Presenting multiple perspectives and addressing the significant topics in the field, this comprehensive book examines tragedy's relationship to Athenian democracy, religion, and myth. It explores how contemporary approaches to scholarship - including structuralist, psychoanalytic, and feminist theory - have changed the study and reception of Greek tragedy. Providing a thorough examination of ancient performance practices, and including detailed readings of selected plays, this text explores tragedy's ideology and effects, illuminating the reasons why Greek tragedy continues to be a subject of consequence to the modern world.