Sofocle nei demi: problemi metodologici e interpretativi nello studio delle iscrizioni drammatiche sulle repliche della tragedia

Abstract

In the last decades, a growing interest in the spread of theatre outside Athens put under the spotlight the notion of “reperformance”, i.e. the repeatability of originally Athenian performances in non-Athenian contexts. “Reperformance” is now a buzzword of Classical studies, but the analysis of the revivals of 5^th century BC tragedies in the pre-Alexandrian age is still in progress and scholars sometimes tend to oversimplify the issues at stake. This is particularly true in the case of tragic reperformances in the demes. The dissemination of tragedy in this context is considered crucial to the understanding of another important phenomenon: the competence of Athenian audiences. According to a widely accepted theory, the poetic dialogue of comic playwrights with tragic texts implies that (1) the public had a good knowledge of tragedies first staged many decades before their parodies and that (2) this knowledge was enhanced by the revivals of Aeschylus’, Sophocles’ and Euripides’ plays in the theatres of Attica. This may well be true, but we should refrain from thinking that every performance recorded in the demes was necessarily a reperformance: the world of Rural Dionysia is so fascinating and the organisation of these dramatic festivals is so complex, that the demes “may even had lessons to teach the city” (P. Wilson). This paper will analyse two dramatic inscriptions (IG I³ 970, IG II/III³ 4, 1, 498), both deriving from the demes and recording a Sophoclean production, with the aim of showing that even though they possibly refer to two reperformances, there is a series of epigraphical, philological and literary problems that need to be addressed before jumping to hasty conclusions.

Laureato a Pisa nel 2013 con una tesi sul finale interpolato dei Sette contro Tebe (relatore E. Medda), nel 2018 ha conseguito il titolo di dottore di ricerca ad Urbino, dopo aver scritto, sotto la supervisione di L. Lomiento, una dissertazione sulla circolazione della tragedia in età pre-alessandrina. Nel 2016 è stato visiting student presso il Centre of Classical and Near Eastern Studies dell’Università di Sydney. Ha esposto i risultati delle sue ricerche in conferenze tenutesi ad Eichstätt, Mainz, Vancouver, Sydney, Corfù, Oxford, Basilea. Fra i suoi principali interessi vi sono la trasmissione dei testi, la storia del teatro e la ricezione antica della tragedia; nel 2020 ha pubblicato un articolo sulla Commedia di Mezzo in una raccolta di studi in onore di A. Bowie (Ancient Greek Comedy, De Gruyter). Attualmente insegna Lettere nelle scuole superiori ed è un ricercatore indipendente.

Keywords: Sophocles, reperformance, Rural Dionysia, dramatic festivals, Telepheia