Mali Annika Skotheim

Mali Annika Skotheim

Arthur Ross Pre-Doctoral Rome Prize
September 7, 2015–July 29, 2016
Profession
Department of Classics, Princeton University
Project title
Greek Dramatic Festivals under the Roman Empire
Project description

I am writing a social history of the Greek dramatic festivals under the Roman Empire, from the first century BCE to the third century CE. My aim is to illuminate Greek popular culture under the Empire, and the construction of Greek identity by elites and nonelites. My dissertation is in two parts. The first consists of seven chapters examining various aspects of the Greek dramatic festivals under the Roman Empire, including: the organization of festivals; the traveling performers who competed at them; the marginal entertainers who were hired to entertain the crowds; the spectators; and the involvement of the emperors in the Greek theater. The second part is a collection of all the epigraphic evidence for Greek drama under the Roman Empire, with texts, translations, and commentary. I am working with 170 inscriptions from mainland Greece, the Greek Islands, Asia Minor, the Black Sea, and Syria. While in Rome, I will add a section on the epigraphic evidence for the Greek dramatic festivals in Rome and Magna Graecia.