Comic Body in Ancient Greek Theatre and Art, 440-320 Bce

Through both textual and iconographic sources, this book examines the representations of the body in Greek Old and Middle Comedy, how it was staged, perceived, and imagined, particularly in Athens, Magna Graecia, and Sicily.

List of contents

• Introduction


• 1: Comedy and Vase-Painting


• 2: The Construction of the Comic Body: Masks, Phalluses, Padding, and the Comic Ugliness


• 3: Signs of Genre and Sexual Identity Conveyed by Costume


• 4: Social and Moral Characterization through Costume


• 5: The Body in Movement


• Conclusion


• Appendix: Catalogue of the comedy-related vases mentioned in this study

About the author

Alexa Piqueux is an Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Literature at Université Paris Nanterre and a Junior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France. Her research revolves mainly around ancient Greek theatre, comic poetry, theatre-related iconography, interrelations between art and text, and the cultural history of Magna Graecia.

Summary

Through both textual and iconographic sources, this book examines the representations of the body in Greek Old and Middle Comedy, how it was staged, perceived, and imagined, particularly in Athens, Magna Graecia, and Sicily.

Additional text

In this beautifully produced and generously accessible volume, Piqueux traces the presence of the body on the stages of Old and Middle Comedy as it is reflected in both text and image...Piqueux's work develops a thorny collection of evidence into a legible archive, and she is largely persuasive in her readings of it; her mastery of the iconographic record and her skill as an interpreter of vase imagery are on display throughout the book.

Product details

• Authors: Alexa Piqueux, Alexa (Associate Professor of Ancient Gre Piqueux
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.04.2022
• EAN: 9780192845542
• ISBN: 978-0-19-284554-2
• No. of pages: 384
• Series: Oxford Studies in Ancient Culture & Representation; Oxford Studies in Ancient Culture Representation
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; Ancient Greece, LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, ART / History / Ancient & Classical, PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / General, Theatre Studies, History of Art, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, Classical style, History of art: ancient & classical art,BCE to c 500 CE, BCE to c 500 CE, BCE period – Protohistory, Ancient Greek style