It was to be understood that I referred particularly to
The Bacchae in my references to Athenian drama and the
spread of Dionysus' cult as a cultural phenomena, along
with Athens' Theater of Dionysus, the spring festival
performances during the Dionysia, and the altar for
sacrifice there--Euripides' Pentheus being the sacrificial
victim's stand-in in the play itself. Euripides' play is
related, ironically, to the divine patron of the Athenian
theater in somewhat the way Sophocles' Oedipus Rex is
related, again ironically, to Apollo and the theater of
Apollo at Delphi.
The first "Greek Theater" I ever saw was the one at the
Univ. of California in my home town of Berkeley. The
first Greek play I ever saw was Yeat's trans. of Oedipus
Rex, but performed indoors, at UC in 1957. But to bring
this thread back to the Renaissance--in this case the
renaissance of theater: the first play I saw outdoors in
the Greek Theater just mentioned was Shakespeare's Anthony
and Cleopatra--very appropriate. For Plutarch describes
Cleopatra’s self-presentation as a Roman deity: “And now
for the person of herself: she was laid under a pavilion
of cloth of gold of tissue, appareled and attired like the
goddess Venus commonly drawn in picture.” Going this one
better, Shakespeare’s Enobarbus describes the queen’s
appearance as “o’er picturing that Venus where we see /
The fancy outwork nature.” Apotheosizing nature
hyperbolically, the allusion shows eros reaching beyond
ordinary apprehensions to imagine surpassing beauty “in a
brow of Egypt” (MND V.i) But it is Plutarch who supplies
the socio-mythic rationale: “there went a rumor in the
people's mouths that the goddess Venus was come to play
with the god Bacchus for the general good of all Asia.”
We note the association of Anthony, then, with both
Bacchus and Hercules.
To the bibliography I might add besides Dodds some more
general works: Tyrell, Wm. Blake, and Frieda S. Brown:
Athenian Myths and Institutions: Words in Action (New
York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991); Vernant,
Jean-Pierre: Myth and Society in Ancient Greece, trans.
Janet Lloyd (Sussex: Harvester Press / Atlantic Highlands,
N.J.: Humanities Press, 1980); Vernant, Jean-Pierre and
Pierre Vidal-Naquet: Myth and Tragedy in Ancient Greece,
trans. Janet Lloyd (New York: Zone Books, 1988); Kerényi,
Karl: Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life,
trans. Ralph Manheim (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1976).
I look forward to the translations of Tibullus. -- Jim N
On Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:37:51 +0900
Steven Willett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> On Nov 14, 2011, at 1:00 PM, Tom Bishop (ARTS ENG)
>wrote:
>
>> Bacchus' connection with Osiris is also presented in the
>>middle lines of
>> Tibullus 1.7, the poem for Mesalla's birthday, possibly
>>in an attempt to
>> rehabilitate Egyptian cult after the disrepute it had
>>been thrust into
>> during and after the last civil war.
>
> Although this comes a bit late, there's a very thorough
>discussion of the links between Mesalla and Osiris in
>Maltby's commentary on Tibullus I.7 (Robert Maltby,
>"Tibullus Elegies: Text, Introduction and Commentary"
>Francis Cairns 2002). Maltby traces the subtle
>interweaving of certain words and ideas that highlight
>the connection. And Tibullus wasn't just trying to
>rehabilitate Egyptian cult but the country itself along
>with the religion as Konstan argued in 1978. The
>contemporary propaganda against Egypt was quite strong,
>and I.7 appears to argue "for the rehabilitation of this
>rich and potentially dangerous province and for its
>peaceful integration into the culture of Rome" (Maltby
>281).
>
> Tibullus is a preoccupation right now since I'm doing a
>new verse translation of Books I and II including
>introduction and commentary in the Peter Green mold. I.3
>and 1.10, the two greatest antiwar poems in Augustan
>literature, have already been published by Arion.
> Another is coming soon. All the existing English
>translations are essentially worthless as poetry and
>deficient in philology, though Guy Lee's "Tibullus
>Elegies" (Francis Carins) has some witty, forceful and
>occasionally eccentric verse. He make no effort,
>however, to reflect the elegiac distich structure.
>
> I'm surprised no one has to my knowledge mentioned
>Euripides' "Bacchae." Dodd's old OUP commentary is still
>highly useful, but Richard Seaford has published a more
>recent edition and commentary in the Aris&Phillips series
>(now under Oxbow Books/David Brown Book Co.). Seaford
>traces the evolution of the Dionysiac cult in some detail
>and explains its role in the polis. He also provides a
>rice collection of references to outside literature. His
>own take on the play, which I don't share, is
>psychoanalytic.
>
>
> Steven Willett
> [log in to unmask]
> [log in to unmask]
> [log in to unmask]
> US phone: (503) 390-1070
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James Nohrnberg
Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219
Univ. of Virginia
P.O Box 400121
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
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