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  1. Home
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  3. Performing Oaths in Classical Greek Drama
  • Cited by 10
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
December 2011
Print publication year:
2011
Online ISBN:
9781139005272
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139005272
Subjects:
Classical Theatre, Classical Studies, Classical Literature, Drama, Theatre, Performance Studies
Information

Book description

Oaths were ubiquitous rituals in ancient Athenian legal, commercial, civic and international spheres. Their importance is reflected by the fact that much of surviving Greek drama features a formal oath sworn before the audience. This is the first comprehensive study of that phenomenon. The book explores how the oath can mark or structure a dramatic plot, at times compelling characters like Euripides' Hippolytus to act contrary to their best interests. It demonstrates how dramatic oaths resonate with oath rituals familiar to the Athenian audiences. Aristophanes' Lysistrata and her accomplices, for example, swear an oath that blends protocols of international treaties with priestesses' vows of sexual abstinence. By employing the principles of speech act theory, this book examines how the performative power of the dramatic oath can mirror the status quo, but also disturb categories of gender, social status and civic identity in ways that redistribute and confound social authority.

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