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Articles by Marco Catrambone

Lexis 41.1, 2023

The article proposes two solutions for the textually controversial incipit of Sophocles' Antigone... more The article proposes two solutions for the textually controversial incipit of Sophocles' Antigone. In line 4, the corrupt οὔτ' ἄτης ἄτερ can be emended to οὔτ' ἄτης πλέων, an almost forgotten correction once tentatively proposed by Campbell. In lines 2-3, the syntax of Antigone's question appears sound. Firstly, ὁποῖον οὐχὶ νῷν ἔτι ζώσαιν τελεῖ; in line 3 is a question governed by ἆρ' οἶσθ', with subject understood (Ζεύς). Secondly, ὅ τι Ζεὺς τῶν ἀπ' Οἰδίπου κακῶν in line 2 is a pre-posed topicalized clause, with verb understood (τελεῖ or ἐστί), offering the background information from which the ὁποῖον-question takes its cue.

MD, 90.1, pp. 6-75, 2023

The first part of the study challenges the attribution of Aeschylus, fr. 117 αὐτορέγμονος πότμου ... more The first part of the study challenges the attribution of Aeschylus, fr. 117 αὐτορέγμονος πότμου to Cretan Women (Κρῆσσαι) and assigns it to Thracian Women (Θρῇσσαι) as a reference to Ajax’s ‘suicidal fate’: corpus-based investigations are deployed to explain the formation of αὐτορέγμων (from αὐτός and ῥέζω, not ὀρέγω), the meaning of αὐτο- and the nuance of πότμος. The second part reassesses the fragments of Thracian Women and restates its tragic genre, responding to a recent at- tempt to make it a satyr-play.

Mnemosyne, 75.6, 2022

This paper discusses problems of staging, address and word order in Greek tragedy to shed light o... more This paper discusses problems of staging, address and word order in Greek tragedy to shed light on a controversial passage in Sophocles: Aj. 339-343. Ajax's cry within, ἰὼ παῖ παῖ (339), has been alternatively taken to refer to Eurysaces (as suggested by Tecmessa) or to Teucer (whom Ajax mentions at 342-343). The paper argues for Teucer and responds to three arguments against this view: (1) παῖ is not only acceptable, but also effective to address one's sibling; (2) the word order of 342, Τεῦκρον καλῶ, strictly implies 'It's Teucer I'm calling' (not just: 'I call on Teucer'), hence it cannot mark the move to a new addressee; (3) it is hardly possible for Ajax not to hear Tecmessa's 340-341: short interactions across the skēnē door may occur, and the parallel scene at Euripides, Medea 1270a-1278 suggests that Ajax most likely hears Tecmessa's words and corrects her wrong guess.

Classical Philology 117.2, 2022

This article argues for the authenticity of Sophocles Electra 1050–54, deleted in Lloyd-Jones and... more This article argues for the authenticity of Sophocles Electra 1050–54, deleted in Lloyd-Jones and Wilson’s and Finglass’ editions. After a refutation of scholars’ earlier objections (including Stobaeus’ misleading attribution of 1050–51 to Sophocles’ Phaedra), two substantive arguments are advanced in favor of their retention: (1) in terms of scenic grammar, if 1050–54 were removed, Chrysothemis’ exit would be ineptly unnoticed, in contradiction with Sophocles’ usual handling of exits; (2) in terms of conversation analysis, 1050–54 replicate a pre-patterned sequence ubiquitously found in tragedy to terminate rapid dialogues when exits are involved, whereas their absence would make the closing unjustifiably abrupt.

Prometheus, 47, 2021

The paper contends that the gloss μενοινᾷ… ὀρέγεται attributed to Aeschylus (fr. 486) by Schol. M... more The paper contends that the gloss μενοινᾷ… ὀρέγεται attributed to Aeschylus (fr. 486) by Schol. M Od. 13.381 actually refers to Sophocles Ajax 341, as once suggested by Ludwich. The gloss was probably meant to explain μενοινᾷ by means of ὀρέξατο (Il. 6.466) and may be another relic of a broader comparison between S. Aj. 333-595 and Il. 6.369-502 attested in the scholia vetera to Sophocles.

Reconstructing Satyr Drama, edited by A. Antonopoulos, M. Christopoulos and G.W.M. Harrison, 2021

The paper provides the first in-depth investigation of politeness and impoliteness moves in the e... more The paper provides the first in-depth investigation of politeness and impoliteness moves in the extant remains of Greek satyr drama. The evidence is grouped and discussed according to Brown and Levinson's four super-strategies (bald-on-record, positive politeness, negative politeness, off-record), then a discussion of some impoliteness phenomena is provided: over-politeness, mock-politeness and impoliteness.

Oxford Bibliographies in Classics, 2016

The chorus was a standard feature of Greek tragedy (see Choral Interactions and the Structure of ... more The chorus was a standard feature of Greek tragedy (see Choral Interactions and the Structure of Tragedy). Aristotle argued that tragedy originated from Dithyramb (see the Tragic Chorus in Ancient Literary and Philosophical Theory, and Dithyramb), and this may explain its pervasive presence, but tragic authors make the chorus allude to and perform in several other lyric genres (see Relation to Lyric Genres). Recent research on the tragic chorus has focused on performance (see Music, and Dance) and on the social interpretation both of choruses within the play (see Choral Identity) and of the chorus in social life (see Political and Ritual Dimensions, and Performance, Competition, and the Dramatic Festivals). Most of the choral sections were sung (“lyric sections”); they were written in meters that were sharply different from those of recited speech, and much more complex (see Lyric Meters). The language of sung sections was also distinctive (see Style). Choral sections are especially long and complex in Aeschylus (see especially Agamemnon), but their role is equally crucial for the interpretation of the plays of Sophocles and Euripides (see e.g., Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Antigone; Euripides’ Medea, Trojan Women, and Bacchae). The chorus virtually disappeared from 4th-century tragedy, except for short interludes, but in the only extant 4th-century tragedy, the Rhesus attributed to Euripides (see Pseudo-Euripides, Rhesus), the chorus still has a crucial part in the plot.
The entry has the following sections:
Choral Identity;
Political and Ritual Dimensions;
Performance, Competition, and the Dramatic Festivals;
Collections of Essays;
The Tragic Chorus in Ancient and Literary and Philosophical Theory;
Choral Interactions and the Structure of Tragedy (with subsections);
Relation to Lyric Genres (with subsections);
Music;
Dance;
Style;
Lyric Metres (with subsections);
Editions;
Aeschylus (with subsections for each play);
Sophocles (with subsections for each play);
Euripides (with subsections for each play);

Journal of Politeness Research, 12.2, 2016

This paper tests the applicability of Brown and Levinson's concept of off-record politeness on a ... more This paper tests the applicability of Brown and Levinson's concept of off-record politeness on a specific subset of patterned dialogues in Sophocles' extant tragedies, i.e., those involving the participation of female speakers. Brown and Levinson's framework still provides the most suitable model for empirical analysis, but with refinements concerning the interrelation between emic and etic politeness, the notion of face, the extension of analysis to longer stretches of conversation, and the absolute ranking of the super-strategies. The survey suggests that a strict connection between the use of off record and the mitigation of FTAs can be established quite straightforwardly and that the hear-er's reactions to off record can help to identify the valid instances of the phenomenon. Moreover, it is argued that (a) female speakers frequently resort to off record, most notably in cross-sex interactions with men invested with high power; (b) few restricted categories of male speakers, i.e., strangers and lower-status characters, do use off-record politeness towards women; (c) off record in same-sex interactions among female characters is limited to when the imposition is of extraordinary seriousness.

The final words of Euripides’ Iphigenia in Tauris are vexed by several difficulties concerning th... more The final words of Euripides’ Iphigenia in Tauris are vexed by several difficulties concerning the distribution of lines to speakers. In IT 1490–1, the problem affects the general interpretation of the ending, which seems to suggest clearly that the Chorus survives and returns to Greece. If 1490¬¬–1 are delivered by the Chorus, as Seidler suggests, it is to be assumed that the Greek women are not allowed to go back home with Iphigenia, Orestes and Pylades: this explicit does not square with the evidence of the drama as a whole. The restoration of L’s attribution of the lines to Athena (Kovacs) would fit well with the ultimate destiny of the Chorus, yet it raises the problem of admitting an unparalleled metrical transition from trimeters to anapaests by the same speaker; moreover, it creates an awkward repetition and reduplication of the content of 1487–9. The attribution to Thoas, who is in any case unable to leave until 1489, solves the problem and gives a better sense to 1490–1: Thoas is here urging the Chorus to leave the stage and sail towards Greece, trusting Athena’s recent deliberations. The mistake of attribution in L may reflect an original distribution in which changes of speaker were marked at 1486 (or 1487), 1490 and 1492.

Book Reviews by Marco Catrambone

Conferences/Workshops organized by Marco Catrambone

We are delighted to announce a Call for Papers on non-verbal communication of (im)politeness in a... more We are delighted to announce a Call for Papers on non-verbal communication of (im)politeness in ancient sources as part of the 14th Celtic Conference in Classics to be held in Coimbra from 11 to 14 July 2023 (for further information, see https://cechfluc.wixsite.com/ccclassics2023). Please circulate the text to anyone who might be interested.

Conference Presentations by Marco Catrambone

Dissertations by Marco Catrambone

Lexis 41.1, 2023

The article proposes two solutions for the textually controversial incipit of Sophocles' Antigone... more The article proposes two solutions for the textually controversial incipit of Sophocles' Antigone. In line 4, the corrupt οὔτ' ἄτης ἄτερ can be emended to οὔτ' ἄτης πλέων, an almost forgotten correction once tentatively proposed by Campbell. In lines 2-3, the syntax of Antigone's question appears sound. Firstly, ὁποῖον οὐχὶ νῷν ἔτι ζώσαιν τελεῖ; in line 3 is a question governed by ἆρ' οἶσθ', with subject understood (Ζεύς). Secondly, ὅ τι Ζεὺς τῶν ἀπ' Οἰδίπου κακῶν in line 2 is a pre-posed topicalized clause, with verb understood (τελεῖ or ἐστί), offering the background information from which the ὁποῖον-question takes its cue.

MD, 90.1, pp. 6-75, 2023

The first part of the study challenges the attribution of Aeschylus, fr. 117 αὐτορέγμονος πότμου ... more The first part of the study challenges the attribution of Aeschylus, fr. 117 αὐτορέγμονος πότμου to Cretan Women (Κρῆσσαι) and assigns it to Thracian Women (Θρῇσσαι) as a reference to Ajax’s ‘suicidal fate’: corpus-based investigations are deployed to explain the formation of αὐτορέγμων (from αὐτός and ῥέζω, not ὀρέγω), the meaning of αὐτο- and the nuance of πότμος. The second part reassesses the fragments of Thracian Women and restates its tragic genre, responding to a recent at- tempt to make it a satyr-play.

Mnemosyne, 75.6, 2022

This paper discusses problems of staging, address and word order in Greek tragedy to shed light o... more This paper discusses problems of staging, address and word order in Greek tragedy to shed light on a controversial passage in Sophocles: Aj. 339-343. Ajax's cry within, ἰὼ παῖ παῖ (339), has been alternatively taken to refer to Eurysaces (as suggested by Tecmessa) or to Teucer (whom Ajax mentions at 342-343). The paper argues for Teucer and responds to three arguments against this view: (1) παῖ is not only acceptable, but also effective to address one's sibling; (2) the word order of 342, Τεῦκρον καλῶ, strictly implies 'It's Teucer I'm calling' (not just: 'I call on Teucer'), hence it cannot mark the move to a new addressee; (3) it is hardly possible for Ajax not to hear Tecmessa's 340-341: short interactions across the skēnē door may occur, and the parallel scene at Euripides, Medea 1270a-1278 suggests that Ajax most likely hears Tecmessa's words and corrects her wrong guess.

Classical Philology 117.2, 2022

This article argues for the authenticity of Sophocles Electra 1050–54, deleted in Lloyd-Jones and... more This article argues for the authenticity of Sophocles Electra 1050–54, deleted in Lloyd-Jones and Wilson’s and Finglass’ editions. After a refutation of scholars’ earlier objections (including Stobaeus’ misleading attribution of 1050–51 to Sophocles’ Phaedra), two substantive arguments are advanced in favor of their retention: (1) in terms of scenic grammar, if 1050–54 were removed, Chrysothemis’ exit would be ineptly unnoticed, in contradiction with Sophocles’ usual handling of exits; (2) in terms of conversation analysis, 1050–54 replicate a pre-patterned sequence ubiquitously found in tragedy to terminate rapid dialogues when exits are involved, whereas their absence would make the closing unjustifiably abrupt.

Prometheus, 47, 2021

The paper contends that the gloss μενοινᾷ… ὀρέγεται attributed to Aeschylus (fr. 486) by Schol. M... more The paper contends that the gloss μενοινᾷ… ὀρέγεται attributed to Aeschylus (fr. 486) by Schol. M Od. 13.381 actually refers to Sophocles Ajax 341, as once suggested by Ludwich. The gloss was probably meant to explain μενοινᾷ by means of ὀρέξατο (Il. 6.466) and may be another relic of a broader comparison between S. Aj. 333-595 and Il. 6.369-502 attested in the scholia vetera to Sophocles.

Reconstructing Satyr Drama, edited by A. Antonopoulos, M. Christopoulos and G.W.M. Harrison, 2021

The paper provides the first in-depth investigation of politeness and impoliteness moves in the e... more The paper provides the first in-depth investigation of politeness and impoliteness moves in the extant remains of Greek satyr drama. The evidence is grouped and discussed according to Brown and Levinson's four super-strategies (bald-on-record, positive politeness, negative politeness, off-record), then a discussion of some impoliteness phenomena is provided: over-politeness, mock-politeness and impoliteness.

Oxford Bibliographies in Classics, 2016

The chorus was a standard feature of Greek tragedy (see Choral Interactions and the Structure of ... more The chorus was a standard feature of Greek tragedy (see Choral Interactions and the Structure of Tragedy). Aristotle argued that tragedy originated from Dithyramb (see the Tragic Chorus in Ancient Literary and Philosophical Theory, and Dithyramb), and this may explain its pervasive presence, but tragic authors make the chorus allude to and perform in several other lyric genres (see Relation to Lyric Genres). Recent research on the tragic chorus has focused on performance (see Music, and Dance) and on the social interpretation both of choruses within the play (see Choral Identity) and of the chorus in social life (see Political and Ritual Dimensions, and Performance, Competition, and the Dramatic Festivals). Most of the choral sections were sung (“lyric sections”); they were written in meters that were sharply different from those of recited speech, and much more complex (see Lyric Meters). The language of sung sections was also distinctive (see Style). Choral sections are especially long and complex in Aeschylus (see especially Agamemnon), but their role is equally crucial for the interpretation of the plays of Sophocles and Euripides (see e.g., Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Antigone; Euripides’ Medea, Trojan Women, and Bacchae). The chorus virtually disappeared from 4th-century tragedy, except for short interludes, but in the only extant 4th-century tragedy, the Rhesus attributed to Euripides (see Pseudo-Euripides, Rhesus), the chorus still has a crucial part in the plot.
The entry has the following sections:
Choral Identity;
Political and Ritual Dimensions;
Performance, Competition, and the Dramatic Festivals;
Collections of Essays;
The Tragic Chorus in Ancient and Literary and Philosophical Theory;
Choral Interactions and the Structure of Tragedy (with subsections);
Relation to Lyric Genres (with subsections);
Music;
Dance;
Style;
Lyric Metres (with subsections);
Editions;
Aeschylus (with subsections for each play);
Sophocles (with subsections for each play);
Euripides (with subsections for each play);

Journal of Politeness Research, 12.2, 2016

This paper tests the applicability of Brown and Levinson's concept of off-record politeness on a ... more This paper tests the applicability of Brown and Levinson's concept of off-record politeness on a specific subset of patterned dialogues in Sophocles' extant tragedies, i.e., those involving the participation of female speakers. Brown and Levinson's framework still provides the most suitable model for empirical analysis, but with refinements concerning the interrelation between emic and etic politeness, the notion of face, the extension of analysis to longer stretches of conversation, and the absolute ranking of the super-strategies. The survey suggests that a strict connection between the use of off record and the mitigation of FTAs can be established quite straightforwardly and that the hear-er's reactions to off record can help to identify the valid instances of the phenomenon. Moreover, it is argued that (a) female speakers frequently resort to off record, most notably in cross-sex interactions with men invested with high power; (b) few restricted categories of male speakers, i.e., strangers and lower-status characters, do use off-record politeness towards women; (c) off record in same-sex interactions among female characters is limited to when the imposition is of extraordinary seriousness.

The final words of Euripides’ Iphigenia in Tauris are vexed by several difficulties concerning th... more The final words of Euripides’ Iphigenia in Tauris are vexed by several difficulties concerning the distribution of lines to speakers. In IT 1490–1, the problem affects the general interpretation of the ending, which seems to suggest clearly that the Chorus survives and returns to Greece. If 1490¬¬–1 are delivered by the Chorus, as Seidler suggests, it is to be assumed that the Greek women are not allowed to go back home with Iphigenia, Orestes and Pylades: this explicit does not square with the evidence of the drama as a whole. The restoration of L’s attribution of the lines to Athena (Kovacs) would fit well with the ultimate destiny of the Chorus, yet it raises the problem of admitting an unparalleled metrical transition from trimeters to anapaests by the same speaker; moreover, it creates an awkward repetition and reduplication of the content of 1487–9. The attribution to Thoas, who is in any case unable to leave until 1489, solves the problem and gives a better sense to 1490–1: Thoas is here urging the Chorus to leave the stage and sail towards Greece, trusting Athena’s recent deliberations. The mistake of attribution in L may reflect an original distribution in which changes of speaker were marked at 1486 (or 1487), 1490 and 1492.

We are delighted to announce a Call for Papers on non-verbal communication of (im)politeness in a... more We are delighted to announce a Call for Papers on non-verbal communication of (im)politeness in ancient sources as part of the 14th Celtic Conference in Classics to be held in Coimbra from 11 to 14 July 2023 (for further information, see https://cechfluc.wixsite.com/ccclassics2023). Please circulate the text to anyone who might be interested.

Lexis. Poetica, retorica e comunicazione nella tradizione classica, 2023

The fields of interest and purpose of study of the journal 'Lexis' are declared in the subtitle o... more The fields of interest and purpose of study of the journal 'Lexis' are declared in the subtitle on the title page: Poetics, Rhetoric and Communication in the Classical Tradition. Special attention was given, in the initial phase, to textual criticism understood as hermeneutics of the ancient and modern tradition. The journal gradually opened up to literary, historical and philosophical contributions with reference to the ancient world.

by Andreas P . Antonopoulos, Menelaos Christopoulos, Ralf Krumeich, Jordi Redondo, Mali A Skotheim, Riccardo Palmisciano, Pavlos Sfyroeras, Nikos Charalabopoulos, Hollister Pritchett, Willeon Slenders, Marco Catrambone, Patrick O'Sullivan, Pierre Voelke, and Johanna Michels

For the first time one volume provides the reader with scholarly examination of the genre of saty... more For the first time one volume provides the reader with scholarly examination of the genre of satyr drama by experts in multiple fields: philology, textual criticism, literary interpretation, ancient reception, and archaeology. Sections are devoted to the three most prolific writers of satyr drama, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides; in addition, new trends in the genre are explored through late Classical and Hellenistic writers.