taming.
Zetemata: Questions for Discussion
Why is it that a mere recounting of events, no matter how accurate and detailed, is not sufficient to
qualify as “history”?
How is it possible for serious historical inquiry to accommodate the workings of divine entities?
Why does Herodotus take up a great portion of his history with detailed descriptions of the lands and
customs of different peoples?
Why is it much easier to remember what you have read in a hand-written text, which may have
required an effort to decipher, than what you have read on a printed page like the one in front of you?
What limitations were placed on Attic tragedy by its almost total reliance upon plots derived from
myth and, conversely, what freedom did Attic playwrights gain by adhering to those plots?
Why is “dramatic irony” more characteristic of works of the theater (and of the cinema) than of other
narrative forms?
In what ways did the life of a woman in democratic Athens differ from the life of a Spartan woman?Recommended for Further Reading
Brulé, P. Women of Ancient Greece, English translation (Edinburgh 2003): a clearly written, sensible, and
thorough survey of all aspects of women’s life from the time of Homer through late antiquity.
Gould, J. Herodotus (New York 1989): the most thoughtful and insightful introduction to Herodotus as
historian, as thinker, and as literary artist.
Herodotus. The Histories, translated by Tom Holland (London 2013): a readable and accurate translation,
with helpful and informative notes and maps, and an excellent introduction by Paul Cartledge.
Lewis, S. The Athenian Woman: An Iconographic Handbook (London and New York 2002): a well-
illustrated and controversial study of all aspects of women’s life in ancient Greece that asks us to
challenge our usual assumptions about what the frequent representations of women on Attic vases can
actually tell us.
Scodel, R. Sophocles (Boston 1984): a fine introduction to the dramatic achievement of Sophocles, in the
Twayne “World Authors” series.
Sophocles. The Complete Plays, translated by C. R. Mueller and A. Krajewska-Wieczorek (Hanover, NH
2000): the least unsatisfactory of the many desperate attempts to convey Sophocles’ rugged language in
English.
Thomas, R. Literacy and Orality in Ancient Greece (Cambridge and New York 1992): an important
discussion of the complex issue of the transition from a largely oral to an increasingly literate culture in
ancient Greece.