In recent decades the consideration of further significant ‘moments’ in the history of ancient theatre has become a significant feature of the study of Greek drama. Building on the fine work of the likes of E. Csapo, C. Dearden, P. Easterling, B. Le Guen, O. Taplin and P. Wilson, we now find a broad school of scholars, across a variety of disciplines, examining the place of the theatre in the wider Hellenic world and, indeed, the story of the medium's development beyond the Classical period. The variety and richness of recent work – such as P. Wilson, The Greek Theatre and Festivals (2007); I. Gildenhard & M. Revermann, Beyond the Fifth Century (2010); K.G. Bosher, Theatre Outside Athens (2012); and E. Csapo et al., Greek Theatre in the Fourth Century bc (2014) – testifies to the continuing vitality of the turn to consider theatre ‘beyond Athens’. Adding to that body of work, this volume makes a welcome contribution to what is an important and expanding field of study.
V.'s monograph is the outcome of a somewhat revised doctoral dissertation concerned with the dissemination of Athenian drama, and it sets out to consider four key questions: ‘1) which individual tragedies were performed outside Athens, 2) when the spread of tragic performances began on a wide scale, 3) where, in which cities and on what kind of occasions, tragedies were performed, and 4) how the arrangements for tragic performances outside Athens were carried out in practice’ (p. 1). One might object, and V. does admit, that the various aspects key to this study have been widely considered previously, and his consideration of question 4 here is only partial. Although the conclusions that are presented, ultimately, tend not to be so contentious, readers are offered a clear and coherent review of a wide variety of crucial material on the revival and reperformance of tragedy throughout Greece.
The volume is organised into five chapters. A very short introduction (Chapter 1) presents basic notes on these research questions and the methods used to consider each. Vital for V. is the confluence of material from different sources for the non-Athenian performance of plays, and time is taken in Chapter 2 to run through the categories of evidence assessed, from literary sources and the visual evidence from various media. However, there is little more than an outline offered here. V. could perhaps have been braver in tackling some of those points of debate identified but is usually content to highlight how ‘fascinating yet frustrating’ the evidence can be. On occasion key issues are identified but then discarded before any satisfactory conclusion is formed, with some topics deemed to be beyond the scope of this study (e.g. the role of the dramatic chorus in the fourth–third centuries b.c. [pp. 16–17]) and others postponed for future consideration (e.g. the study of the gestures and poses of figures on tragedy-related vases [p. 44]). Instead of a full discussion of such topics we have lengthy lists and piles of data as V. catalogues the evidence and shapes his findings. It is an extensive dossier, and one that almost overwhelms the reader, but there is a reward for those who bear with V. (or simply skip on ahead).
Chapter 3 presents a review of known examples of tragedy beyond Athens and a full consideration of rural, international and incidental performance venues and festivals beyond that city. It offers nothing too challenging in the discussion, or in the selection of Aetnaeae, Persae, Prometheus vinctus and Archelaus as ‘certain’ examples of non-Athenian production. Alive to the importance of concurrence, V. watches for works featured in third-century b.c. papyri, depicted on vases, parodied by comedians and/or containing actors’ interpolations (pp. 16, 66), and where that evidence converges he suggests further candidates for international performance. Euripides’ Iphigenia Taurica, Medea and Telephus as well as Sophocles’ Antigone and Oedipus Tyrannus are proposed as examples of plays that ‘figure again and again … [that] were often revived in Athens, as well as reproduced outside Athens’ (p. 78). A full list of 22 plays ‘very probably performed outside Athens’ is compiled and presented in Chapter 4; a section that offers sharp summaries of all the key information for works from Chaeremon's Achilles Thersitoctonus to Sophocles’ Thyestes in Sicyon. Everything but the plays themselves is presented in a very handy précis.
Even beyond that crucial review, in Appendix 1 V. lists another 35 works ‘probably or possibly performed’ outside of Athens (10 probable, 25 possible). Although the point is made that this ‘division of the tragedies into different categories is a matter of opinion … and the differences between the categories are small’ (p. 221 n. 1), one would have liked V. to elaborate in more detail on the difficult decisions made in these sections. V. certainly shows sound judgement throughout and does offer some careful comment, but that voice is heard too rarely. In a compendium such as this, where the danger is that important issues can be reduced or elided, the justification for important choices should be made even more explicit. It is rare that one wants to hear more from the author, but that is the case here.
The catalogues continue even beyond V.'s conclusion. Of particular note is Appendix 2, another immense and intentionally over-ambitious register of 619 tragedy-related vases. V. admits that perhaps only 150–250 of these vases indicate dramatic influence, but offers the list in its entirety for readers to decide for themselves. Although no illustrations are included in this section, as a further resource V. has placed the catalogue (with additional links to museum pages, etc.) on the publications page of the Finnish Institute at Athens. For his enthusiasm and ingenuity in preparing and presenting this list V. is to be commended. The volume closes with yet another register, a summary table of previous findings (Appendix 3) and 21 plates of beautifully reproduced images.
The general conclusions drawn at the end of this detailed study are quite restrained. Most importantly, V. confirms the process of dissemination noted elsewhere, with tragedy spreading gradually beyond Athens and Attica from the time of Aeschylus, but more markedly in the period from 400 to 350 b.c. (pp. 207–8). Again, one is left frustrated by the level of discussion offered. Even in the final sections the consideration of, for example, the post-classical audience's penchant for visual effects or the work of Euripides offers list after list to show how often the mechane was used or lines were quoted rather than accounts for, or discusses, such tastes.
None of which, ultimately, detracts from the volume's utility, for this is an excellent sourcebook on Greek theatre beyond Athens. The absence of translations throughout might frustrate non-specialists, but this fine volume will be welcomed and widely used by students of ancient drama at all levels.
