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  3. Sophocles and Alcibiades
  • This book is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core
  • Cited by 10
Publisher:
Acumen Publishing
Online publication date:
February 2013
Print publication year:
2008
Online ISBN:
9781844654062
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/UPO9781844654062
Subjects:
Classical Studies, Classical Literature
Information

Book description

Literary historians have long held the view that the plays of the Greek dramatist, Sophocles deal purely with archetypes of the heroic past and that any resemblance to contemporary events or individuals is purely coincidental. In this book Michael Vickers challenges this view and argues that Sophocles makes regular and extensive allusion to Athenian politics in his plays, especially to Alcibiades, one of the most controversial Athenian politicians of his day. Vickers shows that Sophocles was no closeted intellectual but a man deeply involved in politics and he reminds us that Athenian politics was intensely personal. He argues cogently that classical writers employed hidden meanings and that consciously or sub-consciously, Sophocles was projecting onto his plays hints of contemporary events or incidents, mostly of a political nature, hoping that his audience’s passion for politics would enhance the popularity of his plays.

Reviews

"Vickers has written an ingenious, original and scholarly book on an important subject. It is an argument that students of the period need to take into account. Vickers is doing truly seminal work."

Barry Strauss

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