Tereus Through the Ages

Reassembling the Myth of Tereus

Alessandra Abbattista, Chiara Blanco, Maria Haley, Giacomo Savani

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9783110728897
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: History of Ancient Art
• Index: History

This volume constitutes the first attempt at bringing together scholars from Greek literature, Latin literature and archaeology working on the tradition of the Tereus myth. More specifically, it will focus on the reconstruction, transmission and reception of the myth in Greece and Rome by examining the different adaptations and interactions of the story through the lens of assemblage theory.

References to the Tereus myth date back to the Homeric poems; it was addressed by renowned dramatists, such as Aeschylus, Sophocles and Accius, before being adapted by Ovid. These different versions raise questions about the reconstruction of the myth and the representation of women, revenge, paidophagia and metamorphosis. Aspects of the story reverberate in ancient material culture, especially Greek vase paintings, which stem from different variants and traditions.

Building on assemblage theory, the volume draws forth collaboration between specialists in Classical studies to examine how the myth was adapted in Greece and Rome without prestiging a Greek original. As such, it will be of significant interest for researchers and postgraduate students working on Greek and Roman tragedy, Ovid, classical reception and ancient material culture.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Frontmatter
• Foreword
• Contents
• Introduction
• (Re)assembling the Tereus Myth: Vase Painting, Memory, and the Senses
• Lamenting about the Wrong Crime: Homer, Sophocles and Demonising the Other
• Hunting Tereus: Rubens, Shakespeare, Sophocles
• Passion, Knowledge and Truth: Second Thoughts on Sophocles’ Tereus
• ζηλοτυπ[ίᾳ ......] οἰστρηθεισ̃ α: Domestic Violence and Revenge in Sophocles’ Tereus
• Tereus’ Illicit Penetration(s): A New Reading of Fragment 581 R
• The Voice of the Shuttle: The Tereus Myth in Aristophanes’ Birds
• Tereus in the Fifth and Fourth Century: From Paratragedy to Mythic Burlesque
• The Tereus Myth in Roman Republican Drama
• “(In)Human, All Too (In)Human”: Ovid’s Tereus and the Vulnerable Body
• Postface
• Methodological Appendix: The Orchid and the Wasp — Reading Fragments with Assemblage Theory
• General Index
• Index of Sources