Greek Tragedy and the Historian

Tragedy was central to the experience of being a Athenian citizen and should be the richest of all sources for illuminating fifth-century society and thought, yet it is particularly difficult for a historian to use. This collection of eleven essays investigates the methods and pitfalls of using tragedy to illuminate history. The tragic theme was no mere diversion for a fifth-century Athenian: it was a focal part of the experience of being a citizen. Tragedy explores fundamental issues of religion, of ethics, of civic ideology, and we should expect it to be a central source for the reconstruction and analysis of the Athenian thought-world. Yet is is also a peculiarly delicate source to use, and the combination of tragic with other material often poses particular problems to the historian. This collection of eleven papers investigates the methods and pitfalls of using tragedy to illuminate fifth-century thought, culture, and society. In the concluding essay Christopher Pelling summarizes two important themes of the book: the problems of using tragedy as evidence; and the light tragedy can shed on civic ideology.