While Greek tragedies are often studied as works of literature, they are less frequently examined as products of the social and political environment in which they were created. Rarely, too, are the visual and spatial aspects of these plays given careful consideration. In this detailed and innovative book, Lowell Edmunds combines two readings of the Oedipus at Colonus to arrive at a new way of looking at Greek tragedy. Edmunds sets forth a semiotic theory of theatrical space, and then applies this theory to the visual and spatial dimensions of the Oedipus at Colonus. In his historical analysis, Edmunds describes the Athenian revolution of 411 B.C.E. and its effect on Colonus. The book includes an appendix on the life of Sophocles and the reception of the Oedipus at Colonus. Edmunds' unique approach to the Oedipus at Colonus. makes this an important book for students and scholars of semiotics, Greek tragedy, and theatrical performance.

Contributions by: Annie L. Booth, Robert Burch, John Clark, Anthony M. H. Clayton, Matthew Gandy, Eric Katz, Roger King, Roger Paden, Clive Spash, Eliza Steelwater, Zev Trachtenberg, James Wescoat