Humans and Gods in Sophocles and Early Greek Thought : Theology, Epistemology and Narrative

Argues that Sophoclean tragedy is a distinctive form of religious discourse concerned with exploring the relationship between humans and gods and profoundly engaged with contemporary intellectual culture. Explores key plays in detail as well as general themes and aspects of narrative structure and performance.

This book proposes that Sophoclean tragedy is a distinctive form of religious discourse concerned with exploring the relationship between humans and gods. Building on recent scholarship that has begun to reintegrate literature within the study of Greek religion after decades of neglect, Alexandre Johnston positions Sophocles' seven extant plays within a vibrant tradition of early Greek theology, literature and philosophy that cuts across modern disciplinary boundaries. Blending an overarching thematic approach with detailed analysis of key case studies, he argues that tragedies such as Antigone and Electra were at once poetic works and religious artefacts that engaged profoundly with contemporary intellectual culture. Through their narrative structure and performance, these tragedies allow spectators privileged insights into the workings of an obscure, unstable world dominated by inscrutable gods, offering distinctive, sometimes radical visions of the divine and its impact on the existence of mortals.