Semiramis: An Early 11th c. Norman Text with Anglo-Danish Connotations Reviewed as a Dramatic Script

Abstract

This article discusses a text, a satire, in the manuscript Paris, Bibl. Nat. lat. 8121 A. Conveniently this section of the codex is called Semiramis (see Dronke 1970). Based on Dronke's (1970) and Gunnell's (1995) research, the article looks further into Semiramis and discusses whether staging rather than reading it comes with a profit. While discussing this hypothesis four major reasons why Semiramis would benefit from being read as a dramatic script and staged can be singled out. Although the play is a distinctly Latin Semiramis shows affinities with the Anglo-Danish culture of it day and age as well as with Eddic plays, especially Skírnismál and Lokasenna (see Gunnell 1995).