An Interlude

Author(s):  
Lucy C. M. M. Jackson

There are two phenomena that are most frequently mentioned in discussions of the fourth-century dramatic chorus: the presence of a scribal mark, χοροῦ‎ or χοροῦ μέλος‎, in the traditions of textual transmission of later classical drama, and Aristotle’s criticism of choral odes, labelling them embolima. Chapters 1 to 4 displayed all the positive evidence for the presence and activity of the chorus in fourth-century drama, and Chapter 5 considers these two phenomena in a new light. Returning to the very basics of how both χοροῦ‎ and embolimon might be understood, and noting how and why traditional interpretations of the terms have come about, this chapter seeks to reconfigure current understanding of the development of the fourth-century dramatic chorus. It is seen that it is possible to reinterpret the two phenomena and align their use in antiquity with the rest of the book’s positive evidence.

Author(s):  
Lucy C. M. M. Jackson

As well as bringing together all the relevant evidence for the quality and activity of the chorus of drama in the fourth century, this monograph has raised certain key questions about the current understanding of the nature and development of Attic drama as a whole. First, it shows that the supposed ‘civic’ quality of the chorus of drama is, in fact, an association loaned, inappropriately, from the genre of circular, ‘dithyrambic’, choral performance. Being attentive to the cultural differences between these two genres should prompt a further re-evaluation of how to read dramatic choruses more generally. Second, the way in which key fourth-century authors such as Plato and Xenophon use the image of the chorus to discuss the concept of leadership has profoundly shaped ways of construing choreia in ancient Greek drama, and the ancient Mediterranean more generally. Armed with this knowledge, it is possible to retell the story and history of the chorus in drama.


Author(s):  
Theodora A. Hadjimichael

This book explores the process of canonization of Greek lyric, as well as the textual transmission, and preservation of the lyric poems from the archaic period through to their emergence from the Library at Alexandria as edited texts. It takes into account a broad range of primary material, and focuses on specific genres, authors, philosophical schools, and scholarly activities that played a critical role in the survival and canonization of lyric poetry: comedy, Plato, Aristotle’s Peripatos, and the Hellenistic scholars. It explores therefore the way in which fifth- and fourth-century sources received and interpreted lyric material, and the role they played both in the scholarly work of the Alexandrians and in the creation of what we conventionally call the Hellenistic Lyric Canon by considering the changing contexts within which lyric songs and texts operated. With the exception of Bacchylides, whose reception and Hellenistic reputation is analysed separately, it becomes clear that the canonization of the lyric poets follows a pattern of transmission and reception. The overall analysis demonstrates that the process of canonization was already at work in the fifth- and fourth-centuries BC and that the Lyric Canon remained stable and unchanged up to the Hellenistic era, when it was inherited by the Hellenistic scholars.


Author(s):  
Lucy C. M. M. Jackson

The Chorus of Drama in the Fourth Century BCE seeks to upend conventional thinking about the development of drama from the fifth to the fourth centuries. Set in the context of a theatre industry extending far beyond the confines of the City Dionysia and the city of Athens, the identity of choral performers and the significance of their contribution to the shape and meaning of drama in the later Classical period (c.400–323) as a whole is an intriguing and under-explored area of enquiry. Drawing together the fourth-century historical, material, dramatic, literary, and philosophical sources that attest to the activity and quality of dramatic choruses, the book provides a new way of talking and thinking about the choruses of drama after the deaths of Euripides and Sophocles. Having considered the positive evidence for dramatic choral activity, the book provides a radical rethinking of two oft-cited yet ill-understood phenomena that have traditionally supported the idea that the chorus of drama ‘declined’ in the fourth century: the inscription of χοροῦ μέλος‎ in papyri and manuscripts in place of fully written-out choral odes, and Aristotle’s invocation of embolima (Poetics 1456a25–32). The book goes on to explore how influential fourth-century authors such as Plato, Demosthenes, and Xenophon, as well as artistic representations of choruses on fourth-century monuments, have had an important role in shaping later scholars’ understanding of the dramatic chorus throughout the Classical period. The book’s conclusions, too, have implications for the broader story we wish to tell about Attic drama, and its most enigmatic and fundamental element, the chorus.


1951 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-23
Author(s):  
Arthur H. Couratin

In his second article on the Pattern of the Early Anaphora Professor Ratcliff claims that the Eucharistic Prayer in the first ages of the Church ended with the singing of the Sanctus; and in a footnote on pages 130–1 he claims that ‘although the singing of the Sanctus by the people was a general usage in the fourth century, there is no reason to suppose that it was universal in the earlier centuries. “Amen” is the people's sole utterance according to Justin Martyr (Apol. 65, 67)’. But is there any positive evidence which would lead us to think that the Sanctus was sung, like the passage about Angels and Archangels which presumably preceded it, by the celebrant alone, and that the people merely sang ‘Amen’ at its conclusion? It is the purpose of this note to suggest that such evidence does exist, and that it supplies further evidence with regard to the text of the Sanctus in the Roman Eucharistic Prayer.


Author(s):  
Lucy C. M. M. Jackson

There has been no focused study of the chorus in fourth-century drama. This may be, in part, explained by the difficult and diffuse evidence for its presence and activity. Two phenomena may also have discouraged scholars from attempting any such focused study: Aristotle’s castigation of later dramatic odes as embolima, and the replacement of choral odes in papyri with the mark χοροῦ‎, or χοροῦ μέλος‎—‘song of the chorus’. The notion that the chorus of drama in the fourth century was a pale shadow of its fifth-century self has flourished for well over a century. In order to do so, however, much positive evidence for the quantity and quality of the dramatic chorus has had to be explained away. An examination of the chorus itself, and the way contemporary thinkers used the idea of the chorus, will allow the re-writing of the history of Attic drama and its development.


2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-614
Author(s):  
Peter Malik

The role of manuscript corrections in studying textual transmission of the New Testament has been long recognised by textual critics. And yet, the actual witness of corrections may at times be difficult to interpret. A case in point is Josef Schmid's seminal work on the text of Revelation. Following Wilhelm Bousset, Schmid argued that a particular group of corrections in Codex Sinaiticus reflected a Vorlage with a text akin to that of the Andreas text-type. By dating these corrections – unlike Bousset – to the scriptorium, Schmid utilised their witness to trace the text of Andreas back to the fourth century. Recently, Juan Hernández has shown that the corrections cited by Schmid were significantly later, hence calling his fourth-century dating of Andreas (among other things) into question. Through an analysis of the corrections cited by Schmid, supplemented by a fuller data-set of Sinaiticus’ corrections in Revelation, this study seeks to reappraise Schmid's claims concerning the textual relations of these corrections, and identify their role in the later transmission of the text of Revelation.


Ramus ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Ley ◽  
Michael Ewans

For some years past there has been a welcome change of emphasis towards the consideration of staging in books published on Greek tragedy; and yet with that change also a curious failure to be explicit about the central problem connected with all stagecraft, namely that of the acting-area. In this study two scholars with considerable experience of teaching classical drama in performance consider this problem of the acting-area in close relation to major scenes from two Greek tragedies, and suggest some general conclusions. The article must stand to some extent as a critique of the succession of books that has followed the apparently pioneering study of Oliver Taplin, none of which has made any substantial or sustained attempt to indicate where actors might have acted in the performance of Greek tragedy, though most, if not all, have been prepared to discard the concept of a raised ‘stage’ behind the orchestra. Hippolytus (428 BC) is the earliest of the surviving plays of Euripides to involve three speaking actors in one scene. Both Alcestis (438 BC and Medea (431 BC almost certainly require three actors to be performed with any fluency, but surprisingly present their action largely through dialogue and confrontation — surprisingly, perhaps, because at least since 458 BC and the performance of the Oresteia it is clear that three actors were available to any playwright.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janko Međedović ◽  
Goran Knežević

Abstract. Earlier research suggested that militant extremists could have certain aspects of psychopathic and psychotic characteristics. Relying on these studies, we investigated whether the Militant Extremist Mind-Set (MEM) could be explained by psychopathy, sadism, and Disintegration (psychosis proneness), as subclinical manifestations of amoral, antisocial, and psychotic-like traits. In Study 1 (306 undergraduate students), it was shown that sadistic and psychopathic tendencies were related to Proviolence (advocating violence as a means for achieving a goal); psychopathic and disintegrative tendencies were associated to the Vile World (belief in a world as a corrupted and vile place), while Disintegration was the best predictor of Divine Power (relying on supernatural forces as a rationale for extremist acts). In Study 2 (147 male convicts), these relations were largely replicated and broadened by including implicit emotional associations to violence in the study design. Thus, while Proviolence was found to be related to a weakened negative emotional reaction to violent pictures, Vile World was found to be associated with stronger negative emotions as a response to violence. Furthermore, Proviolence was the only MEM factor clearly differentiating the sample of convicts from male students who participated in Study 1. Results help extend current understanding about personal characteristics related to militant extremism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-250
Author(s):  
Stephanie Dropuljic

This article examines the role of women in raising criminal actions of homicide before the central criminal court, in early modern Scotland. In doing so, it highlights the two main forms of standing women held; pursing an action for homicide alone and as part of a wider group of kin and family. The evidence presented therein challenges our current understanding of the role of women in the pursuit of crime and contributes to an under-researched area of Scots criminal legal history, gender and the law.


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