Papers by Alessandro Boschi
Brillet-Dubois P., Nikolsky B., Noel A.-S., Poétique et politique chez Euripide, Classiques Garnier, 2024
L’auto-exil en Macédoine permit à Euripide de concevoir une vision opposée à celle d’Athènes au s... more L’auto-exil en Macédoine permit à Euripide de concevoir une vision opposée à celle d’Athènes au sujet des modalités institutionnelles du pouvoir. À travers la comparaison entre l’Archélaos et le reste de l’œuvre d’Euripide, cette contribution a pour objectif de montrer à quel point le départ d’Athènes et le changement d’horizon institutionnel représentèrent une fracture dans la formation de la pensée politique euripidéenne.
L. Carrara, R. Ferri, E. Medda (cur.), Il mito degli Atridi dal teatro antico all’epoca contemporanea (Lexis Supplementi 12), Edizioni Ca'Foscari, Venezia, 2023
In this paper, I will discuss testimonies and fragments which attest the presence of Orestes in f... more In this paper, I will discuss testimonies and fragments which attest the presence of Orestes in fragmentary Greek tragedy, in order to better appreciate different dramaturgical choices such as imitation, reworking, and originality. Through my analysis, I will underline how the figure of Orestes intensely inspired Attic tragedy due to the various narrative opportunities offered by the myths surrounding him.
L. Calafiore, L. Pallaracci, G. Vitali (cur.), Cassandra. Immaginari letterari e figurativi (Quaderni di Otium. Collana di studi di archeologia e antichità classiche, 5), G. Bretschneider Editore, Roma, 2023
In addition to Aeschylus’ and Euripides’ tragedies handed down to us in full, in which Cassandra ... more In addition to Aeschylus’ and Euripides’ tragedies handed down to us in full, in which Cassandra is a character, her figure was quite common on the Greek tragic scene, as shown by the surviving fragments of that production. For example, Cassandra was a character of Euripides’ "Alexandros", tragedy in which Priam’s daughter acts as the spokesperson of divine plans. Furthermore, in adesp. fr. 649 Kn.-Sn. (= P.Oxy. 2746), the conserved notae personarum enable us to assign the lines to Priam, Cassandra, Deiphobus and the chorus. Finally, Hesychius informs us of the existence of a play "Cassandra" written by an unknown author (adesp. fr. 5c Kn.-Sn.). Through a philological and literary analysis of fragments, my paper aims to reconstruct the reception of the myth of Cassandra in Greek tragedy, also highlighting the similarities and differences between fragments and more famous characterizations preserved in the tragedies handed down to us in full. In particular, I will compare the characterizations of Cassandra in Euripides’ "Alexandros" and the "Trojan Women", since both plays, together with "Palamedes", were part of the same tragic trilogy with which the playwright won the second prize in 415 BC. Finally, this analysis will enable us to reconstruct, in a more comprehensive way, the psychology of Cassandra’s character, also in relation to the family and social contexts in which she acts.
Sileno, 2022
The Sophoclean fragments 334 and 400 Radt are handed down by the grammarian Erotian (Gl. Hippocr.... more The Sophoclean fragments 334 and 400 Radt are handed down by the grammarian Erotian (Gl. Hippocr. α 46 Nachmanson), who quotes these verses as if they were consecutive and attributes them to "Clytemnestra". Nevertheless, since this play is not otherwise attested, some scholars have conjectured that the verses quoted by Erotian are taken from other tragedies. Moreover, the very corrupt state of these verses complicates further their interpretation. Through my philological analysis, the verses can be interpreted as a single fragment in reference to the storm-wind sent by Athena against Agamemnon and other Achaeans returning from Troy.
Quaderni urbinati di cultura classica, 2022
In this contribution I intend to discuss testimonies and fragments which attest the presence of O... more In this contribution I intend to discuss testimonies and fragments which attest the presence of Orestes in fragmentary Greek tragedy, in order to better appreciate to different dramaturgical choices between imitation, reworking and originality. Through my analysis, it will be even more evident how intensely the figure of Orestes inspired Attic tragedy, also in virtue of the various narrative opportunities offered by his myth.
Lexis, 2022
Even today there is a margin of uncertainty regarding the subject of adesp. fr. 637 Kannicht-Snel... more Even today there is a margin of uncertainty regarding the subject of adesp. fr. 637 Kannicht-Snell, upon which I have thrown more light through the philological analysis conducted in the present contribution. After showing that it is more prudent to attribute these verses to an unidentified "Iphigenia", I have reflected upon the tragic evidence of Iphigenia’s myth, in order to search for the authorship of adesp. fr. 637 Kannicht-Snell.
Dionysus ex machina, 2021
The relationship between katabasis and memory is represented by the myth of Pirithous in Hades, a... more The relationship between katabasis and memory is represented by the myth of Pirithous in Hades, as suggested by "Pirithous" attributed to Critias. The meeting between Pirithous, seated on the throne of Oblivion, and Heracles takes the form of a dialogue regarding the Lapith’s inability to see and hear. Pirithous’ effort to recover his faculties allows to dispel the mist that separates him from the world, until the recognition through memory. Through a philological analysis, my purpose has been to show how the tragedian stages the theme of memory. Afterwards, I’ve reflected upon the anthropological significance of Pirithous’ seated position.
A. Giannotti (ed.), Il teatro della 'polis' tra intrattenimento e politica. Nuove interpretazioni del dramma greco antico - Atti del convegno internazionale, Pisa 21-22 Ottobre 2019 [Frammenti sulla scena (online) 1(2) (2020 Special Issue)]., 2020
One of the most enlightening situations to recognize the link between the theatre and the πόλις i... more One of the most enlightening situations to recognize the link between the theatre and the πόλις is when the latter decides to accept or expel the remains of a tragic hero who lived his last days as a cursed or persecuted man. For instance, the Theban law which provides the burial of Eteocles’ body, but not of Polinices’ one, derives from the necessity to show that the city treats its friends and enemies differently. Similarly, in the Athenian historical reality of the months following the fall of the Four Hundred, a decree provided that the dead Phrynichus should be tried for treason, and that his bones should be dug up and removed from Attica. However, the tragic Athens appears to be hospitable to contaminated and dangerous beings, even admitting their burial within its own borders. This is the case of the Sophoclean Oedipus, who gives his body to Athens as a gift that brings strength and protection. The miserable body of a cityless man like Oedipus becomes the sacred bulwark of Athens, precisely when Theseus makes his guest a dweller in the city. In the same way, at the end of the "Children of Heracles" by Euripides, after having been an enemy, Eurystheus has become a saving metic, informing that, if his body is buried at Athena’s shrine, it will be a guarantee of protection of the πόλις. Bearing in mind the textual and contextual peculiarities of the various passages which will be analysed, the purpose of my contribution is to throw more light upon the political and civic significance of the tragic burial.
G. Zanetto (cur.), Teatro tragico greco. Ricostruzioni e interpretazioni, Fabrizio Serra Editore (Consulta Universitaria del Greco. Seminari, 4), Pisa-Roma, 2020
Callias’ Letter Comedy, fragments of which are handed down by Athenaeus in his Deipnosophistae, a... more Callias’ Letter Comedy, fragments of which are handed down by Athenaeus in his Deipnosophistae, appears like a philological ‘riddle’, which still lacks a definitive solution. Among the questions raised by the digression of the author from Naucratis, one that has perplexed scholars very much derives from the assertion that Callias’ play influenced the composition of Euripides’ Medea, and it was taken as a model by Sophocles at line 332 of Oedipus Rex.
In my paper I aim to show a possible reconstruction of the ‘paratragic’ reworking of Sophocles’ famous tragedy in Letter Comedy.
The prologue of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses is a kind of ‘enigmatic’ exercise for readers. My paper o... more The prologue of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses is a kind of ‘enigmatic’ exercise for readers. My paper offers a new interpretation of such a problematic incipit, which has often been the subject of too generic readings, despite the evidence of a very specific lexical choice by the author. Through a philological and anthropological analysis, I aim to show the presence, in the novel, of references to the semantic world connected with the god Saturn, which also contribute to a better definition of the ambiguous identity of the narrator.
Books by Alessandro Boschi
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Papers by Alessandro Boschi
In my paper I aim to show a possible reconstruction of the ‘paratragic’ reworking of Sophocles’ famous tragedy in Letter Comedy.
Books by Alessandro Boschi
In my paper I aim to show a possible reconstruction of the ‘paratragic’ reworking of Sophocles’ famous tragedy in Letter Comedy.