RICERCA ITALIANA     

Law, theatre and society in Greece and Rome

Università degli Studi di Milano

Abstract

Theatre texts represent an important source for the reconstruction of many institutions, of both civil and public law. In reason of their non-technical nature they are able to close the gap between law and society, between rules formally in use and rules actually applied, between rules imposed and not shared and rules that reflect the individual and social conscience.
We propose, therefore, to conduct new research on the relations between law and theatre in Greek and Roman classical antiquity, aimed at determining the juridical contents obtainable from dramatic texts and the relationship between rules and social practice. Object of our study will be Greek and Latin comedies and tragedies.
The research group is divided into four units. Under the coordination of the national supervisor (the director of the Milano-Statale unit), each unit will independently examine with a unitary method a selected number of texts. 1) The Milano-Statale unit will cover Greek tragedy, researching principally vengeance and its social role in a diachronic key. 2) The Milano-Bicocca unit will study the New Greek Comedy, researching the law of property, the relations between creditors and debtors, and the trial. 3) The Foggia unit will focus on Latin tragedy, investigating moral legitimisation of power and crimes committed under psychic alteration (furor and impetus). 4) The Naples unit will concentrate on Roman Drama, also examining less studied fragmentary texts, and researching >>>

Principal Investigator

Eva CANTARELLA Università degli Studi di MILANO

Research Objectives

The general research programme aims to study the relations between law and theatre, and particularly to determine the legal contents obtainable from theatrical texts and the relationship between the rules and social practice that we gather from them. The research will consider literary documents that, for their social and cultural potential, are an ideal bridge between cultural imagination and juridical practice.
The research group is divided into four units, of which two will work on the Greek world, treating respectively tragedy and comedy, while the other two will investigate the Roman world, examining respectively tragedy and comedy.
As far as the Greek world is concerned, we shall try to understand the cultural contribution of Greek theatre to individuate legal rules, enhancing the double role of connector of juridical and pre-juridical traditions. We shall focus particularly on vengeance, law of property, relations between creditors and debtors, and trial.
As for the Roman world, the research group will investigate the legal evidence obtainable from comedy and tragedy, also considering a series of less studied texts (fragments and tragedies). In this context attention will be focused on specific aspects as the moral legitimisation of power, crimes committed in a state of psychic alteration (furor and impetus), family legal relationships and legal relations concerning patria potestas, matrimonium, and rights on slaves. We consider these themes >>>

First Results

- Collection of all scientific publications - juridical and not juridical (including publications on theatre history, dramaturgy, ancient literature, ancient history) - concerning the proposed subject;
- intermediate examination, by every research uni

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

Theatre texts are often neglected by scholars who investigate juridical institutions. Nevertheless, they represent a very important and interesting source for the reconstruction of several institutions which concern both civil and public law.
The contribution that scholars of ancient law can draw from such texts is twofold. On one side, because of their frequent and often precise references to juridical institutions, they can be used as an additional source to technical sources. On the other side, since they are not technical sources, they allow us to understand the gap between law and society, between rules formally in use and rules actually applied, between rules imposed and not shared and rules that reflect the individual and social conscience.
Obviously, several methodological cautions are necessary for those who intend to study such texts. In fact, the approach will be different according to various elements, depending on the theatrical texts which are investigated (if Greek or Roman, if tragic or comic), and on the cultural background and the sensitiveness of the various authors.
For these reasons, the problems that every research unit and every single researcher will be facing are quite few and variable: they will be expounded in the four single projects.
The innovative aspect of this research is connected to the fact that there are not many recent studies, specifically addressed to the proposed theme. The apparently renewed interest for >>>