Tragedy

• Only extant 4th c. example: Rhesus (wrongly attributed to Euripides)
• Revivals of 5th c. playwrights

• Aristophanes, Women in Assembly; Wealth
• Elimination of parabasis
• Fewer contemporary references
• Mythological/allegorical themes

• Menander (344-292): papyri including Dyscolus ("The Grumpy Old Man")
• Chorus marginalized
• Costumes less outrageous
• Situation comedy/comedy of manners
• Stock characters (lovers, old man, pimp, cook, bombastic soldier, etc.)
• Influence on Roman, later comedy

1) Setting: court vs. polis

• Importance of patronage
• Smaller, more select audience
• Reading/recitation (vs. performance)

• Antiquarianism
• Allusiveness
• Belatedness: "anxiety of influence"

Alexandrian Literature

Ptolemaic Patronage

• Archelaus, "Apotheosis of Homer"
• Museum: cultural institute
• Library: 500,000+ scrolls

• Scholar/Librarian/Poet
• Aetia ("Explanations")

• Argonautica ("Voyage of Argo")
• Travel & local legends
• Psychology: Jason & Medea

• Praise of Ptolemies
• Pastoral poetry: singing shepherds

• Mimes discovered on papyrus, 1891
• Meant for performance or reading?

Citadel at Pergamon

• Celebrates defeat of Gauls in 230s
• Altar of Zeus
• Frieze (Gods vs. Giants)
• "Dying Gaul" sculptures

• Aphrodite of Melos ("Venus de Milo")
• Aphrodite, Pan & Eros
• Boy w/ goose
• African boy musician
• Old marketwoman
• Weary boxer

• [Alexander Mosaic from Pompeii]
• ["Life on the Nile" from S. Italy]
• [Odyssey landscapes from Rome]
• Macedonian tomb paintings