Papers by Laura Gianvittorio-Ungar
GRMS, 2024
Aeschylean actors could be silent and motionless on the stage for a notoriously long time. My pap... more Aeschylean actors could be silent and motionless on the stage for a notoriously long time. My paper reconsiders this curious phenomenon from two mutually related angles. First, it enquires into how spectacles of inactivity had to affect the overall musical and movement design of the plays in which they were originally embedded. Building on these findings, the paper then historicises how the iconic scenes quickly entered the theatrical repertoire and also changed with it through the fourth century BC. By the 430s, the actors' displays of inactivity could still look quite identical to their Aeschylean archetypes, but they had been reassigned to minor characters, meaning to the second or third-best soloist. In this and other ways, fourth-century actors reused traditional elements of the repertoire by adapting them to the monodic trends of their day.
Imprints of Dance in Ancient Greece and Rome, 2024
This chapter "traces the role of dance in the practice and conceptualization of political action ... more This chapter "traces the role of dance in the practice and conceptualization of political action in ancient Greece and Rome, including official deployments of dance in the service of specific agendas, as well as spontaneous choreographies of the social body... the concept of "politics" enables (the) author to engage with a distinctive discourse within Dance and Performance Studies." (from the Introduction to the volume, written by the editors Z. Alonso Fernández & S. Olsen)
Telestes, 2023
This chapter cross-examines literary and archaeological evidence on stage renderings of the mourn... more This chapter cross-examines literary and archaeological evidence on stage renderings of the mourning Niobe. My purpose is to shed light on how static elements such as frozen poses and prolonged immobility enriched dance spectacles. Stage renderings of Niobe offer themselves as cases in point, because static elements had to be conspicuous in plays dealing with Niobe’s mourning and eventual metamorphosis into a rock. The focus is on Aeschylus’ lost tragedy Niobe, for which there is direct as well as indirect literary evidence and probably a related vase painting, and on same-subject spectacles by Southern Italian theatre artists, for which there is only archaeological evidence. Together, these documents off er glimpses into likely performance strategies regarding, for example, the rendering of Niobe’s petrifaction through stage inactivity and the role which costumes and veils played in this context. From a dance-historical perspective, these findings encourage comparisons with post-classical pantomime, a genre which the ancients described in terms of statuary and other figurative (i.e., static) arts and in which the abeyance of movement was of the essence, as well as with modern dance works that express grief by restraining movement and by functionalising the costume.
Keywords · Niobe, Aeschylus, Apulian Vases, Greek Theatre, Greek Dance, Martha Graham.
Aspects of Roman Dance Culture, 2022
The Lycurgeia and the Eumenides of Aeschylus provided the models for Naevius' Lycurgus and Ennius... more The Lycurgeia and the Eumenides of Aeschylus provided the models for Naevius' Lycurgus and Ennius' Eumenides respectively The plays were among the most re-performed Aeschylean ones, which means that Naevius and Ennius had excellent chances to know them not only from reading but also from attending spectacles in South Italy, where by the 3rd century BCE a vibrant and significantly Hellenised theatre culture was flourishing This chapter discusses correspondences regarding choral imagery and performance between the Aeschylean models and their Republican reinterpretations In particular, the chapter makes a case for some parallelisms between the choral performances which marked the beginning and the end of the Eumenides tragedies by Aeschylus and by Ennius
Choreonarratives. Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and beyond, 2021
This chapter discusses dance-based characterisation in Attic tragedy and analyses the case of the... more This chapter discusses dance-based characterisation in Attic tragedy and analyses the case of the scene of Io in (Ps.-)Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound (...)
Choreonarratives. Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and beyond, 2021
The present volume offers a fresh take on ancient dance narrativity. Throughout Greek and Roman a... more The present volume offers a fresh take on ancient dance narrativity. Throughout Greek and Roman antiquity, different performance genres resorted to dance to narrate stories, combining it in various ways with song, instrumental music, and poetry (...)
Prometheus 46, pp. 39-48, 2020
A funny ancient anecdote, first recounted by Heraclitus of Ephesus, says that Homer was confronte... more A funny ancient anecdote, first recounted by Heraclitus of Ephesus, says that Homer was confronted
by a group of children with a riddle about their own lice. This paper formulates two
hypotheses. The first is that the lice anecdote was spread by the Chios-based guild of the
Homeridai, who, starting from the 6th century BC, established themselves as the chief authority
on Homer’s life and works: indeed, Heraclitus shows that this anecdote circulated in the
time and area of the Homeridai’s peak activity. The second and more speculative hypothesis
is that the anecdote appeared in the lost poem called Epikichlides, which like other Homeric
apocrypha might well have been composed by the Homeridai. While too little is known about
Epikichlides to make a strong case, there are some interesting matching points with the
anecdote about the lousy boys.
KEYWORDS:
Homer, Homeridai, Heraclitus, Homeric apocrypha, riddles, ancient biography
The purpose of the symposium “Narratives in Motion. The Art of Dancing Stories in Antiquity and B... more The purpose of the symposium “Narratives in Motion. The Art of Dancing Stories in Antiquity and Beyond” was to make original contributions to the thriving field of study on ancient Greek and Roman dance by tackling this issue from an angle which is both specific in that it narrows down the focus on dance narrativity across different performance genres, and inclusive in that it encompasses transcultural, transhistorical and practice-based approaches. With eleven talks by classical and dance scholars and two performances by dance artists, the symposium was able to shed light on a range of practices, genres and cultural aspects relating to narrative dance in the ancient and, to a lesser degree, modern world. The event took place on 22-23 June 2018 at the Department of Classics of the University of Vienna, and was sponsored by the FWF-Austrian Science Fund (Project V442-G25 “Aischylos’ diegetisches Drama”).
This chapter reconsiders in its theatrical and narrative-related implications a testimony by Athe... more This chapter reconsiders in its theatrical and narrative-related implications a testimony by Athenaeus (1,22 A), according to whom, at some point of Seven against Thebes, a dancer called Telestes danced the events so skilfully that he made them manifest. Departing from previous views on the subject I will argue that, in fifth century BCE as well as in later theatrical reperformances of Seven against Thebes, the most suitable moment for Telestes’ dance to take place was not during the spoken lines of the Redepaare but during the lyric parodos, and that therefore Telestes did not perform a pantomime but, in all likelihood, a war dance. Accordingly, the parodos would consist of two interplaying dances. One was the solo war dance by Telestes, which made visible on stage the military manoeuvres of the Argives beyond the city wall. The other was the choral song-and-dance of the Theban maidens who, while expressing the terror of the assaulted, also described the siege with visual details and as a real-life experience. By assuming that the lyric parodos was accompanied by a war dance, we gain a new understanding not only of the chorus’ claims to see what is going on beyond the city wall, but also of the classical sources describing Seven as a drama which left the spectators with a craving for fighting.
Stage director and choreographer Claudia Bosse and the Vienna-based theatre group theatercombinat... more Stage director and choreographer Claudia Bosse and the Vienna-based theatre group theatercombinat have once again re-interpreted an ancient tragedy in thought-provoking fashion. Thyestes, Brüder! Kapital. Anatomie einer Rache draws inspiration from Seneca's Thyestes to experiment with the relationships between actors and chorus, performers and spectators, space and body, text and performance. The play premiered in Düsseldorf (September 11th to 14th, 2019) and was then performed in Vienna (October 2nd to 17th).
http://www.theatercombinat.com/projekte/thyestes/images/seneca_%20theatercombinat_embodiedphilology_laura_gianvittorio_unger_20191023.pdf
When Claudia Bosse asks classical scholars to collaborate with her, they usually respond well...
Old Comedy often brings prostitute-like dancers on stage while parodying the New Music. This pape... more Old Comedy often brings prostitute-like dancers on stage while parodying the New Music. This paper argues that such dances were reminiscent of sex practices, and supports this view with dance-historical and semantic evidence. For the history of Greek dance, I survey the literary evidence for the existence of a dance tradition that represents lovers and their acts, and which would easily provide Comedy with dance vocabulary to distort. The semantic analysis of three comic passages, all criticising the New Music in sexual terms, shows a consistent overlapping between the semantic fields of eroticism and of bodily movement, with several terms indicating both figures of lovemaking and figures of dance. By performing comically revisited erotic dances or by verbally alluding to them, prostitutes would powerfully embody the conservative criticism of Old Comedy against the new trends in dance promoted by the New Music.
There are worldwide not too many scholars who are concerned with ancient Greek dance, and Choreut... more There are worldwide not too many scholars who are concerned with ancient Greek dance, and Choreutika is the product of the cooperation among a number of them. This book presentation, which is based on the introduction of the volume, is to say which kind of research void Choreutika tries to fill and to outline its main issues and goals. http://www.engramma.it/eOS2/index.php?id_articolo=3174
Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrages ist, etwas Licht auf die terra incognita der Frührezeption der he... more Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrages ist, etwas Licht auf die terra incognita der Frührezeption der herakliteischen Schrift zu werfen. Zu Beginn sollen Indizien der Rezeption von Heraklits Schrift zur Lebenszeit des Autors am syrakusischen Hof berücksichtigt werden. Relevant sind dabei sowohl Übereinstimmungen im Bereich der Reflexion über Eigennamen als auch sprachliche und stilistische Merkmale, die sowohl bei Aischylos als auch bei Epicharm an Heraklit erinnern. Ausgehend von der Frage, ob auch die theatralische performance als Indikator der Rezeption fungieren kann, ist dann der Großteil des Beitrags der vergleichenden Lektüre von Heraklit DK 22 B 92 mit der Kassandra-Szene in Aischylos' Agamemnon gewidmet. Dafür wird zuerst eine neue Deutung von DK 22 B 92 herausgearbeitet, die auf der Basis einer semantischen Untersuchung die Zugehörigkeit der Lexeme zu dem akustischen und phonetischen Wortfeld hervorhebt. Das Fragment bietet nämlich die erste überlieferte Beschreibung einer prophetischen performance, welche interessanterweise als kakophonisch wirkend und ästhetisch abstoßend beschrieben wird. Danach wird die Hypothese erörtert, dass die Thematisierung der sibyllinischen performance bei Heraklit als literarisches Muster für die Kassandra-Prophezeiung in Aischylos' Agamemnon dienen konnte, wo Kassandra sowohl gegen die historische Praxis der Prophezeiungsaufführung (in Hexametern) als auch gegen die dramatischen Konventionen der Prophezeiungsinszenierung (in gesprochenen iambischen Trimetern) ihre Weissagung in Form eines Gesanges liefert. Die akustische und ästhetische Wirkung von Kassandras prophetischer performance zeigt dabei punktuelle, bisher unberücksichtigt gebliebene Entsprechungen zu Heraklits Beschreibung der Sibylle.
Famously defined as a “song and dance culture”, archaic and classical Greece is unanimously recog... more Famously defined as a “song and dance culture”, archaic and classical Greece is unanimously recognized as a culture where dance held a position of central importance on a civic, ritual, artistic, and pedagogical level. Considering such felicitous premises, it is quite disappointing to remark how scarcely Greek dance has been actually investigated. Against this tendency, the present volume aims at providing fresh insights into dance as one essential component of Greek performance arts – such as theatre, choral poetry, and music – and as a topic of ancient theoretical speculation…
This paper focuses on a dance of mourning that, supposedly, was performed in both the oldest surv... more This paper focuses on a dance of mourning that, supposedly, was performed in both the oldest surviving tragedies, i.e. Persians and Seven. It links to each other dance performances that, while being set up in different plays, different years, by different choruses and probably even in a different fashion, seem to be very similar as far as their ritual meaning and performance context are concerned: for both these dances enact the symbolical journey of the souls to Hades and take place at the threnodic end of an early tragedy. Though we cannot say to which degree the two dances looked similar, they were close enough that both could be referred to through the rowing imagery: in both cases, ἐρέσσω is likely to refer to distinguishing dance movements. To some degree, thus, these dances had to show significant " family resemblances ". Moreover, the paper offers a new analysis of the Basel krater, which represents an early tragic semi-chorus which dances by the funerary sema of an unidentified figure. Traces of lettering at the mouths of both actor and dancers indicate that they sing together, which, combined with the funerary context, suggests the performance of a kommos, and therefore a mourning rather than a necromantic ritual. The dancers arrangement and their arms movements suggest that the Basel krater may display an early tragic dance of mourning similar to that one to which Aeschylus refers by ἐρέσσω.
Many scholars explain the epistemological value of Heraclitus' λόγος by interpreting it as a rati... more Many scholars explain the epistemological value of Heraclitus' λόγος by interpreting it as a rational or mathematical pattern, whose translations refer to the related semantic fields: e.g. 'law of thinking', 'proportion', 'formula of things'. Such meanings are not safely documented earlier than the philosophical language of the fourth century BC. From Homer until the end of the sixth century BC, λέγειν means basically 'to collect' and 'to tell', λόγος means 'collection' and much more often 'speech', whereas 'speech' itself represents a 'collection of utterances (ἔπεα, μῦθοι)'. Maybe our common sense suggests that no speaking activity can afffect the human understanding as Heraclitus' λόγος does. However, another archaic thinker, Parmenides, argues that 'names' and 'naming' mislead the opinions of human beings concerning natural phenomena. Furthermore, Heraclitus' epistemology conforms to the Grundbedeutung of λόγος as 'collection of utterances' and consists in 'listening' (ἀκούειν) and 'putting together' (ξυνιέναι), even grasping the secret 'joint' (ἁρμονίη) of things. That is why I suggest to interpret λόγος according to the archaic, not philosophical meaning of the word, i.e. as 'speech' .
Although the cultural heritage of storytelling through dance is lost to the industrialised world,... more Although the cultural heritage of storytelling through dance is lost to the industrialised world, countless myths and other stories have been represented by dancing throughout Classical Antiquity and far beyond. Among the scarce evidence of this performance art is a preciously long description of a pantomimic contest in Nonnus (Dion. 19, 136-299). This paper surveys the ancient Greek theoretical approach to narrative dance: in fact, the issues recently put forward by the so-called " intermedial narratology " are not as brand-new as they may appear. In particular, both Plato and Aristotle hold that the mimesis of actions and acting characters can be accomplished through a wide range of media including dance, and refer to practices such as telling and composing stories (mythologein, synistasthai tous mythous) in dance-related contexts. Secondly, Nonnus' pantomimic contest shall be analysed, which brilliantly illustrates how to narrate a story by dancing. Here, both performers dance a mythical symposium celebrated by the gods; yet, surprisingly, it is the dancer narrating the better story more skilfully who finally loses the contest. By investigating the reasons for such an unexpected outcome, we will come across different styles of pantomime, some unwritten rules of how to deal with them, and an interesting dance performance described by Herodotus.
This paper considers an intriguing suggestion proposed by Serge Mouraviev in his analysis of Hera... more This paper considers an intriguing suggestion proposed by Serge Mouraviev in his analysis of Heraclitean language. In Heraclitea vol. III.3.A, he argues that B15, B22, B30, B52, and B123 contain some anagrams. According to this interpretation, Heraclitus would hide key-words within the text, in the expectation that the wise reader would detect the camouflaged sub-text by abstracting the single graphemes from the context and then placing them together. With this method, Mouraviev integrates the fragments with words that, if they are indeed there, would suit the context very well.
Generally speaking, great caution is required when it comes to such textual manipulation: for the interpreter may be creating sub-texts the author did not intend, and thus in part replace the author himself. This paper reviews various arguments that highlight the improbability of the anagram theory with regard to Heraclitus’ work. My arguments concern a) the likelihood that the reader will find short anagrammatic sub-texts hidden in virtually every text if he is looking for them; b) the non-audibility of the supposed anagrams as grapheme-related wordplays; c) the absence of any evidence, in our sources on Heraclitus, suggesting such an interesting linguistic device; d) the implausibility of non-audible wordplays within a culture that is still fundamentally oral; and e) the differences between anagrams and the wordplays attested in pre-Hellenistic literature.
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Papers by Laura Gianvittorio-Ungar
Keywords · Niobe, Aeschylus, Apulian Vases, Greek Theatre, Greek Dance, Martha Graham.
by a group of children with a riddle about their own lice. This paper formulates two
hypotheses. The first is that the lice anecdote was spread by the Chios-based guild of the
Homeridai, who, starting from the 6th century BC, established themselves as the chief authority
on Homer’s life and works: indeed, Heraclitus shows that this anecdote circulated in the
time and area of the Homeridai’s peak activity. The second and more speculative hypothesis
is that the anecdote appeared in the lost poem called Epikichlides, which like other Homeric
apocrypha might well have been composed by the Homeridai. While too little is known about
Epikichlides to make a strong case, there are some interesting matching points with the
anecdote about the lousy boys.
KEYWORDS:
Homer, Homeridai, Heraclitus, Homeric apocrypha, riddles, ancient biography
Generally speaking, great caution is required when it comes to such textual manipulation: for the interpreter may be creating sub-texts the author did not intend, and thus in part replace the author himself. This paper reviews various arguments that highlight the improbability of the anagram theory with regard to Heraclitus’ work. My arguments concern a) the likelihood that the reader will find short anagrammatic sub-texts hidden in virtually every text if he is looking for them; b) the non-audibility of the supposed anagrams as grapheme-related wordplays; c) the absence of any evidence, in our sources on Heraclitus, suggesting such an interesting linguistic device; d) the implausibility of non-audible wordplays within a culture that is still fundamentally oral; and e) the differences between anagrams and the wordplays attested in pre-Hellenistic literature.
Keywords · Niobe, Aeschylus, Apulian Vases, Greek Theatre, Greek Dance, Martha Graham.
by a group of children with a riddle about their own lice. This paper formulates two
hypotheses. The first is that the lice anecdote was spread by the Chios-based guild of the
Homeridai, who, starting from the 6th century BC, established themselves as the chief authority
on Homer’s life and works: indeed, Heraclitus shows that this anecdote circulated in the
time and area of the Homeridai’s peak activity. The second and more speculative hypothesis
is that the anecdote appeared in the lost poem called Epikichlides, which like other Homeric
apocrypha might well have been composed by the Homeridai. While too little is known about
Epikichlides to make a strong case, there are some interesting matching points with the
anecdote about the lousy boys.
KEYWORDS:
Homer, Homeridai, Heraclitus, Homeric apocrypha, riddles, ancient biography
Generally speaking, great caution is required when it comes to such textual manipulation: for the interpreter may be creating sub-texts the author did not intend, and thus in part replace the author himself. This paper reviews various arguments that highlight the improbability of the anagram theory with regard to Heraclitus’ work. My arguments concern a) the likelihood that the reader will find short anagrammatic sub-texts hidden in virtually every text if he is looking for them; b) the non-audibility of the supposed anagrams as grapheme-related wordplays; c) the absence of any evidence, in our sources on Heraclitus, suggesting such an interesting linguistic device; d) the implausibility of non-audible wordplays within a culture that is still fundamentally oral; and e) the differences between anagrams and the wordplays attested in pre-Hellenistic literature.
Benefitting from the crossover of different disciplinary, historical, and artistic perspectives, the volume investigates the manifold ways in which dance can acquire meaning, disclose storyworlds, elicit the narratees’ responses, and generate powerful narratives of its own. Together, the eclectic approaches of Choreonarratives rethink dance’s capacity to tell, enrich, and inspire stories.
Sobre este tema central, un grupo internacional de expertos entabla en este espacio una discusión científica, en diálogo constructivo con interpretaciones previas, sobre la muy particular fortuna de dicho libro y de las concepciones a las que sirvió de vehículo, con especial énfasis en el eco efectivo que tuvo en su época y en la posteridad, a partir de una valoración objetiva de la reconstrucción filológica y la lectura filosófica subyacentes a la nueva Refectio, sobre cuyos problemas todavía no resueltos o recién identificados aportan nuevas evidencias y propuestas exegéticas.
You can find programme to the link: https://www.archaeological.org/programs/professionals/annual-meeting/prelim-program/
Registration is open here: https://aia-scs.secure-platform.com/a/organizations/main/home
6F: MATERIAL EVIDENCE OF DANCE PERFORMANCES IN THE ANCIENT WORLD (COLLOQUIUM)
ORGANIZER(S): Angela Bellia, Institute of Heritage Science – National Research Council of Italy and Erica Angliker, Institute of Classical Studies of London
Buildings that Dance: Choral Architecture in Stone and Text (15 minutes)
Deborah Steiner, Columbia University. New York (USA)
The Movement of Ritual and the Ritual of Movement in Ancient Egypt (15 minutes)
Batyah Schachter, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel)
Dance Spaces on Apulian Vase-Paintings: The Case of the Veiled Dance (15 minutes)
Fábio Vergara Cerqueira, Universidade Federal de Pelotas (Brazil)
Spaces of Dance in Etruria (Sixth – Fifth centuries BCE) (15 minutes)
Audrey Gouy, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
Prehistoric Pendants as Instigators of Sound and Body Movements: A
Traceological Case Study from Northeast Europe, circa 8200 cal. BP (15 minutes)
Rainio Riitta, University of Helsinki (Finland) and Gerasimov, Dmitry V., Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Science
Dance Costumes and the Inanimate Bodies of Ancient Dance (15 minutes)
Laura Gianvittorio-Ungar, Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
Dancing at the Parian Sanctuary of Apollo on Despotiko: Tracing the Material Evidence (15 minutes)
Yannos Kourayos, Ministry of Culture and Sports (Greece), and Erica Angliker, Institute of Classical Studies of London
The 2022 Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) will take place January 5-8 and will be a virtual only event.
Registration is open here: https://aia-scs.secure-platform.com/a/organizations/main/home
6F: MATERIAL EVIDENCE OF DANCE PERFORMANCES IN THE ANCIENT WORLD (COLLOQUIUM)
ORGANIZER(S): Angela Bellia, Institute of Heritage Science – National Research Council of Italy and Erica Angliker, Institute of Classical Studies of London
Buildings that Dance: Choral Architecture in Stone and Text (15 minutes)
Deborah Steiner, Columbia University. New York (USA)
The Movement of Ritual and the Ritual of Movement in Ancient Egypt (15 minutes)
Batyah Schachter, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel)
Dance Spaces on Apulian Vase-Paintings: The Case of the Veiled Dance (15 minutes)
Fábio Vergara Cerqueira, Universidade Federal de Pelotas (Brazil)
Spaces of Dance in Etruria (Sixth – Fifth centuries BCE) (15 minutes)
Audrey Gouy, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
Prehistoric Pendants as Instigators of Sound and Body Movements: A
Traceological Case Study from Northeast Europe, circa 8200 cal. BP (15 minutes)
Rainio Riitta, University of Helsinki (Finland) and Gerasimov, Dmitry V., Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Science
Dance Costumes and the Inanimate Bodies of Ancient Dance (15 minutes)
Laura Gianvittorio-Ungar, Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
Dancing at the Parian Sanctuary of Apollo on Despotiko: Tracing the Material Evidence (15 minutes)
Yannos Kourayos, Ministry of Culture and Sports (Greece), and Erica Angliker, Institute of Classical Studies of London
The 2022 Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) will take place January 5-8 and will be a virtual only event.