Actors and Icons of the Ancient Theater examines actors and their popular reception from the origins of theater in Classical Greece to the Roman Empire

• Presents a highly original viewpoint into several new and contested fields of study
• Offers the first systematic survey of evidence for the spread of theater outside Athens and the impact of the expansion of theater upon actors and dramatic literature
• Addresses a study of the privatization of theater and reveals how it was driven by political interests
• Challenges preconceived notions about theater history

Eric Csapo is Professor and Chair of Classics at the University of Sydney, Australia. An expert in ancient drama and in the material, social and economic history of the ancient theatre, Csapo is the author of Theories of Mythology (Blackwell 2005) and, with W. J. Slater, Context of Ancient Drama (1995). Along with P. Wilson, Csapo is currently preparing a three-volume social and economic history of the classical Greek theatre (500-300 BC).