Greek and Roman drama and performance
by Costas Panayotakis For some years now I have been conducting research on farcical and rather uncouth Latin comedies conventionally called “Atellane plays” (in Latin, fabulae Atellanae), the scripted incarnation of which is now known to us only through the “fragments” (or, more precisely, literary citations) of plays composed by the playwrights Novius, Pomponius, Mummius,… Continue reading →
The politics of the UK and US over the past two years has led to an upsurge in populist politics. How far this is distinctively new is open to question—leaving aside precursors in British and American politics, similar trends have been well in evidence in continental Europe and there is a long and ugly history… Continue reading →
As part of the project on Hero of Alexandria and his Theatrical Automata, I’ve been looking at the history of automata in Greek and Roman antiquity. As well as Hero’s treatise, there are occasional brief references to devices that may (or perhaps may not be) automata. The evidence is tantalising and gives hints about how… Continue reading →
Who says that working on Latin manuscripts and moral sayings is a dull pursuit? For about six years now I have been travelling to Italy, Germany, and France to gather information from several manuscripts so as to edit afresh an important collection of Latin one-line “sayings” or “proverbs” (sententiae or proverbia), which, despite its massive impact… Continue reading →
