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Mapping Politics: An Investigation of Deme Theatres in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries B.C.E.

Deme TheatresMapping Politics: An Investigation of Deme Theatres in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries B.C.E.

Jessica Paga (Princeton University)

Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics: February (2009)

Abstract

Deme theatres, or theatral areas, dot both the countryside of Attika and our epigraphic sources. This paper examines the evidence for nineteen deme theatres in Attika during the fifth and fourth centuries, in conjunction with an exploration of the festival of the Rural Dionysia. The overarching goals are to identify the distribution, shape, and functions of the deme theatral areas, while noting the ramifications of these elements for the administrative and organizational structures of the Athenian democracy.



An exploration of the political organization of the Athenian democracy must, by necessity, involve an investigation of the system of demes, part of the Kleisthenic reforms instituted in the last decade of the sixth century. One of the elements that may aid our understanding of the demes is the presence, or lack thereof, of theatres or theatral areas. The multiplicity of purposes implied by these deme theatres helps to illuminate the structure of the demokratia on a deme and trittys level. Additionally, an examination of extant and attested deme theatres highlights the role of the theatral areas and the festival in the functioning of the demes, as well as in the more general administrative organization of the polis. The question of deme theatres, therefore, is tied up in the question of the Rural Dionysia, both of which are connected to the elaborate matrix of the Athenian democracy. This paper will examine the current evidence for deme theatres and the Rural Dionysia in an attempt to render visible the intersections between local politics, cult, and broad polis functioning.

Click here to read this article from theĀ Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics

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