The Hidden Chorus investigates the relationship between the chorus of Greek tragedy and other types of choral song in Greek society. Choruses performed on a range of occasions in Greek culture, ranging from private weddings and funerals to large-scale religious festivals, yet the relationship between these everyday or 'ritual' choruses and the choruses of tragedy has never been systematically examined. L. A. Swift discusses choruses from five ritual genres: paian (religious songs of celebration or healing), epinikion (songs for athletic victors), partheneia (songs for the transitions of young girls), hymenaios (wedding song), and thrênos (funerary song), and explores how these choral forms are evoked in tragedy. By examining the relationship between tragic and non-tragic choral song, she not only provides new insights into individual plays, but also enriches our understanding of the role poetry and song played in Greek life.
Author(s): L. A. Swift
Series: Oxford Classical Monographs
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 472
Contents......Page 10
Abbreviations, Texts used, and Other Conventions......Page 12
Introduction......Page 16
What is the purpose of defining lyric genres?......Page 21
Problems with lyric genres: a brief overview......Page 23
Platonic Forms or Wittgensteinian families: how to approach lyric genres......Page 26
Slippery names and genre inequality: choosing what counts as a genre......Page 32
Dithyrambos: a special case......Page 37
How to think about genres in tragedy......Page 41
2. LYRIC POETRY IN AN ATHENIAN CONTEXT......Page 50
Exposure to choruses......Page 51
Lyric poetry in Athens......Page 54
Attitudes to elite material in Athens......Page 58
Tragedy and democracy......Page 70
The genre......Page 76
Paian in tragedy......Page 85
Oedipus Tyrannus......Page 89
Ion......Page 105
The genre......Page 119
Epinikion and Athens......Page 121
Epinikion in tragedy......Page 133
Heracles......Page 136
Euripides’ Electra......Page 171
The genre......Page 188
Athenian partheneia......Page 201
Partheneia in tragedy......Page 204
Iphigeneia among the Taurians......Page 212
Helen......Page 233
The genre......Page 256
Hymenaios and partheneia......Page 264
Hymenaios in tragedy......Page 265
The mixed chorus......Page 270
Hippolytus......Page 277
Aeschylus’ Suppliant Women......Page 294
7. THRENOS AND RITUAL LAMENT......Page 313
The genre......Page 314
Conventions of lamentation......Page 319
Funeral legislation......Page 332
Lament in tragedy......Page 337
Persians......Page 341
Sophocles’ Electra......Page 351
Alcestis......Page 365
Techniques of generic interaction......Page 382
Functions of generic interaction......Page 386
What can we learn from generic interaction?......Page 389
Appendix: References to genres and related imagery in tragedy......Page 392
Bibliography......Page 426
Index Locorum......Page 454
F......Page 463
L......Page 464
T......Page 465
W......Page 466
