This newly updated second edition features wide-ranging, systematically organized scholarship in a concise introduction to ancient Greek drama, which flourished from the sixth to third century BC.

• Covers all three genres of ancient Greek drama - tragedy, comedy, and satyr-drama
• Surveys the extant work of Aeschylus, Sophokles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander, and includes entries on 'lost' playwrights
• Examines contextual issues such as the origins of dramatic art forms; the conventions of the festivals and the theater; drama's relationship with the worship of Dionysos; political dimensions of drama; and how to read and watch Greek drama
• Includes single-page synopses of every surviving ancient Greek play