Platonic Drama and its Ancient Reception

by Nikos G. Charalabopoulos

Overview

Reconstructing the way Plato presented himself to his original audience as the creator of an alternative drama, Nikos Charalabopoulos explains the ‘paradox' of the dialogue form as an appropriation of the discourse of theatre, the dominant public mode of communication of the time. Reviewing artefacts ranging from a statue of Sokrates in the Academy from the fourth century BC to a mosaic of Sokrates in Mytilene from the fourth century AD, Charalabopoulos discusses a range of evidence pointing to a centuries-old tradition of treatment of the dialogues as performance literature, and reveals the significance of ‘Plato the prose dramatist' for his original and subsequent audiences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108439411
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/02/2017
Series:	Cambridge Classical Studies
Pages:	353
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.46(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Nikos G. Charalabopoulos is Lecturer in the Department of Philology at the University of Patras.

Table of Contents

1. Setting the stage; 2. The metatheatre of dialogue; 3. Performing Plato; 4. Plato's theatre: the fragments; Finale; Appendix: an Academy inscription.