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Greek and Roman Actors
Aspects of an Ancient Profession

£120.00

Editors:
Pat Easterling, University of Cambridge
Edith Hall, University of Durham

Edith Hall, Peter Wilson, Kostas Valakas, Richard Green, Eric Csapo, G. M. Sifakis, Eric Handley, Richard Hunter, Jane L. Lightfoot, Peter G. McC. Brown, John Jory, Charlotte Roueché, Ruth Webb, Walter Puchner, Pat Easterling, Thomas Falkner, Elaine Fantham, Catharine Edwards, Ismene Lada-Richards

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Date Published: September 2002
availability: Available
format: Hardback
isbn: 9780521651400

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About the Authors

This collection of twenty essays examines the art, profession and idea of the actor in Greek and Roman antiquity, and has been commissioned and arranged to cast as much interdisciplinary and transhistorical light as possible on these elusive but fascinating ancient professionals. It covers a chronological span from the sixth century BC to Byzantium (and even beyond to the way that ancient actors have influenced the arts from the Renaissance to the twentieth century) and stresses the huge geographical spread of ancient actors. Some essays focus on particular themes, such as the evidence for women actors or the impact of acting on the presentation of suicide in literature; others offer completely new evidence, such as graffiti relating to actors in Asia Minor; others ask new questions, such as what subjective experience can be reconstructed for the ancient actor. There are numerous illustrations and all Greek and Latin passages are translated.
- Surveys a long period and examines a wide range of evidence
- Of interest to historians of ancient culture as well as scholars and students concerned with ancient performance traditions and the reception of drama
- Completely accessible to readers without Greek or Latin
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Reviews & endorsements
'… a well-organized, systematic discussion of the key elements in the evolution of 'classical drama'.' The Times Literary Supplement
'This is a collection of essays of rare coherence and quality … coverage is indeed comprehensive … Anyone interested in any significant aspect of acting in the ancient world will find this volume valuable. The quality of the chapters is uniformly high … The chapters are also superbly arranged, each introducing themes that are developed in those that follow … This volume will be a fundamental resource for all students and scholars whose interests include the ancient theatre; it will also be widely and profitably used by scholars of ancient society and thought, especially for the perspectives it provides on ancient approaches to non-verbal communication, the emotions, and the concept of the self.' Journal of Theatre Research International
'… this volume represents, to date, the most valuable companion to actors and acting in Graeco-Roman antiquity … recommend the volume not only to specialists but also to graduate students and other readers looking for an up-to-date introduction to current scholarship on ancient acting … a volume which will certainly be a standard reference book for years to come.' Journal of Hellenic Studies
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Product details
- Date Published: September 2002
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9780521651400
- length: 544 pages
- dimensions: 236 x 161 x 33 mm
- weight: 0.876kg
- contains: 61 b/w illus. 2 maps
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
List of illustrations
List of contributors
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Maps
Part I. The Art of the Actor:
1. The singing actors of antiquity Edith Hall
2. The musicians among the actors Peter Wilson
3. The use of the body by actors in tragedy and satyr-play Kostas Valakas
4. Towards a reconstruction of performance style Richard Green
5. Kallippides on the floor-sweepings: the limits of realism in classical acting and performance styles Eric Csapo
6. Looking for the actor's art in Aristotle G. M. Sifakis
7. Acting, action and words in New Comedy Eric Handley
8. 'Acting down': the ideology of Hellenistic performance Richard Hunter
Part II. The Professional World:
9. Nothing to do with the technītai of Dionysus? Jane L. Lightfoot
10. Actors and actor-managers at Rome in the time of Plautus and Terence Peter G. McC. Brown
11. The masks on the propylon of the Sebasteion at Aphrodisias John Jory
12. Images of performance: new evidence from Ephesus Charlotte Roueché
13. Female entertainers in late antiquity Ruth Webb
14. Acting in the Byzantine theatre: evidence and problems Walter Puchner
Part III. The Idea of the Actor:
15. Actor as icon Pat Easterling
16. Scholars versus actors: text and performance in the Greek tragic scholia Thomas Falkner
17. Orator and/et actor Elaine Fantham
18. Acting and self-actualisation in imperial Rome: some death scenes Catharine Edwards
19. The subjectivity of Greek performance Ismene Lada-Richards
20. The ancient actor's presence since the Renaissance Edith Hall
Glossary
List of works cited
Index of major ancient passages cited
General index.
Look Inside
Editors
Pat Easterling, University of Cambridge
Pat Easterling is Emeritus Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Newnham College and a Fellow of the British Academy. She was Professor of Greek at University College London from 1987 to 1994, and has also served as President of the Classical Association (1989/1990) and the Hellenic Society (1996–1999). In addition to serving as General Editor of the Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics ever since its foundation over thirty years ago, she has published an edition within this series of Sophocles' Trachiniae (1982), co-edited, with B. M. W. Knox, Volume 1 of the Cambridge History of Classical Literature (1985) and edited The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy (1997). She is currently working on an edition of Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus for the Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics series.
Edith Hall, University of Durham
Edith Hall is Professor of Greek Cultural History at the University of Durham and has previously taught at the Universities of Cambridge, Reading and Oxford. She is Co-Director of the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama at the University of Oxford and author of Inventing the Barbarian (1989), editor of Aeschylus' Persians (1996) and co-editor of Medea in Performance (2000).
Contributors
Edith Hall, Peter Wilson, Kostas Valakas, Richard Green, Eric Csapo, G. M. Sifakis, Eric Handley, Richard Hunter, Jane L. Lightfoot, Peter G. McC. Brown, John Jory, Charlotte Roueché, Ruth Webb, Walter Puchner, Pat Easterling, Thomas Falkner, Elaine Fantham, Catharine Edwards, Ismene Lada-Richards