, outlining the way in which religion is presented to an audience at this time through the plays Oedipus Rex, Antigone, and Seven Against Thebes. In the next two chapters, I turn to look at items housed in the Archaeological Museum of Thebes regarding two specific religious events that took place in and around ancient Thebes: The Thesmophoria and the initiation into the rites of the Kabeiroi. The material evidence that I survey in these two chapters provide a glimpse into the practices of Theban religion that lie outside the traditional practices and participants. I argue that studying these particular pieces of written and material evidence in combination with one another provides a perspective at the local level of Theban religion that can also be expanded in order to under the religious landscape of ancient Greece on a much deeper and richer level.

In so far as I have been able to determine, nothing by way of general criticism or comment has previously been written on the subject of Greek plots in twentieth century tragedy, although individual writers have themselves admitted a certain indebtedness to their sources, and comments regarding the specific plays which I have cited, of course, mention a Greek origin. As regards the whole field of contemporary drama, however, I believe that no treaties earlier than this one has discussed the prevalence of Greek plots among twentieth century dramas.

Qualquer um que leia tragédias gregas encontra momentos de elevação especial, de grandeza ou transcendência nos quais o texto parece transportar o leitor/espectador para fora de si mesmo, a uma esfera de emoção e significação extremas. Geralmente, como resultado de uma série de fatores, inclusive cênicos, esses momentos da ação dramática criam um efeito de assombro, surpresa e medo. Os personagens no palco e a platéia compartilham uma sensação do que pode ser chamado de sublimidade. São momentos em que sofrimento, prazer, inspiração ou insight parecem associados para criar um efeito através do qual o espectador é tomado pela emoção ou pelo entendimento, pelo envolvimento ou pelo distanciamento ou, melhor, por uma combinação desses estados. O efeito parece evidente em cenas do drama trágico, em particular das tragédias gregas e dos dramas trágicos shakespeareanos. Na tragédia grega, podem-se considerar sublimes a cena do tapete no Agamêmnon, de Ésquilo, a fala do disfarce do Ájax, de Sófocles, ou o grande discurso do segundo mensageiro, nas Bacantes, de Eurípides. A intenção deste trabalho é examinar algumas cenas passagens especialmente relevantes da tragédia grega e tentar traçar elementos estruturais que possam concorrer para a criação dessa sensação de elevação. É evidente que refiro-me ao sublime em termos até aqui subjetivos. É objetivo do trabalho fornecer algumas bases objetivas sobre as quais apoiar aquilo que chamo de momentos de elevação, grandeza e emoção extrema. / Anyone who reads Greek tragedy encounters moments of special elevation, greatness or transcendence in which the text seems to transport the reader/spectator out of himself to an sphere of heightened emotion and significance. Generally, as the result of a series of reasons, these moments in the action of the play create an effect of amazement, wonder and awe. During these moments, the characters on stage and the audience share a sensation of what may be called sublimity. It is the sort of moment in which either suffering, pleasure, inspiration or insight seem to associate to create an effect through which the spectator is taken by emotion or by understanding, by involvement or detachment, or better by a combination of these. The effect appears evident to me in scenes of tragic drama, particularly of Greek and Shakespearean tragedies. In Greek tragedy, one may consider as sublime some parts of the carpet scene in Aeschylus Agamemnon, the deception speech of Sophocles Ajax, or the second messenger speech in Euripides Bacchae. In Shakespeare, the apparition of the fathers ghost to Hamlet is stunning, and unleashes intense emotion and insight. The intention of this work is to examine some especially relevant passages of Greek tragedy and to try to trace structural elements that may concur to the creation of this sensation of elevation. It is evident that I refer to the sublime in subjective terms and, therefore, it is my aim to provide some objective ground upon which to support what I shall be identifying as moments of elevation, greatness and extreme emotion.

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.

This thesis examines the place, influence, and deployment of archaic Greek thought in Sophocles’ extant tragedies, paying close attention to the ethical and theological content of the plays as well as to their dramatic and literary fabric. I use archaic thought as an umbrella term for a constellation of ideas on the human condition and the gods which is first attested, in Greece, in Homeric epic, but has a long and variegated existence in other contexts and after the archaic period. The thesis consists of six chapters, divided in two parts. The first part provides a general conceptual framework, which is then applied in the detailed readings of Sophocles constituting the second part. The first chapter examines some of the main texts of archaic Greek thought, and offers an interpretation of it as a coherent nexus of ideas gravitating around the core notions of human vulnerability, short-sightedness, and the principle of alternation. Using the examples of Homer’s Iliad and Solon’s Elegy to the Muses, I argue that the narrative structure of archaic poetry can be used to formulate and “perform” archaic ideas. The second chapter formulates the principal argument of the thesis: that archaic thought is central to the ethical and religious content of tragedy as well as to its dramatic and literary fabric, that is, to the form of tragedy as a complex artefact designed to be performed on stage. I explore possible models for the interaction between archaic thought and literature and tragedy, from Aristotle’s Poetics to recent interpretations of tragedy as a hybrid of other literary and intellectual forms. I then examine the ways in which archaic ideas are deployed and performed in tragedy, both in passages that are explicitly archaic in content and diction, and in the complex interactions of dramatic form and intellectual content. This general discussion is illustrated with preliminary readings of four Sophoclean plays: Ajax, Oedipus Tyrannus, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus. The third chapter contextualises the approach adopted in the thesis as a whole by exploring two interpretations of Sophocles in German Idealist thought: Solger’s reading of Ajax and Hölderlin’s reading of Oedipus Tyrannus. It argues that these analyses, albeit under anachronistic conceptual categories such as “the tragic”, seize on some of the fundamental questions of archaic and tragic ethics and theology: the relationship between the human and divine spheres, and the limits of language and human understanding. In Chapters 4, 5, and 6, I offer detailed readings of Trachiniae, Antigone, and Electra, three plays chosen to reflect the diversity of contexts in which archaic ideas exist in Sophocles. I argue that archaic thought is central to the intellectual and dramatic fabric of all three plays, even though the deployment and emphasis of archaic patterns and ideas differs from one tragedy to the next.

This thesis examines the characterization of Trojans in fifth-century Attic tragedy with a particular focus on their ability to shed light on the contemporary Athenian sense of identity. I argue against the notion that Trojans are displaced Persians, for they maintain a strong connection to their mythological heritage. The evidence I present draws on fifth-century Attic tragedies but also on the Iliad, iconography, and fragmentary tragedies. My discussion of passages from the Iliad creates a context for interpreting Trojan characters in fifth-century tragedy by establishing the tradition that tragedians could draw on as the background against which to set their Trojan characters. The iconographic evidence similarly adds depth to the project by stepping away from a textual focus to create a wider understanding of how Trojans were visually conceptualized. The fragmentary tragedies provide a tantalizing glimpse into the portrayal of Trojan men, who are otherwise almost entirely absent from tragedies. As a result, my discussion of tragedy focuses on Trojan women, and I suggest that they are representatives of an idealized culture designed to evoke an idealized sense of Athenian cultural identity. I examine Euripides’ Andromache to compare the portrayal of Spartans, contemporary fifth-century Athenian enemies, with that of Trojans to demonstrate the differences between them. Following that, I address the gendered nature of the aftermath of the Trojan War by focusing on one particularly feminine theme in each of three plays: exchange in Andromache, nostalgia in Trojan Women, and mourning in Hecuba. Finally, I discuss the role played by class in considering Trojan characters. Only Euripides’ Orestes presents a (male) character who was a slave in Troy before the fall, and this provides an excellent opportunity to contrast the treatment of that character with the treatment of the royal Trojan women. The purpose of this examination of Trojan characters is to demonstrate that there was an intellectual curiosity about them and their role in contemporary society. I argue in favour of a sympathetic treatment of Trojan characters, or more specifically, against the notion of a “Phrygianization of Troy,” and restore to the Trojans their own unique identity.

This thesis examines the characterization of Trojans in fifth-century Attic tragedy with a particular focus on their ability to shed light on the contemporary Athenian sense of identity. I argue against the notion that Trojans are displaced Persians, for they maintain a strong connection to their mythological heritage. The evidence I present draws on fifth-century Attic tragedies but also on the Iliad, iconography, and fragmentary tragedies. My discussion of passages from the Iliad creates a context for interpreting Trojan characters in fifth-century tragedy by establishing the tradition that tragedians could draw on as the background against which to set their Trojan characters. The iconographic evidence similarly adds depth to the project by stepping away from a textual focus to create a wider understanding of how Trojans were visually conceptualized. The fragmentary tragedies provide a tantalizing glimpse into the portrayal of Trojan men, who are otherwise almost entirely absent from tragedies. As a result, my discussion of tragedy focuses on Trojan women, and I suggest that they are representatives of an idealized culture designed to evoke an idealized sense of Athenian cultural identity. I examine Euripides’ Andromache to compare the portrayal of Spartans, contemporary fifth-century Athenian enemies, with that of Trojans to demonstrate the differences between them. Following that, I address the gendered nature of the aftermath of the Trojan War by focusing on one particularly feminine theme in each of three plays: exchange in Andromache, nostalgia in Trojan Women, and mourning in Hecuba. Finally, I discuss the role played by class in considering Trojan characters. Only Euripides’ Orestes presents a (male) character who was a slave in Troy before the fall, and this provides an excellent opportunity to contrast the treatment of that character with the treatment of the royal Trojan women. The purpose of this examination of Trojan characters is to demonstrate that there was an intellectual curiosity about them and their role in contemporary society. I argue in favour of a sympathetic treatment of Trojan characters, or more specifically, against the notion of a “Phrygianization of Troy,” and restore to the Trojans their own unique identity.