Description
Book SynopsisAthena is recognized as an allegory or representative of Athens in most Athenian public art except in tragedy. Perhaps this is because tragedy is rarely studied as a public art form or, perhaps, because her character is not static in tragedy. Although Athena's characterization changes to fit the needs of a particular drama, her clear connection with justice remains true throughout and suggests that she is always the representative of the city and its institutions. Athens, the city Athena protected, experienced a dramatic transformation in the fifth century: its political institutions, physical landscape, military power and international prestige underwent dynamic change. Athena, its goddess and its symbol, simultaneously transformed as well, although not always for the better.
Athena's Justice follows the question of civic identity and ideology in Athenian tragedy, focusing specifically on the link between tragedy and its influence upon identity creation and promotion durin
Trade Review«Rebecca Futo Kennedy’s book is a welcome addition to the political readings of Greek tragedy. Her attempt to tie the representations of Athena in surviving plays to changes in Athenian self-understanding and imperial fortunes is at once provocative and nuanced. The connections she makes between history, politics, and literature will interest scholars of many stripes.» (Geoff Bakewell, Associate Professor of Classics, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska)
«This is an adventurous and original study that explores important questions, and proposes some unexpected new answers, concerning the relationship between religion, politics, morality and Athenian self-image in the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. As a model of justice, moderation and wise leadership, the goddess Athena was a powerful symbol to the Athenians of their own city’s claims to cultural and political supremacy, and Rebecca Futo Kennedy shows skillfully how this symbol was deployed – and sometimes qualified and questioned – in their theatrical productions.» (Mark Griffith, Professor of Classics, and of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies, University of California, Berkeley)
