Tragedy in Athens

David Wiles's provocative study of the spatial syntax of Greek tragedy offers a corrective to work that pays minimal attention to the architectural and topographical features of the ancient Greek theatre. According to Wiles, Greek performance space was not neutral or "empty" but resonant with spatial associations that were significant in fifth-century Athenian culture at large, as witnessed in the topography of the city itself. Wiles locates tragic performance in what might be called the panoptic frame of the Athenian audience, one that encompasses the city's built environment, both sacred and secular. He begins with the big picture (the ancient theatre sites), considers the plays' fictional spaces within this picture, and discusses the relationship between these and the "real" spaces of the city

Aesthetics · Ancient Greek · Art · Epistemology · Frame (networking · Greek tragedy · Linguistics · Literature · Meaning (existential · Tragedy (event · Classical Antiquity Studies · Computer Science · Historical and Architectural Studies · History · Philosophy