English

Noun

stasimon ‎(plural stasima)

1. (drama, Ancient Greek drama) A song of the chorus during a tragedy, continued without the interruption of dialogue or anapaestics.
   • 1950, Amy Marjorie Dale, Stasimon and Hyporcheme, Eranos, XLVIII, pages 14-20, reprinted in 1969, Collected Papers of A. M. Dale, Volume 2, page 34,

     In the Parados the chorus is 'coming on', and has to move on to and across the orchestra to take its place in the middle; in all the stasima, however active and lively the dance, its evolutions are performed from that middle position (a choro tenente stationes suas, as Hermann said in 1844), and do no involve processional movement.

   • 1964, William Ritchie, The Authenticity of the Rhesus of Euripides, page 338,

     It is interesting to consider the treatment of the stasima in relation to their context. Especially remarkable is the way in which the first stasimon (224 ff.), a hymn to Apollo praying for the success of Dolon's enterprise, is largely composed of sentiments repeated, with many verbal echoes, from the preceding dialogue […] .

   • 2013, Jonathan N. Badger, Sophocles and the Politics of Tragedy: Cities and Transcendence, page 78,

     The first stasimon sings of the wonders of man, which culminates in man's city-building and his ethical community. […] Episodes can be interpreted in the light of the choral stasima.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Liddell & Scott to this entry?)

See also

• parodos
• prologos
• epeisodion
• exodos
• kommos