Theodore Harry Mcmillan Gellar
SACRIFICE AND RITUAL IMAGERY IN MENANDER, PLAUTUS, AND TERENCE Theodore Harry McMillan Gellar A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Classics. Chapel Hill 2008 APPROVED BY: Sharon L. James, advisor James B. Rives, reader Peter M. Smith, reader © 2008 Theodore Harry McMillan Gellar ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Theodore Harry McMillan Gellar SACRIFICE AND RITUAL IMAGERY IN MENANDER, PLAUTUS, AND TERENCE (Under the direction of Sharon L. James) This thesis offers a systematic analysis of sacrifice and ritual in New Comedy. Sacri- fice normally signifies a healthy community, often celebrating a family reunification. Men- ander, Plautus, and Terence treat sacrifice remarkably, each in a different way. In Menander, sacrifice seals the formation of healthy citizen marriages; in Plautus, it operates to negotiate theatrical power between characters. When characters use sacrificial imagery, they are es- sentially asserting authority over other characters or agency over the play. Both playwrights mark habitual sacrificers, particularly citizen females, as morally upright. Terence, by con- trast, stunningly withholds sacrifice altogether, to underscore the emotional dysfunction among the citizen classes in hisplays. Chapter 1 sets sacrifice in its historical and theatrical context. Chapter 2 considers how sacrifice might have been presented onstage; chapter 3 examines its theatrical functions. Chapter 4 focuses on gender and status issues, and chapter 5 moves out from sacrifice to rit- ual and religion overall. iii τῷ φίλῳ καί µοι ἐγγυηκότι optimis parentibus iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have endless gratitude first of all for Sharon James, my advisor, mentor, and role model, without whom my thesis simply could not be.
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