Space in Greek Tragedy (BICS Supplement 131)

This book presents a critical application of semiotic models to Greek tragic space. It thus reappraises certain aspects of the tragic texts themselves by illuminating the semantics of space, that is, the ways in which space may contribute to the creation of meaning. After the formulation of a working model appropriate to the examination of space in Greek tragedy, an analysis of the proposed categories of tragic space follows. The architectural space of tragedy is then examined with particular reference to the ways in which it finds expression in the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens. Drawing widely on the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripedes, the focus turns to the interactions between the proposed categories of tragic space.