There have been numerous attempts to understand the role and importance of the Great Dionysia in Athens, and it is a festival that has been made crucial to varied and important characterizations of Greek culture as well as the history of drama or literature. Recent scholarship, however, has greatly extended our understanding of the formation of fifth-century Athenian ideology—in the sense of the structure of attitudes and norms of behaviour—and this developing interest in what might be called a ‘civic discourse’ requires a reconsideration of the Great Dionysia as a city festival. For while there have been several fascinating readings of particular plays with regard to the polis and its ideology, there is still a considerable need to place the festival itself in terms of the ideology of the polis. Indeed, recent critics in a justifiable reaction away from writers such as Gilbert Murray have tended rather to emphasize on the one hand that the festival is a place of entertainment rather than religious ritual, and on the other hand that the plays should be approached primarily as dramatic performances.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/402EF7278A80C6816A6DBF70BC2F316F/S0075426900010351a.pdf/div-class-title-the-great-dionysia-and-civic-ideology-div.pdf

The Great Dionysia and Civic Ideology

European Urbanization 1500-1800

The plant remains

List of maps List of plates Preface Abbreviations Introduction 1. The polis and its politai Part I. The Central Thesis: 2. The pattern of settlement of classical Attika 3. The pattern of land-holding in classical Attika 4. Demes and democracy: local politics and the politics of locality 5. Athenian stone resources and their exploitation 6. Patterns of exploitation in the Athenian silver mines 7. Kinsmen and neighbours, choosing and using 8. The religious factor: confirmation or alternative? Conclusion 9. The replacement of Athens Appendices Plates Notes Index of passages cited General index.

Demos: The Discovery of Classical Attika

A companion to Greek and Roman political thought

The lesser festivals the great or city Dionysia the actors the costumes the chorus the audience the artists of Dionysus.

The dramatic festivals of Athens

The wealth of inscriptions found scattered throughout the Greek world are an invaluable source for the reconstruction of Greek history. The texts themselves, however, are often fragmented and their subjects and background obscure and difficult to understand. This revised paperback edition of Meiggs and Lewis's standard selection (first published in 1969) includes new addenda, in addition to 95 texts covering the period from c.750 BC up to the end of the Peloponnesian War (404 BC). Each text is presented epigraphically and supplemented with a general description of the inscription's appearance and location, a bibliography, and full historical commentary. Many inscriptions are Athenian, shedding light on the political institutions of Athens (archons and ostracism, for example) and foreign affairs, especially her relations with the allies in the Athenian Empire and her role in the Peloponnesian War. Inscriptions from other city states and areas, though varying in date, present very different institutions and events, and help give a more rounded picture of the history of the period. Addenda and a concordance bring the edition fully up to date.

A selection of Greek historical inscriptions to the end of the fifth century B.C

Sparta and Persia

This volume draws together contributions by historians, economists, and archaeologists on the question of the role of markets in the economy of the Greek city-states during the classical and hellenistic periods.

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The ancient Greek economy : markets, households and city-states

The many states of the ancient greek world were governed by small councils and assemblies of adult male citizens The decisions of these bodies took the form of decrees This book collects the evidence for decrees, many of which were inscribed on stone or metal, or appear in literary texts - either directly quoted, or indirectly reported This evidence is used by Professor Rhodes, with Professor Lewis, to study the decision-making procedures of the Greek states, and the extent to which the citizens were actively involved in those procedures from the sixth century BC to the fourth century AD An introductory section on Athens shows what questions can be asked and what answers can be given when there is a good supply of epigraphic material and literary texts This is followed by the catalogue, systematically chronicling the usage of individual states throughout the Greek world with brief discussions of the interesting features in each case The final section disusses the language of the decrees and the working of the political machinery that they reveal

David M. Lewis

Papers

The dramatic festivals of Athens

A selection of Greek historical inscriptions to the end of the fifth century B.C

Sparta and Persia

The ancient Greek economy : markets, households and city-states

The decrees of the Greek states