City of Suppliants

Tragedy and the Athenian Empire

Nonfiction, History, Ancient History, Greece
Cover of the book City of Suppliants by Angeliki Tzanetou, University of Texas Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Angeliki Tzanetou ISBN: 9780292744578
Publisher: University of Texas Press Publication: August 1, 2012
Imprint: University of Texas Press Language: English
Author: Angeliki Tzanetou
ISBN: 9780292744578
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Publication: August 1, 2012
Imprint: University of Texas Press
Language: English

After fending off Persia in the fifth century BCE, Athens assumed a leadership position in the Aegean world. Initially it led the Delian League, a military alliance against the Persians, but eventually the league evolved into an empire with Athens in control and exacting tribute from its former allies. Athenians justified this subjection of their allies by emphasizing their fairness and benevolence towards them, which gave Athens the moral right to lead. But Athenians also believed that the strong rule over the weak and that dominating others allowed them to maintain their own freedom. These conflicting views about Athens’ imperial rule found expression in the theater, and this book probes how the three major playwrights dramatized Athenian imperial ideology.

Through close readings of Aeschylus’ Eumenides, Euripides’ Children of Heracles, and Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, as well as other suppliant dramas, Angeliki Tzanetou argues that Athenian tragedy performed an important ideological function by representing Athens as a benevolent and moral ruler that treated foreign suppliants compassionately. She shows how memorable and disenfranchised figures of tragedy, such as Orestes and Oedipus, or the homeless and tyrant-pursued children of Heracles were generously incorporated into the public body of Athens, thus reinforcing Athenians’ sense of their civic magnanimity. This fresh reading of the Athenian suppliant plays deepens our understanding of how Athenians understood their political hegemony and reveals how core Athenian values such as justice, freedom, piety, and respect for the laws intersected with imperial ideology.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

After fending off Persia in the fifth century BCE, Athens assumed a leadership position in the Aegean world. Initially it led the Delian League, a military alliance against the Persians, but eventually the league evolved into an empire with Athens in control and exacting tribute from its former allies. Athenians justified this subjection of their allies by emphasizing their fairness and benevolence towards them, which gave Athens the moral right to lead. But Athenians also believed that the strong rule over the weak and that dominating others allowed them to maintain their own freedom. These conflicting views about Athens’ imperial rule found expression in the theater, and this book probes how the three major playwrights dramatized Athenian imperial ideology.

Through close readings of Aeschylus’ Eumenides, Euripides’ Children of Heracles, and Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, as well as other suppliant dramas, Angeliki Tzanetou argues that Athenian tragedy performed an important ideological function by representing Athens as a benevolent and moral ruler that treated foreign suppliants compassionately. She shows how memorable and disenfranchised figures of tragedy, such as Orestes and Oedipus, or the homeless and tyrant-pursued children of Heracles were generously incorporated into the public body of Athens, thus reinforcing Athenians’ sense of their civic magnanimity. This fresh reading of the Athenian suppliant plays deepens our understanding of how Athenians understood their political hegemony and reveals how core Athenian values such as justice, freedom, piety, and respect for the laws intersected with imperial ideology.

More books from University of Texas Press

Cover of the book Bat Bomb by Angeliki Tzanetou
Cover of the book The Zoot-Suit Riots by Angeliki Tzanetou
Cover of the book On Story—Screenwriters and Filmmakers on Their Iconic Films by Angeliki Tzanetou
Cover of the book Remembering the Alamo by Angeliki Tzanetou
Cover of the book Mesoamerican Healers by Angeliki Tzanetou
Cover of the book Texas Furniture, Volume Two by Angeliki Tzanetou
Cover of the book I Fought a Good Fight by Angeliki Tzanetou
Cover of the book Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the Powers of Fiction by Angeliki Tzanetou
Cover of the book Weather in Texas by Angeliki Tzanetou
Cover of the book The Road to Love Canal by Angeliki Tzanetou
Cover of the book Constructing the Image of the Mexican Revolution by Angeliki Tzanetou
Cover of the book The Borderlands of Race by Angeliki Tzanetou
Cover of the book A Deeper Blue: The Life and Music of Townes Van Zandt by Angeliki Tzanetou
Cover of the book From a Year in Greece by Angeliki Tzanetou
Cover of the book Farming, Hunting, and Fishing in the Olmec World by Angeliki Tzanetou
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy