ABSTRACT
Classical drama was a prominent and consistent feature at London playhouses throughout the early modern period. Even casual observers will notice that the vast majority of plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries contain some kind of classical allusion, while many explicitly dramatize classical legends and chronicles, attesting to the popularity of this material. Unlike Shakespeare's Roman history plays, during which spectators become engrossed in a singular linear narrative, the Ages each progress as a succession of loosely related episodes connected by a series of prologues by the narrator, Homer. Far from the claim leveled by some critics that Heywood lacked a sophisticated grasp of the historical material he adapted for the stage, Heywood seems consciously to have attempted to popularize classical legends with a specific audience and purpose in mind. The histrionic representation of Hector's death in The Iron Age was met by a much more visceral reaction on the part of audiences.
