Chapter 16 The Political Legacies of Greek Tragedy: Building the Beautiful City, and Being Thrown out of It

In: Brill's Companion to the Legacy of Greek Political Thought
Author:
Barbara Goff
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Type:
Chapter
Pages:
462–487
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004679344_018

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Abstract

This chapter considers the political legacies of Greek tragedy through a double lens, investigating the ways in which tragedy is both ‘at home’ and ‘homeless’, and how these two aspects have resonated with subsequent cultures. Tragedy is rooted in the Athenian polis, but looks outwards to other communities, and is fascinated by the workings of exile and migration. The notions of ‘at home’ and ‘homeless’ can help examine how tragedy is used to project ideal communities, in which all are at home; and to critique or heal those other communities, where it is harder to be so. The chapter thus first interrogates the relations between tragedy and the good society in Idealist and Marxist criticism, before considering how certain performance traditions have developed the activity of nation-building. Secondly, the chapter scrutinises the figure of the ‘homeless’, considering recent versions in the tradition of Sophocles’ Antigone, before concluding with some contemporary performances that highlight tragedy’s migratory proclivities.

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Series:  Brill's Companions to Philosophy: Ancient Philosophy, Volume: 8 and  Brill's Companions to Philosophy, Volume: 8
Cover Brill's Companion to the Legacy of Greek Political Thought
E-Book ISBN:
9789004679344
Publisher:
Brill
Print Publication Date:
16 Sep 2024
Front Matter
Introduction
Part 1 The Reproduction of Greek Political Thought
Part 2 Greek Thought in New Environments
Part 3 Variation and Adaptation
Part 4 Greek Thought and the Potential for Dissent
Back Matter

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