Acting Gods, Playing Heroes, and the Interaction between Judaism, Christianity, and Greek Drama in the Early Common Era

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
List of Figures
Preface
Note on Abbreviations and Translations
1. Theater and/as Ritual: Introduction to the State of the Question(s) and Scope of the Study
	Theater, Religion, and the Bible: A Brief Survey of Intersections
	Classical Reception and Comparative Religion: On Scope and Method
2. A Tale of Two Cities’ Theaters: From Athens to Jerusalem
	The Theater of Dionysus and Changing Views of Divine Liturgy
	Roman Theaters in Jerusalem between Temple, Synagogue, and Latrine
3. The Drama of Debating Gods (and Their Existence): Lucian of Samosata and Philo of Alexandria on Creation and Providence
	Lucian’s Juppiter tragoedus: Philosophical Schools between Comedy and Tragedy
	Reducing Divine Personae to Natural Elements: Philo and the Chrysippus of Euripides
4. Gods on Stage and Gods in Heaven: Fragments of Atheism in Sextus Empiricus and Pseudo-Justin
	The Fabrication of Gods from Sisyphus to Sextus Empiricus
	Religious Apologetics and the Drama of Providence: Ps.-Justin’s De monarchia and the Bellerophon
5. Laughing at/with Heracles: Philo of Alexandria on Freedom and Virtue
	Heracles: Cultural Icon and Comic Buffoon
	Philo, Heracles, and the Syleus of Euripides: Performing Freedom
6. Atonement and Resurrection as the Denouement of Euripides’ Alcestis
	The Alcestis of Euripides between Tragedy and Satyr-Play
	Alcestis, Gender, and Vicarious Death: From Paul to the Barcelona Alcestis
	Raising the Dead with Alcestis: From the Gospel of John to the Via Latina
7. From Tragic Heroines to Religious Martyrs: The Afterlife of Polyxena between Philo and Clement of Alexandria
	Polyxena on (and off) the Athenian Stage
	A Measure of Masculine Virtue in Philo’s Quod omnis probus liber sit
	A Model of the Chaste Wife in Clement’s Stromateis
8. Deus ex Machina: Concluding Thoughts on Dramatic Closure
References
Index