Title Murder among friends : violation of philia in Greek tragedy / Elizabeth S. Belfiore

Published New York : Oxford University Press, 2000

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Description 1 online resource (xix, 282 pages) Contents Contents; A Note on Spelling and Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Philia Relationships and Greek Literature; 2. Averting Fratricide: Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris; 3. The Suppliant Bride: Io and the Danaïds in Aiskhylos's Suppliants; 4. A Token of Pain: Betrayal of Xenia in Sophokles' Philoktetes; 5. Sleeping With the Enemy: Euripides' Andromakhe; 6. Killing One's Closest Philos: Self-Slaughter in Sophokles' Aias; Conclusion; Appendix A. Violation of Philia in the Extant Tragedies; Appendix B. Violation of Philia in the Fragments of the Major Tragedians Appendix C. Violation of Philia in the Fragments of the Minor TragediansNotes; Glossary; Works Cited; Index Summary Modern scholars have followed Aristotle in noting the importance of philia (kinship or friendship) in Greek tragedy, especially the large number of plots in which kin harm or murder one another. More than half of the thirty-two extant tragedies focus on an act in which harm occurs or is about to occur among philoi who are blood kin. In contrast, Homeric epic tends to avoid the portrayal of harm to kin. It appears, then, that kin killing does not merely occur in what Aristotle calls the "best" Greek tragedies; rather, it is a characteristic of the genre as a whole. In Murder Among Friends, Elizabeth Belfiore supports this thesis with an in-depth examination of the crucial role of philia in Greek tragedy. Drawing on a wealth of evidence, she compares tragedy and epic, discusses the role of philia relationships within Greek literature and society, and analyses in detail the pattern of violation of philia in five plays: Aeschylus' Suppliants, Sophocles' Philoctetes and Ajax, and Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris and Andromache. Appendixes further document instances of violation of philia in all the extant tragedies as well as in the lost plays of the fifth and fourth centuries BC Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-273) and index Notes English Print version record Subject Greek drama (Tragedy) -- History and criticism Mythology, Greek, in literature. Friendship in literature. Murder in literature. Families in literature. Love in literature. DRAMA -- Ancient, Classical & Medieval. Families in literature Friendship in literature Greek drama (Tragedy) Love in literature Murder in literature Mythology, Greek, in literature Tragedies. Grieks. Verwantschap. Vriendschap. Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. Form Electronic book LC no. 99013051 ISBN 9780195351248 019535124X 1280530596 9781280530593 1429404825 9781429404822

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