I would think that we have only a fraction of the plays that were written, and I wonder what the history is of those that did survive. Is it possible that we'll discover more?
2006-07-16 08:31:26 · 6 answers · asked by S K 7 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Theater & Acting
There are numerous reasons why. Like the burning of the library of Alexandria. The most important reasons why, is the 'spirit' of an century. The best example of this is Sappho.
Sappho was an Ancient Greek poet. In her day, and even until a couple of centuries later, she was praised for her writing skills. Even Plato described her as the 9th Muse. But in the Middle Ages people began to see her as a woman who was into young girls. Some of it was true. Therefor they destroyed as much works as possible from Sappho. Now, we have only 2 complete poems, written by her.
It's a very complex thing to try to find out why people preserved some works and destroyed others. The way people think has changed a lot during those three millennia.
Most certainly we will discover more Ancient Greek works. The main source is of course Herculaneum (Pompeii). Complete libraries have been preserved there. But the Italian government doesn't have the money to excavate and preserve those works.
But you can be sure that we will discover lots of Ancient Greek works in Pompeii.
2006-07-19 23:37:14 · answer #1 · answered by study_of_life 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Simple really, as there would probably only have been a handful of copies of each one we're lucky to have ANY surviving today. The advent of the printing press meant it was easier to publish/make multiple copies, but it's a fact that we don't have all of Shakespeare's canon, let alone playwrights from antiquity.
2006-07-17 02:41:33 · answer #2 · answered by AndyG45 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wouldn't that be fascinating if we did? Can you imagine if we discover enough work so that our current understanding of the ancient Greeks would have to be altered. ?
Did you know that the Greeks painted their statues with vivid colors and that our perception of these statues being white is inherited from Victorian thinking?
2006-07-16 08:37:06 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Like Broadway. Some survive, some don't.
Discovering more is always possible although the best have survived and more 'classic classics' is almost unthinkable.
2006-07-16 08:34:24 · answer #4 · answered by Puppy Zwolle 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
my guess is the best survived and the rest went by the
waysude, imagine a couple of millennia from now. how
much of what is now on broadway do you think will
have survived?
2006-07-16 08:36:47 · answer #5 · answered by agedlioness 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My guess would be the burning of the library in Alexandria. So much history, plays, and such were lost in that fire.
2006-07-16 09:21:49 · answer #6 · answered by Kellie M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋