Ancient Tragedy, Greece & Rome

Catalog description

Whereas today the word “tragedy” conjures up images of disaster and suffering, in classical Athens, tragedy above all meant entertainment for a mass audience. But what beyond entertainment did tragedy offer? Is the suffering it depicted wholly foreign to modern sensibilities? Or do we moderns find there something to identify with? In this course, students will pursue that and similar questions. By studying the tragic drama of ancient Greece and Rome in English translation, and by comparing it to select instances of ancient comedy and to more recently produced tragedy, they shall deepen their understanding of an art form that boldly explored human existence at the extremes.