Analyzing the work of every Roman tragedian whose work survived in substance, Anthony J. Boyle provides the first detailed cultural and theatrical history of Roman tragedy and its place at the centre of Rome's cultural and political life.
From its flamboyant beginning in the second half of the third century BC, through the late republic and into the early empire, Roman tragedy was at the center of the city's cultural and political life. Anthony J. Boyle's landmark introduction is the first detailed cultural and theatrical history of this major literary form. Boyle not only plots the history of Roman tragic techniques and conventions of generic formation and change, of the debt of Rome to Greece and one text to another, but in addition traces the birth, development, and death of Roman tragedy within the context of the city's evolving institutions, ideologies, and political and social practices.
'To sum up, this book is a well-thought-out and original piece of scholarship, which will advance considerably the debate on these tragedies and enhance their understanding. Thorough but succinct, it covers all periods of Roman tragedy but manages to present the political, literary and dramaturgical phases of both tragedy proper and fabulae pretextae. It has a rich bibliography and commentary, unfortunately in the form of endnotes, and every fragment is coupled with B.'s excellent translations. I can warmly recommend the book both to experts who wish to have an up-to-date account of the latest studies in Roman tragedy and to undergraduate and graduate students who can mine this useful volume for relevant paper and even dissertation topics.' - Tsoka Aikaterini, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, Jan 2007
