Anna A. Novokhatko – författare

Readers of this book receive an overview of the main perspectives and research of recent decades in the fruitful collaboration between Classics and Cognitive studies. It is intended as a stocktaking of various branches of Classics, such as literary criticism and poetics, linguistics, ancient history and archaeology. Four major research areas or clusters have been chosen for the presentation of the chapters. Chapter one discusses recent studies of 'cognitive' materiality and material agency in relation to the human mind, chapter two the so-called 'spatial turn' and cognition and the perception of space in place in relation to antiquity, chapter three imagination and vision and cognitive approaches to seeing, while chapter four considers experience and experientiality and the 'sensory turn' as applied to ancient sources. Finally, the fifth chapter is a special case and a different medium: it consists of three interviews with three well-known pioneers of the study of emotions in antiquity, David Konstan, Angelos Chaniotis and Douglas Cairns, who in various direct and indirect ways have greatly influenced the interplay and dialogue between classical studies and cognitive approaches in recent decades. This book takes stock of a rapidly developing and highly controversial field that is currently in full bloom.

In the ancient world, theatre was one of the main factors of social interaction, spreading political, religious, cultural and socio-ethical concepts among the people, transmitting knowledge and thus uniting the diverse populations of cities and villages. Some of these models were retained, with minor changes, in the repertoires of the new theatres and are still performed on stage in their original form or in accurate translations into new languages. The essays in this volume discuss the phenomenon of Greek and Roman theatre from historical, archaeological, linguistic and philological perspectives. Some chapters also deal with modern European theatre, such as Neo-Latin drama. The topic has been chosen as a central focus of research by Bernhard Zimmermann, Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Freiburg. The essays, written as a tribute by scholars from Germany, Italy, Greece, Austria, the United Kingdom and the United States, represent a wide range of approaches and traditions and take into account the latest trends in theatre studies. The volume will be an important guide for a wider audience interested in the history of ancient theatre, but also in the long course of its interaction with the modern European tradition.