8. Rituals & Festivals

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about how Aristophanes uses rituals and festivals in the three plays, focusing on particular on how comedy presents some of the real festivals from the Athenian calendar, and the use of festivals in the structure of comedies (particularly as way of ending the play).

Course

In this course, Dr Rosie Wyles (University of Kent) provides a critical study of three plays of Aristophanes – The Acharnians (425 BC), The Knights (424 BC) and Peace (421 BC) – in their theatrical, religious, social, and political context. In particular, we explore the presentation of a few of many real Athenians that appear in the play (e.g. Cleon, Lamachus, Demosthenes, Nicias), before considering the presentation of war, ritual and festivals across all three plays.

Lecturer

Dr Rosie Wyles researches the cultural history of the ancient world through theatre performance. She did her undergraduate studies in Classics at Oxford and was awarded her PhD on the ancient performance reception of Euripides from the University of London in 2007. Her research interests include Greek and Roman performance arts, costume, reception within antiquity and beyond it, and gender.