Hanna Roisman

The Encyclopedia of Greek Tragedy edited by Anna .M. Roisman.

The Encyclopedia presents the first comprehensive reference work to cover the many facets of Greek tragic theater that reached its apex in Athens of the fifth century BCE. Contributed by a team of international experts and emerging scholars, entries reflect a careful balance between scholarly precision and accessibility to facilitate a better understanding and appreciation of the great surviving Works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and their contemporaries. Coverage includes all the extant works of the playwrights and plays of the period - including what is known about fragmentary and lost plays and their authors; the theaters in which the plays were staged; the philosophical, cultural, and political contexts in which the plays were performed; as well as their influence on world literature and on the arts, from ancient vase-painting to opera, film and TV. Entries for individual tragedies feature plot summaries, mythical background, and contemporary and ongoing critical discussion as well as their reception and afterlife up to the present day. Other topics include the origins and history of Greek tragedy; their texts, language, style, and rhetoric; as well as recurrent themes such as family, death, hybris, city and country, adultery, emotions, and happy endings. With detailed cross-references to aid navigation, The Encyclopedia of Greek Tragedy represents an invaluable reference to the most important dramatic genre of the ancient Greek World.

The Encyclopedia of Greek Tragedy is available in three print volumes, or in an electronic edition on Wiley Online Library: www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/ref/greektragedy

“This monumental work, containing 819 entry by 167 contributors, on a wide variety of topics connected with Greek tragedy, from ‘Abae’ to ‘Zenodotus’, will provide a useful resource for anybody working on tragedy at whatever level. From start to finish, the project took four years (p. Lvii); the editor deserves considerable respect for her expeditiousness, as well as deep gratitude for the high quality of the book.”

Patrick J. Finglass, Classical Review