Ancient Drama

The Violent Hero

Heracles in the Greek Imagination Katherine Lu Hsu, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, USA Uses the mythological hero Heracles as a lens through which to investigate the nature of heroic violence in Archaic and Classical Greek literature, from Homer through to Aristophanes. Katherine Lu Hsu argues that as the tradition of his apotheosis becomes established in the 6th century BCE and his religious and political status grows, Heracles’ violence becomes more problematic and requires greater intellectual scrutiny. Lu Hsu also explores the evolving attitudes towards individual violence in the ancient Greek world while also shedding light on timeless debates about the nature of violence itself.

UK December 2020 • US December 2020 • 256 pages • 10 bw illus HB 9781350153714 • £85.00 / $115.00 ePub 9781350153738 • £76.50 / $94.85 ePdf 9781350153721 • £76.50 / $94.85 Bloomsbury Academic

Looking at Agamemnon

Edited by David Stuttard, Independent Scholar, UK This collection of 12 essays, written by prominent international academics, brings together a wide range of topics surrounding Aeschylus' choice and divine agency, to its relationship with earlier literary works and its modern reception. Intended for school students and undergraduates, as well as teachers and practitioners of drama, the volume includes a performer-friendly and accessible English translation by David Stuttard. Bloomsbury Academic

Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy

Thomas Harrison, University of St Andrews, UK

Euripides: Electra

Rush Rehm, Stanford University, USA This new student introduction to Euripides' fascinating re-interpretation of the story of Orestes and his sister shows through an emphasis on its theatricality just how compelling the play remains to this day. Rush Rehm addresses the most important questions about Electra, from how its shift in tone between tragedy and humour should be interpreted, to why Euripides arranged the plot as he did, in contrast with earlier versions of the myth.

Menander: Samia

Matthew Wright, University of Exeter, UK The book offers a scene-by-scene reading of Menander’s play Samia, combining close attention to detail with broader consideration of major themes. Samia is one of the best-preserved examples of fourth-century Greek comedy. Celebrated within antiquity but subsequently lost for many years, it miraculously came back to light as a result of Egyptian papyrus finds during the 20th century. This companion offers a critical introduction to Menander’s play, suitable for students, teachers, actors, directors and other readers. It brings the play to life by explaining how it achieves its comic effects and how it fits within a broader context of fourth-century Greek drama and society.

UK November 2020 • US November 2020 • 176 pages • 2 bw illus PB 9781350124769 • £17.99 / $24.95 • HB 9781350124776 • £55.00 / $75.00 ePub 9781350124783 • £16.19 / $20.93 Series: Bloomsbury Ancient Comedy Companions • Bloomsbury Academic

Agamemnon, from the salient themes of murder,

UK February 2021 • US February 2021 • 256 pages HB 9781350149533 • £85.00 / $115.00 ePub 9781350149557 • £76.50 / $94.85 ePdf 9781350149540 • £76.50 / $94.85

ePdf 9781350124790 • £16.19 / $20.93

UK December 2020 • US December 2020 • 200 pages • 5 bw illus HB 9781350095670 • £70.00 / $95.00 ePub 9781350095694 • £63.00 / $78.84 ePdf 9781350095687 • £63.00 / $78.84 Series: Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy • Bloomsbury Academic

Looking at Ajax

Edited by David Stuttard, Independent Scholar, UK This collection of 12 essays by leading academics from across the UK, US and Ireland draws together many of the themes explored in Ajax, from how Sophocles exploits audiences’ awareness of mythology and visual arts, to questions of politics and religion, staging and characterization, changing perceptions of heroic, and the therapeutic use to which the play is put today. The essays are accompanied by David Stuttard’s introduction and performer-friendly, accurate and easily accessible English translation.

UK November 2020 • US November 2020 • 248 pages • 8 bw illus PB 9781350190610 • £28.99 / $39.95 Previously published in HB 9781350072305 ePub 9781350072329 • £76.50 / $94.85 ePdf 9781350072312 • £76.50 / $94.85 Bloomsbury Academic

Seneca: Medea

Helen Slaney, Roehampton University, UK This companion volume sketches the essentials of Seneca’s play and at the same time situates it within an interpretive tradition. It also uses Medea to illustrate key features of Senecan dramaturgy, the way in which language functions as a mode of theatrical representation and the way in which individuals are embedded in their surrounding conditions, resonating dissonantly with the principles of Roman Stoicism. By interweaving some of the play’s subsequent receptions, theatrical and textual, into critical analysis of Medea as dramatic poetry, this companion volume encourages the student to come to grips immediately with the ancient text’s inherent multiplicity.

UK August 2020 • US August 2020 • 208 pages • 5 bw illus PB 9781350177475 • £22.99 / $30.95 Previously published in HB 9781474258616 ePub 9781474258623 • £20.69 / $25.86 ePdf 9781474258630 • £20.69 / $25.86 Series: Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy • Bloomsbury Academic