test INVISIBLE ACTORS IN THE GREEK THEATRE: STAGING THE PROLOGUE OF SOPHOCLES’ AJAX|ΠΑΡΑΒΑΣΙΣ/PARABASIS

INVISIBLE ACTORS IN THE GREEK THEATRE: STAGING THE PROLOGUE OF SOPHOCLES’ AJAX

Εξώφυλλο Παράβασις Τόμ. 20 / Cover Parabasis Vol. 20
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Published: Nov 24, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681//.43298
Avgi-Anna Maggel
Abstract

In the prologue of Sophocles' tragedy Ajax, three actors appear, playing the roles of Odysseus, Athena, and Ajax. The scene presents a particular dramatic interest because Sophocles devises a directorial device by making Athena invisible to Odysseus and, subsequently, Odysseus invisible to Ajax's eyes. The three actors interact in pairs of dialogues: first, between the supposedly invisible Athena and Odysseus, and then between Athena and Ajax, with Odysseus watching as a silent and unseen listener to the conversation of the two characters on stage. The aim of the present study is, firstly, to contribute to the discussion on the staging of the invisible Athena in the play's prologue, which raises the theatrical issue concerning her appearance on the theologeion (the roof or raised platform for gods), and secondly, to investigate the staging of the invisible Odysseus, which is combined with the silence he must observe at Athena's prompting to avoid being perceived by the raging Ajax. Conversely, the spectators watch the actors playing invisible characters in their encounters and are called upon to focus their attention on the text’s indications to understand the innovations in Sophocles' stage version of the myth of Ajax, which they know from the Homeric tradition.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Μελέτες / Studies
Author Biography
Avgi-Anna Maggel

Avgi-Anna Maggel is Senior Consultant of Classical Studies at the Greek Ministry of Education. She graduated from the Department of Philology, University of Athens. She earned her M.A. and PhD in Classics and Greek Drama at the University College London (UCL) under the supervision of Professor Eric W. Handley and Professor Pat E. Easterling. Visiting graduate student:1) Princeton University, Department of Classics, N.J. USA, research on Theory of Drama and Greek Tragedy with the assistance of Professor Froma Zeitlin (1993). 2) University of Cambridge, Department of Classics (1994-5). Fellowship at the Institute of Classical Studies and the Hellenic Society, University of London (1991-1998). During her graduate studies, she taught Modern Greek, the Tripos Program in the University of Cambridge in collaboration with Dr David Holton. In 1997-1998, she taught the postgraduate Seminar on Greek Drama and she was member of the scientific committee for the postgraduate program in the Department of Theatre Studies, University of Athens. She has been Senior Consultant of Classical Studies at the Hellenic Pedagogical Institute for the implementation and coordination of the national curriculum in the scope of the secondary humanistic education from 2008 to 2012. Since 2000, she lectured on various classical subjects and Greek Theatre in the Universities of Athens, Patras and Peloponnese as an Associate Lecturer. Since 2002, she was appointed by the Hellenic Open University to teach Ancient Greek Literature and Greek Theatre in the undergraduate Program ‘Hellenic Culture Studies’ with the use of e-learning methods, online platforms and distance learning key principles. She has widely published on Ancient Greek Literature and Language, Greek Drama, Greek Lyric, Classical Reception and Literary Translation from English and French. She is working on a research project for Classics in Contemporary Education.