Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Staging and Constructing the Divine in Menander

Miles, Sarah

Staging and Constructing the Divine in Menander Thumbnail


Authors



Contributors

A.H. Sommerstein
Editor

Abstract

The chapter explores Menander’s dramatisation of divine characters and asks: what was the significance for Menander’s original audiences of seeing divinities on-stage? Through analysing Menander’s engagement with the dramatic tradition of portraying gods, the chapter suggests that Menander exploits his audience’s familiarity with dramatic setting and religious contexts to bring the audience into a closer relationship with the divine. Earlier scholarship viewed Menander’s audience as ‘bourgeois’ sceptics of gods, but recent research on Hellenistic religion, divine personifications and Menander’s audiences forces a re-evaluation of this position if we are to understand the significance of divine stage-presence for Menander’s original audiences.

Citation

Miles, S. (2013). Staging and Constructing the Divine in Menander. In A. Sommerstein (Ed.), Menander in contexts (75-89). Routledge

Online Publication Date Dec 13, 2013
Publication Date Dec 13, 2013
Deposit Date Apr 23, 2013
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Publisher Routledge
Pages 75-89
Series Title Routledge monographs in classical studies
Book Title Menander in contexts.
Chapter Number 6
Publisher URL http://www.routledge.com/9780415843713

Files

Accepted Book Chapter (367 Kb)
PDF

Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2013 From Menander in Contexts, Edited by Alan H. Sommerstein. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc. This material is strictly for personal use only. For any other use, the user must contact Taylor & Francis directly at this address: permissions.mailbox@taylorandfrancis.com. Printing, photocopying, sharing via any means is a violation of copyright.




You might also like



Downloadable Citations