Sophocles and Homer History 100, February 22, 2006

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Sophocles and Homer History 100, February 22, 2006 Philoctetes on Lemnos, Attic red figure vase, c. 430 BC History and identity • Herodotus: who were the Persians? Where did the conflict start? • Thucydides: what caused the war and what were its effects on the Greeks? Rembrandt van Rijn, Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer Philoctetes and Homer • Familiar story: audience knows outcome • New values and morals: old characters placed in situation of 5th-century Athens • Classicism: poet draws on acknowledged standard but employs it in a new way. • Philoctetes is a model for appropriation and transformation of culture—as is, in a different way, The Cure at Troy. The religious context of drama: the Athenian Great Dionysia The festival in the city: 1. “Leading in from the sacred hearth” 2. “Pompe”: procession to sacrifice 3. “Komos”: celebratory revel Basic elements of Greek public worship: procession, sacrifice, celebration Preparation for the dramatic contests 4. Proagon: poets describe their works Theater of Dionysus, Athens Theater at Epidaurus (best preserved) Theater at Epidaurus Preliminaries in the theater 5. Libation by the strategoi (ten generals) 6. Tribute from subject cities 7. Proclamation and coronation of state benefactors 8. Presentation of war orphans Association with religion sanctified the state. Apo#o pouring a libation. Vase painting, c. 475-450 BC The poetic competitions 1st day: contest of ten boys’ and ten mens’ dithyrambs 2nd day: contest of five comedies 3rd day: first set of tragedies (with satyr-play) 4th day: second set of tragedies (with satyr-play) 5th day: third set of tragedies (with satyr-play) Judgment and award of prizes followed at the end Dramatic conventions • Actors: at first two (Aeschylus), then three (Sophocles, Euripides) • Masks for actors: represent characters and project voices • Chorus: 12 or 15 young men, representing society Chorus dressing as women: Vase around the actors painting, c. 430 BC, MFA, Boston (note the mask, bottom center) The themes of Philoctetes/The Cure at Troy • Suffering and punishment: Philoctetes’s wound • The state and the individual: Neoptolemus torn between Odysseus and Philoctetes • Fate and free will—can Philoctetes not go to Troy? • Resolution: deus ex machina? (the god from the machine).

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