Pollution and Crisis in Greek Tragedy

Pollution is ubiquitous in Greek tragedy: matricidal Orestes seeks purification at Apollo''s shrine in Delphi; carrion from Polyneices'' unburied corpse fills the altars of Thebes; delirious Phaedra suffers from a ''pollution of the mind''. This book undertakes the first detailed analysis of the important role which pollution and its counterparts - purity and purification - play in tragedy. It arg...