The City as Comedy: Society and Representation in Athenian Drama

These thirteen essays combine classical scholars' interest in theatrical production with a growing interdisciplinary inquiry into the urban contexts of literary production. Taking as their departure point the annual comic competitions at the Athenian dramatic festivals, the contributors examine how the polis — as a place, a political entity, a specific social organization, and a set of ideological representations — was enacted on stage from the middle of the fifth century B.C. through the f...