Though caution should be used when determining how puppetry functions in relation to the rhetorical aims of each text, similarities across texts, even in metaphors, do suggest a common culture of this art form in the ancient Mediterranean world. By drawing together references made to puppets in mechanical, philosophical, historical, and epigraphical texts, this article reconstructs many aspects of the materials, construction, and methods of operation employed for stringed puppets and puppet theaters. I classify ancient Greek puppetry into two main types: the phallic puppets used in religious processions in the Eastern Mediterranean (found not only in ancient Greece but also in Egypt), and small-scale puppetry, which was performed in theaters and possibly also in private contexts. While many unknowns remain about what these puppet shows were like, and what stories they told, from the fragmentary evidence that has survived it is possible to make a number of observations about the aesthetics, performance contexts, physical form, and practice of puppetry. Of all these performance traditions of antiquity, however, puppetry has attracted perhaps the least scholarly attention. 1 Hired performers at the Greek festivals in the Hellenistic and Roman periods included not only puppeteers, but also mimes, pantomime dancers, trick magicians, and acrobats. While the actors, poets, and musicians who competed for prizes at the festivals were of a higher status, hired performers could attain prestige from these public displays in the grand theaters of Greece and, in some cases, were even honored with permanent monuments. During religious festivals, they were hired to supplement competitions in drama and music. Puppeteers, known as thaumatopoioi (‘marvel-makers’) or neurospastai (‘string-pullers’), performed in a variety of contexts in the ancient Greek world, which included processions and public theaters. The inclusion of puppetry in religious festivals suggests a positive relationship with this art reactions to puppetry, from laughter to thauma (wonder), align with the aims of the festivals which hosted such performances. I contend that puppetry was not universally considered an insignificant art but was, rather, an important part of the performance culture of the ancient Mediterranean world. I classify ancient Greek puppetry into two main types: the phallic puppets used in religious processions in the Eastern Mediterranean, and small-scale puppetry, which was performed in theaters and possibly also in private contexts. Puppeteers performed in a variety of contexts, which included processions and public theaters. Drawing on literary, epigraphical, and archaeological material, this article addresses the interrelation of the performance context, physical form, and aesthetic of ancient Greek puppetry.
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