Project Director

Davies, Joshua

Department Examiner

Springer, Carl

Department

Dept. of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Euripides’ Bacchae is one of the most well-known and most frequently performed Greek tragedies. However, it is too often distanced from its origins in the Dionysia, a religious festival celebrated in honor of the god Dionysus, at which it was performed as part of tragic ritual. This paper analyzes the specific translation choices of three authors, Anne Carson, Gilbert Murray, and Emily Wilson, and how they affect the meanings of their different translations as a whole. These choices are broken down according to three domains, inspired by Aristotle’s definition of tragedy in Poetics. The religious, cathartic effect of each play is evaluated according to the poetic quality of the work, the characterization of Dionysus, and the relationships between the audience and the characters of the play. The thesis ends with a reflection on the religious nature of translation itself, positioning it within the tragic ritual that Bacchae was written as a part of and describes.

Degree

B. A.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

Date

12-2025

Subject

Dionysus (Greek deity)--Drama; Greek drama (Tragedy)--Translations into English--History and criticism

Name

Euripides. Bacchae.

Keyword

translation; classics; ancient greek; religion

Discipline

Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity

Document Type

Theses

Extent

iii, 67 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

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