In the ugly spectacle of American politics, it’s hard to keep humanity in sight. But literature, says a poet and scholar of the classics, can remind us of what we know about growing old.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Sophocles
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The concept of fate endures across cultures and religions around the world, inspiring pundits, philosophers and conspiracy theorists.
The use of music in theater goes back to ancient Greece, and its popularity has grown to the modern-day productions of ‘Hamilton.’
During COVID-19, the world remembered Oedipus was not just a psycho-sexual drama. Such is the richness of a play enfolded in rich layers of myth.
A classics scholar looks at Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony and says only a rare few are able to summon courage. For others, the drive to maintain power produces cowardice and willful blindness.
In the drama of envisioning a future for the United States, Joe Biden and Donald Trump both invoked stories about snakes to suggest different views about self-interest and the common good.
A classics scholar and poet turns to Greek mythology, especially the story of Oedipus the King, to explain the drama – or perhaps tragedy – that is taking place in the highest office in the land.
Heroes and heroines of Classical Greek tragedy used to get all the glory. Today scholars, and theatre and film directors are looking to what the minor players can tell us about the zeitgeist.
A play written in the fifth century B.C. mirrors America’s current disunion: Political and moral views are framed in terms of a fight between patriot and traitor, law and conscience, and chaos and order.
Regardless of reasoning and the plethora of scholarship that exists, Greek tragedy remains the most modern form of drama. It is unafraid to question everything we value.
Top contributors
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Rachel Hadas is a Friend of The Conversation.Professor of English, Rutgers University - Newark
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Honorary Associate, Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Sydney
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Professor, Department of English, Theatre, Film & Media, University of Manitoba
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Associate professor, History and Classical Studies, McGill University
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Michael Allen Fox is a Friend of The Conversation.
Adjunct Professor, University of New England, University of New England
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John and Penelope Biggs Distinguished Professor of Classics, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis
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Playwright and theatre researcher, Monash University
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Visiting Scholar in Classical Studies, Wesleyan University
