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COMPANIONS TO GREEK DRAMA
Hanna M. Roisman, Sophocles: Philoctetes. Duckworth Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy. London: Duckworth, 2005. Pp. vii + 159. ISBN 0-7156-3384-8. GBP11.99.
Emma Griffiths, Euripides: Heracles. Duckworth Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy. London: Duckworth, 2006. Pp. vii + 175. ISBN 0-7156-3186-1. GBP11.99.
These two volumes are welcome additions to the most useful and rapidly growing Duckworth Companions series, the aim of which is to provide 'accessible introductions to ancient tragedies' through discussions of 'the main themes of a play and the central developments in modern criticism', which also address 'the play's historical context and the history of its performance and adaptation' (cover). There is a standard format, which includes endnotes, a bibliography, a glossary, a chronology and an index. In common to Roisman and Griffiths are chapters on the mythical background and Nachleben. The discussions of the plays themselves, however, show considerable variations, caused by the differences between the two plays and the issues that they raise, and by the particular interests and emphases of Roisman and Griffiths.
Roisman begins with a preface that informs us (unnecessarily) that the Philoctetes is 'an extraordinary and timeless play' (p. 7). Chapter 1, 'Theatre and Performance' (pp. 9-23), offers an admirably succinct overview of the conditions of performance for fifth-century tragedy (it is also much fuller and more satisfactory than Griffiths' equivalent section). There are, however, some rather strange and/or misleading comments. Thus, for example, we are told that the many other tragedians (apart from the canonical three) 'have left only their names' (p. 9). Then again, after being informed that 'we have relatively few certainties about fifth-century Greek drama' (p. 9), we are asked to accept that the three tragedians for the Great Dionysia in any given year were selected 'from among the many applicants' (p. 10), that the mêchanê (crane) was 'fixed to the left side of the stage-building' (p. 14), and that gesture was used 'only to a limited extent' (p. 18). It is stated that 'songs' make up around thirty per cent of the lines of the Philoctetes, and that a Greek tragedy 'generally ends with a choral song, sung as the chorus exits the orchestra' (p. 15).
In chapter 2, 'The Myth' (pp. 24-40), Roisman offers an...