But no one has yet woven together these three modes of performance (theater, oratory, and hymnody) in the terms Laura Lieber offers here: considering how deeply the very mechanics of theatrical performance shaped and informed the ritual lives of late antique Jews, Samaritans, and Christians. This is not at all the same as thinking about ancient tragedy and comedy as themselves religious rituals of sacrifice and prayer. It is about how key religious figures – ritual agents, community leaders, but most especially and above all, the poets who wove the separate parts into seamless tapestries – learned their crafts, learned the tools necessary to make the rituals of religious life and worship effective.