This book is a contribution to one of the core projects of classical scholarship in recent years: highlighting the importnace of social and political context in the interpretation of ancient works. Tyrrell and Bennett are probably best known for their suggestions about links between Antigone and the Athenian public funerals and funeral orations. In this book they expand on those ... Read moresuggestions, drawing also on particular historical events such as the Samian war, and on other literary texts, such as Iliad, to establish how Antogone's, Creon's, and other characters' attitudes to the burial might have been percieved.
Hans Van Wees, University College London
The Classical Review
The authors' writting is clear, their research thorough, their reading of the text a close one, and their observations generally sound. Anyone intending to pursue scholalry work on any aspect of of the Antigone will surely have to include this work. While the book contains numerous passages in the original Greek, the authors provide translations so that this book would also provide an excellent companion to the play for the Greek-less reader.
Religious Studies Review
This book is valuable.
The Journal of Hellenic Studies
Tyrrell and Bennett's articulation of the tension between these traditional Greek family customs and the importance of state funerals for war dead is their special contribution to the understanding of Sophocles'Antigone. Extensive reference to the Greek text is made in this careful analysis, accessible to advanced undergraduates.
The Classical Outlook
Tyrrell and Bennett's book is a valuable addition to the literature on this fascinatingly complex play and is of use to students of the play at all levels, from the advanced undergraduate to the serious scholar of tragedy and ritual.....
Martin R. Boyne
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Tyrrell and Bennett's book is a valuable addition to the literature on this fascinatingly complex play and is of use to students of the play at all levels, from the advanced undergraduate to the serious scholar of tragedy and ritual.
Martin R. Boyne
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
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