Troy, Carthage and the Victorians
The Drama of Classical Ruins in the Nineteenth-Century Imagination

Playful, popular visions of ruined cities demonstrate antiquity's starring role in nineteenth-century culture, developing new models for understanding classical reception.

Rachel Bryant Davies (Author)

9781107192669, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 March 2018

402 pages, 69 b/w illus.
25.3 x 18 x 2.2 cm, 0.98 kg

'The book is learned and insightful, filled with archival discoveries and analysis of overlooked source material … makes a strong contribution to reception studies, analysis of cultural discourse in nineteenth-century Britain, and the history of popular culture …' Elena N. Boeck, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Playful, popular visions of Troy and Carthage, backdrops to the Iliad and Aeneid's epic narratives, shine the spotlight on antiquity's starring role in nineteenth-century culture. This is the story of how these ruined cities inspired bold reconstructions of the Trojan War and its aftermath, how archaeological discoveries in the Troad and North Africa sparked dramatic debates, and how their ruins were exploited to conceptualise problematic relationships between past, present and future. Rachel Bryant Davies breaks new ground in the afterlife of classical antiquity by revealing more complex and less constrained interaction with classical knowledge across a broader social spectrum than yet understood, drawing upon methodological developments from disciplines such as history of science and theatre history in order to do so. She also develops a thorough critical framework for understanding classical burlesque and engages in in-depth analysis of a toy-theatre production.

Prologue
1. Troy and Carthage in the nineteenth century
2. Homeric pilgrimage, topography and archaeology
3. The Trojan War at the circus
4. The Iliad and Aeneid burlesqued
5. Carthage and future ruins
Epilogue: Troy and Carthage as 'a beacon and a warning'
Appendix A. List of burlesques
Appendix B. Select chronology.

Subject Areas: Classical Greek & Roman archaeology [HDDK], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]