Actors and Icons of the Ancient Theater

Eric Csapo is Professor and Chair of Classics at the University of Sydney, Australia. An expert in ancient drama and in the material, social and economic history of the ancient theatre, Csapo is the author of Theories of Mythology (Blackwell 2005) and, with W. J. Slater, Context of Ancient Drama (1995). Along with P. Wilson, Csapo is currently preparing a three-volume social and economic history of the classical Greek theatre (500-300 BC).

List of illustrations vi Preface viii

List of abbreviations xiii

1 A Portrait of the Artist I: Theater-Realistic Art in Athens, 500–330 BC 1

2 A Portrait of the Artist II: Theater-Realistic Art in the Greek West, 400–300 BC 38

3 The Spread of Theater and the Rise of the Actor 83

4 Kallippides on the Floor Sweepings: The Limits of Realism in Classical Acting 117

5 Cooking with Menander: Slices from the Ancient Home Entertainment Industry? 140

6 The Politics of Privatization: A Short History of the Privatization of Drama from Classical Athens to Early Imperial Rome 168

Bibliography 205

Index 227