Efstathia Athanasopoulou | University of Patras (original) (raw)

TEACHING DOCUMENTS by Efstathia Athanasopoulou

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From ancient Greek drama to (post) post modern Greek and international cinema, theater and litera... more From ancient Greek drama to (post) post modern Greek and international cinema, theater and literature.

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Website Short Papers by Efstathia Athanasopoulou

2015 Performing Epic, Genre-bending cncerning the classical canon

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2015 The Human in Crisis A Cyborgean Theatrical Rendering of Thucydides

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2015 Why red and blue?

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2015 Why Jocasta?

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Papers by Efstathia Athanasopoulou

The aim of this paper is to explore the use of the word κύκλος and its derivatives (κυκλικός, κύ... more The aim of this paper is to explore the use of the word κύκλος and its derivatives
(κυκλικός, κύκλιος, κυκλικῶς) as literary terms for the description of the Epic Cycle. Given
the prominent meanings of the word in the Iliad (wheel, shield), it is suggested that the
description of the shield of Achilles (Iliad, Book 18) and the narrative about human ages
in Hesiod’s Works and Days constitute an early cyclic conception of the totality of
mythological tradition. The emphasis of classical period on the special properties of the
cycle is examined in association with Aristotle’s application of the word for the
characterization of epic poetry. The scope of the term in Hellenistic times is explored
with special interest for the poets and sagas to which it is ascribed. The confining of the
word by the school of Alexandria to the literary criticism of epic poetry as well as its
use for the description of linguistic and stylistic features of that poetry is discussed.
Finally, the reception of the Epic cycle in late antiquity is studied with relevance to the
endowment of the term with new connotations and the content of Epic Cycle which has
survived until now.

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Conference Presentations by Efstathia Athanasopoulou

Conference to be held at the University of Patras, 10 -12 June 2016

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Classical Reception and the Human - Programme Conference to be held at the University of Patras, ... more Classical Reception and the Human - Programme
Conference to be held at the University of Patras, 10 -12 June 2016

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2014 (24-25 November) Senate House, University of London AMPRAW 2014

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2014 (6-7 September) Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, Failure in Ancient Literature,... more 2014 (6-7 September) Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, Failure in Ancient Literature, AMPAL 2014 The aim of this paper is [not to fail] to address the multifaceted configurations of democratic polis in the failed genre of satyr drama. Firstly, the satyr drama has primarily been received as a lesser and inartistic genre whose weaknesses can be encapsulated in Bates’ phrase “when one looks over what is left of these satyr dramas he cannot help being surprised that the great tragic poet who produced such masterpieces as the Oedipus Tyrannus, the Antigone and the Electra could stoop to such composition”. Secondly, the contemporary scholarship, despite asking questions about the relation between tragic drama and democracy, failed to ask the same questions for the satyr drama which followed exactly after the tragic trilogy. Instead, the latter was confined to the realm of ritual-centered approaches which more or less have nothing to do with politics. In the framework of this paper, we aim at examining how processes and structures of a democratic polis function in the (fragmentary) satyr plays with a special emphasis on the chorus and its actions. The processes of agency, persuasion, judgment are going to be explored. Furthermore, we are arguing that the repetitive failures of satyr chorus to accomplish successively any task re-informs our understanding of the democratic polis. The recurrent failures performed by a collective community in the context of Great Dionysia are of utmost importance for the construal of democratic polis.

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2014 (25-30 August) 14th Congress of the International Federation of the Societies of Classical S... more 2014 (25-30 August) 14th Congress of the International Federation of the Societies of Classical Studies (FIEC), Bordeaux “ The aim of this paper is to explore the dynamics of the horizontal transnational axis of classical reception. Güthenke (Classical Receptions Journal 2013 Vol.5, No.2) has recently called for a theoretical testing of a spatial multi-cultural axis of classical reception suggesting Damrosch’s model for the study of world literature as a springboard for further contemplation. In this working framework we will examine three versions of Sophocles’ Antigone realized at different corners of the globe between 1980s and 2000s: Gambaro’s Antígona Furiosa (1986, Argentina), Ósófisan’s Tègònni: An African Antigone (Nigeria (first production at United States 1994)) and Jugindro’s theatrical production of Sophocles’ Antigone (Manipur 2004). The study of the different cultural contexts of the aforementioned plays will enhance our understanding of the dissemination of classics in different postcolonial territories thus enlightening the vertical axis of reception of Antigone. Gambaro’s play is usually studied as a post-Dirty War Argentinian rendering of a universal text, Ósófisan’s Tègònni participates in a discursive struggle not only with Creon but also with Antigone, whilst Jugindro chooses an ancient Greek rather than a Shakespearean play to comment upon via regional performative techniques. Communalities across the horizontal axis such as metaphoric sisterhoods and brotherhoods and Antigone’s resurrection and repetitive return to life can stimulate insightful readings of Sophocles’ tragedy beyond the interpretative tradition informed by the Hegelian model of hierarchized oppositional dialectics.

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2014 (June 30-July 1) London/Oxford, 14th Annual Postgraduate Symposium on ancient Drama ‘Spaces ... more 2014 (June 30-July 1) London/Oxford, 14th Annual Postgraduate Symposium on ancient Drama ‘Spaces & Places in the Theory and Practice of Greek and Roman Drama The aim of this paper is to explore the dynamics of the horizontal transnational axis of classical reception. Güthenke (Classical Receptions Journal 2013 Vol.5, No.2) has recently called for a theoretical testing of a spatial multi-cultural axis of classical reception suggesting Damrosch’s model for the study of world literature as a springboard for further contemplation. In this working framework we will examine three versions of Sophocles’ Antigone realized at different corners of the globe between 1980s and 2000s: Gambaro’s Antígona Furiosa (1986, Argentina), Ósófisan’s Tègònni: An African Antigone (Nigeria (first production at United States 1994)) and Jugindro’s theatrical production of Sophocles’ Antigone (Manipur 2004). On the one hand, the study of the different cultural contexts of the aforementioned plays will enhance our understanding of the dissemination of classics in different postcolonial territories (Latin America, Africa and India) thus enlightening the vertical axis of reception of Antigone. On the other hand, communalities across the horizontal axis such as metaphoric sisterhoods and brotherhoods and Antigone’s resurrection and repetitive return to life can stimulate insightful readings of Sophocles’ tragedy beyond the interpretative tradition informed by the Hegelian model of hierarchized oppositional dialectics.

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2014 (April 13-16) University of Nottingham, The Classical Association Annual Conference 2014 The... more 2014 (April 13-16) University of Nottingham, The Classical Association Annual Conference 2014 The aim of this paper is to discuss the first Cambridge Greek play, Ajax performed in ancient Greek from the
29th of November until the 2nd of December 1882 at Saint Andrews Hall. In particular, we are interested in
examining the debates on the ancient and modern aspects of representation of a play with meager
performance history as they are reflected on newspapers of the period. On the one hand, the language of the
play, the interpretation of female parts by male students, the statuesque nature of costumes and the
archaeological reconstruction of scenery and theatrical space aim at an authentic representation of Sophocles’
drama. On the other hand, the diptych nature of the play is conceived as alien to modern ideas about dramatic
structure leading to a considerable reduction of lines from the second half of the play in the acting edition of
Jebb. Masks are considered intolerable for modern tastes while Mr. Macklin is praised for his role as Tecmessa
thus adding to the ancient play a romantic tone anticipated by modern audiences of the period. In conclusion,
it is suggested that Ajax in 1882 is the instantiation of the belief that “a modern representation of an ancient
classic must always be more or less a compromise “(Times, 4th Dec. 1882).

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2014 (March 11) Senate House, London, Trivium: Classical Intersections Seminar Series (with Cater... more 2014 (March 11) Senate House, London, Trivium: Classical Intersections Seminar Series (with Caterina Tsiouma) The aim of this collaborative paper is to test the axes of reception and transmission of classics focusing on the intersection of the diachronic and synchronic axes in the media of fiction and theatre and on a national and international spectrum.
Τhe aim of the first section is two-fold: Firstly, it aims at illustrating some aspects of the reception of Oedipus, the Sophocles’ hero, in the contemporary modern Greek novel. Secondly, it reflects on the exploitation of the diachronically formatted mythological material and the new meaning ascribed in Modernism. Taking into consideration examples of recently published Greek novels, we discuss a further option of the myth’s dynamic usage in the vertical “intra-linguistic” axis. Reading and examining works such as Rhea Galanaki’s Fires of Judah, ashes of Oedipus (2009), Nikos Xenios’ A Triplex Apartment for Oedipus (2012), Kostas Kamaras’ Oedipus center-back (2003), it explores how the meaningful figure of the classical hero functions differently in modern writing. In particular, Oedipus is not the protagonist of Galanaki’s novel, despite his intense appearance in paratextual elements (see G. Genette for the term) or on simultaneous narration with the realistic plot. However, the classic version of the myth forms somehow part of the totally contemporary context. Galanaki utilizes traditional medieval sources (Anonym’s poem “Old and New Testament”, Heraklion-Crete, 15th-16th century) and Cretan oral records (G.A. Megas, 1940-1), in which the biblical Judas shares the fate of Oedipus. This material is unfolding alongside the novel’s realistic story about a young Jewish woman living for a while in a Cretan village and facing the hatred of the locals. The presence of Judas as Oedipus and the absent and mediated figure of Oedipus make us reflect on otherness, absolute human evil, Judeo-phobia and neo-racism in a neohellenic society context. In Xenios’ novel the protagonist talks with Oedipus at Colonus and Sophocles in a crucial point of his life on the path of self-consciousness, while he reads the classic text and adopts similar or not attributes with Oedipus. Kamaras wrote a humorous novel about football and ridicules the reader’s expectations with his book’s title. Essentially, the peculiarity of the emergence and reception of Oedipus' myth, examined in the prism of Modern writing and literary criticism (intertextuality (J. Kristeva), dialogism (M. Bakhtin), feminism), lies in the translucent and multileveled narrative structure and is enriched by the bidirectional and interactive process of reading.
The aim of the second section of this paper is to explore the dynamics of the horizontal transnational axis of reception of classics. Güthenke (Classical Receptions Journal 2013 Vol.5, No.2) has recently called for a theoretical testing of a spatial and thus multi-cultural axis of classical reception suggesting Damrosch’s model for the study of world literature as a springboard for further contemplation. In this working framework we will examine three versions of Sophocles’ Antigone realized at different corners of the globe between 1980s and 2000s: Griselda Gambaro’s Antígona Furiosa (1986, Argentina), Fémi Ósófisan’s Tègònni: An African Antigone (Nigeria (first production at United States 1994)) and Kshetrimayum Jugindro Singh’s theatrical production of Sophocles’ Antigone (Manipur 2004). The study of the different cultural contexts of the aforementioned plays will enhance our understanding of the dissemination of classics in different territories thus enlightening the vertical axis of reception of Antigone. In particular, it will be suggested that the different uses of the tragic myth in each geographical area are denotative of different notions of postcolonialism/neocolonialism. Gambaro’s play is usually studied as a post-Dirty War Argentinian rendering of a universal text, Ósófisan’s Tègònni participates in a discursive struggle not only with Creon but also with Antigone, whilst Jugindo chooses an ancient Greek rather than a Shakespearean play to comment upon via regional performative techniques. However, except for the cultural and sociopolitical differences, interesting communalities emerge as well from the comparison. The metaphoric sisterhoods and brotherhoods which Antigone “formulates” onstage articulate a collective rather than an individual agon against firm sovereign Creontes. Furthermore, the emphasis on Antigone’s resurrection from death and repetitive return to life constitutes a new politics of an “agonistic humanism” (for the term see Honig 2013) stemming from a metaphoric natal perspective of human existence. Finally, a comparison of contemporary multi-cultural “re-writings” of Antigone triangulated via the vertical axis of reception can stimulate insightful readings of Sophocles’ tragedy beyond the interpretative tradition informed by the Hegelian model of hierarchized oppositional dialectics.
On the whole this interdisciplinary approach aims at challenging the limits of the intersected axes asking whether the vertical chain of reception privileges certain themes and figures (eg. Oedipus as exemplary figure of enlightened humanism over Antigone as a model of post-Enlightment universal humanism) or certain genres (eg. fiction over drama) which the horizontal disrupted axis would help us better delineate.

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2013(December 5-6), University of Exeter, AMPRAW 2013 The aim of this paper is to discuss Efua Su... more 2013(December 5-6), University of Exeter, AMPRAW 2013 The aim of this paper is to discuss Efua Sutherland’s Edufa as a postcolonial dramatic adaptation of Euripides’ Alcestis in the first independent and autonomous African nation, Ghana (1957). Sutherland, a female Ghanaian playwright who was the leading figure behind the establishment and function of contemporary professional Ghanaian theatre both as a founder and administrator of the Ghana Drama Studio and as director of the School of Music and Drama at the University of Ghana (Legon) produces Edufa in 1962 concurrently with Brathwaite’s presentation of Odale’s Choice (Ghanaian adaptation of Antigone). In Sutherland’s play, Edufa, a contemporary analogue of Admetus driven by his insatiable longing for social esteem and power seems to undervalue traditional moral African values. On the other hand, Ampoma his wife chooses to die for the husband she loves. Senchi, an African Herculean figure dressed in oversized suit and holding a leather suitcase is proud of his “shabby” identity and hymns the joyful side of life while singing a traveler’s tales. Sutherland uses the ancient myth as kernel to articulate dramatically tensions inherent in the African society of the time when traditional values are contrasted with newly imported and appropriated ethics. Edufa’s behaviour is examined as an instantiation of the neocolonial indigenous powerful and corrupted politics. In addition, the efficacy and validity of African ritualistic practices and Yoruba religious beliefs are being explored in the context of nation in process of the building of its identity. Finally, the definite death of Ampoma in the end of the play constitutes a means for the expression of the victimization of woman in Ghanaian society and inaugurates a tragic finale instead of the optimistic ending of Euripides’ Alcestis which was presented in 438 in the place of a satyr drama.

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2013 (June 24-26), Business School, University of Leeds, Hercules: a Hero for all Ages [Internati... more 2013 (June 24-26), Business School, University of Leeds, Hercules: a Hero for all Ages [International Conference] This paper aspires to trace a relation between the phrase “the lion skin does not make you Heracles” (Libanius, Against Aristeidis On Behalf of Dancers § 53, Chorikius’ Apology of Mimes §77) and the phrase “the garments do not make the priest”....

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2013 (June 18-19) London/Oxford, 13th Annual Postgraduate Symposium on ancient Drama, ‘Pastness/B... more 2013 (June 18-19) London/Oxford, 13th Annual Postgraduate Symposium on ancient Drama, ‘Pastness/Belatedness in the Theory and Practice of Greek and Roman Drama’ The aim of this paper is to discuss the first Cambridge Greek play, Ajax performed in ancient Greek from the 29th of November until the 2nd of December 1882 at Saint Andrews Hall. In particular, we are interested in examining the debates on the ancient and modern aspects of representation of a play with meager performance history as they are reflected on newspapers of the period. On the one hand, the language of the play, the interpretation of female parts by male students, the statuesque nature of costumes and the archaeological reconstruction of scenery and theatrical space aim at an authentic representation of Sophocles’ drama. On the other hand, the diptych nature of the play is conceived as alien to modern ideas about dramatic structure leading to a considerable reduction of lines from the second half of the play in the acting edition of Jebb. Masks are considered intolerable for modern tastes while Mr. Macklin is praised for his role as Tecmessa thus adding to the ancient play a romantic tone anticipated by modern audiences of the period. In conclusion, it is suggested that Ajax in 1882 is the instantiation of the belief that “a modern representation of an ancient classic must always be more or less a compromise “(Times, 4th Dec. 1882).

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2013 (June 14-16), Uppsala University, Sweden, The Trojan Wars and the Making of the Modern World... more 2013 (June 14-16), Uppsala University, Sweden, The Trojan Wars and the Making of the Modern World: Classical Reception after Antiquity [International Conference] The aim of this paper is to discuss the reception of the Trojan War in an episode of Disney’s animated TV series Hercules firstly broadcasted in 1998. In this re-telling of the myth the “war” is happening between two different academic institutions the Promethean (Athenian-democratic) and the Trojan Academy. Hercules newly-elected king for the homecoming week is about to save Helen from the Trojans together with his best friend Icarus and rival Adonis, Cassandra, Ajax and an Amazon with the highly technological invention of wooden horse. Homer is re-conceptualized as a journalist for the “Greek World News” who although interviewing the young teenagers, decides to write his own different, exaggerative and national version of the events. This reworking of the myth instead of engaging with the Homer’s version of Trojan myth in Iliad, is built upon the 20th century popular and schematic account of the war and incorporates it in the context of high school educational system and community. This animated version is significant in raising questions about the causes, meaning, historicity and didactic character of the Trojan War, while it engages in dialogue with the 3000 year old debate on Helen’s willing or unwilling advent to Troy. In this way it summarizes and re-enacts from the perspective of popular culture for children (and adults) the academic discussions and debates on the surviving ancient literary accounts of the Trojan War. As a result the TV episode is a reception not of a specific ancient or modern literary version of the Trojan War but an imaginative adaptation of the educational myth of the Trojan War.

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2013 (June 7-9), School of Classics, University of St Andrews The aim of this paper is to explore... more 2013 (June 7-9), School of Classics, University of St Andrews
The aim of this paper is to explore the ways in which two mythical creatures Proteus and Zeus are used in Lucian’s On the Dance (2nd c. AD) and in Libanius’(4th c. AD) Against Aristidis On Behalf of the Dancers so as to designate a newly popular theatrical genre. Proteus, a creature known from Homer for its transformations and used by Plato to describe Ion’s changeable attitude is being re-appropriated by Lucian to denote the dancer. The myth about Proteus’ transformations is read not as an allegory about cosmogony or ethics but about a theatrical genre recently developed (On the Dance, 29). Two centuries later Libanius re-invents Proteus as a dancer precisely because of its ability to change shape. Zeus, the father of all gods is used to elevate pantomime either to the sphere of high culture or morality. In contrast to Athenaeus I, 22 C who refers to Zeus’ dancing from Epic Cycle in the context of his talk on orchesis, Lucian and Libanius seem to completely ignore Eumelus’ (or Arctinus’) Titanomachy. For these latter proponents of pantomime as a legitimate theatrical genre the important aspect of myth on Zeus is god’s endless metamorphoses. The constant change of schemata is what lies in the core of this new theatrical genre. Proteus and Zeus are two mythological figures which are selected exactly because of their ability to be shapeless so as to consolidate a newly developed theatrical genre.

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2015 Performing Epic, Genre-bending cncerning the classical canon

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2015 The Human in Crisis A Cyborgean Theatrical Rendering of Thucydides

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2015 Why red and blue?

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2015 Why Jocasta?

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Conference to be held at the University of Patras, 10 -12 June 2016

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2014 (24-25 November) Senate House, University of London AMPRAW 2014

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2013 (March 2) The University of Pennsylvania [via skype], Ephemeral RelicsThe aim of this paper ... more 2013 (March 2) The University of Pennsylvania [via skype], Ephemeral RelicsThe aim of this paper is to explore the role of three sense organs in the reception of theatre from 2nd to 6th c. AD.

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2012 November 30 FIGS Friday Forum, Guilt, UCL Lucian (2nd AD) in his treatise On Dance respond... more 2012 November 30 FIGS Friday Forum, Guilt, UCL Lucian (2nd AD) in his treatise On Dance responding to Aristeidis’ severe critique of pantomime defends the genre. In a dialogic frame in which Crato considers at first pantomime as an inappropriate spectacle for wise and elder philosophers and as corruptive and effeminate artform, Lycinus emphasizes the didactic and moral aspect of dance. Two centuries later Libanius (4th AD) in his treatise A Reply to Aristides on Behalf of Dancers fights against the anti-theatrical discourse articulated by Christian and non-Christian elite. He stresses the non-corruptive pleasure the spectacle offers. Finally, Chorikius (6th c. AD) tries to fight against the guilt church has cultivated in the average mime spectator . The rhetor defends everybody’s right to what is an amusing spectacle which can have a mentally therapeutic role.

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2012 (September 8-9) University of Oxford, Bodily Functions: The Corpus and Corpora in Ancient Li... more 2012 (September 8-9) University of Oxford, Bodily Functions: The Corpus and Corpora in Ancient Literature, AMPAL 2012The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of the gradual insertion of the actor’s body in the performance on the long lasting discussion about Heracles’ lion skin. Heracles’ lion skin is considered as the archetypical theatrical costume because of its metatheatrical use in Aristophanes’ Frogs and its mythological sex transgressive role. In Frogs the continual exchange of the costume between Dionysus and Xanthias constitutes a live theatrical debate about the relation between actor and its costume. In particular, the necessity of the adjustment of the actor’s voice (λῆμα, φωνή) to the costume he wears is being emphasized in Frogs, 462. In 2nd century AD in Lucian’s On Dancing the question of the theatrical use of Heracles’ lion skin is raised once more. The costume this time is considered as a prison which hinders the pantomime actor’s free expression (§ 27). Moving from classical drama to pantomime, actor’s voice is to be substituted by his body language (σῶμα). Two centuries later in Libanius’ Against Aristeidis for Dancers the subject of the theatrical costume per excellence, lion skin is being readdressed but from a different point of view. It is now the costume which exerts influence on the actor, transforming its inner self. Defending pantomime against this popular belief Libanius denies this power to the costume (Against Aristeidis for Dancers § 53 cf. § 52, 54-56). In 6th century AD Chorikius adopts the same argument, talking about mimes and their art (Mimes’ Apology, § 77). It is now, in this theatrical genre, the face (πρόσωπον) together with the body that is to be engaged in dialogue with the costume. The gradual use of whole body of the actor in the performance modifies the discussion around lion skin, shifting its center in different directions through centuries.

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2012 (June 27) Kyklos CHS Harvard International Teleconference on Epic CycleThe aim of this paper... more 2012 (June 27) Kyklos CHS Harvard International Teleconference on Epic CycleThe aim of this paper is to explore the use of the word κύκλος and its derivatives
(κυκλικός, κύκλιος, κυκλικῶς) as literary terms for the description of the Epic Cycle. Given
the prominent meanings of the word in the Iliad (wheel, shield), it is suggested that the
description of the shield of Achilles (Iliad, Book 18) and the narrative about human ages
in Hesiod’s Works and Days constitute an early cyclic conception of the totality of
mythological tradition. The emphasis of classical period on the special properties of the
cycle is examined in association with Aristotle’s application of the word for the
characterization of epic poetry. The scope of the term in Hellenistic times is explored
with special interest for the poets and sagas to which it is ascribed. The confining of the
word by the school of Alexandria to the literary criticism of epic poetry as well as its
use for the description of linguistic and stylistic features of that poetry is discussed.
Finally, the reception of the Epic cycle in late antiquity is studied with relevance to the
endowment of the term with new connotations and the content of Epic Cycle which has
survived until now.

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