FROM ATHENS TO MAGNA GRAECIA:DRAMATIC VISION

Chris Dearden
Professor of Classics
Victoria University of Wellington, NZ

This paper discusses the vase-paintings from Magna Graecia of dramatic scenes as one of the few available sources of eye-witness responses to the production of plays in the ancient world. It seeks to analyse the responses of the vase painters to what they saw and how, and if, that might be relevant to the changes in drama in the fourth century BC. The paper will concentrate mainly on the tragic vases, with some acknowledgement of the very different response of the vase-painters to comedy.

Chris Dearden
Victoria University of Wellington, NZ

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