Book•
The dramatic festivals of Athens
01 Jan 1953-
TL;DR: The lesser festivals the great or city Dionysia the actors the costumes the chorus the audience the artists of Dionysus as mentioned in this paper, and the lesser festivals, the lesser or city
Abstract: The lesser festivals the great or city Dionysia the actors the costumes the chorus the audience the artists of Dionysus.
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TL;DR: The role and importance of the Great Dionysia in the history of the polis has been explored in a number of ways, e.g. by as discussed by the authors, who argued that the festival is a place of entertainment rather than religious ritual, and that the plays should be approached primarily as dramatic performances.
Abstract: There have been numerous attempts to understand the role and importance of the Great Dionysia in Athens, and it is a festival that has been made crucial to varied and important characterizations of Greek culture as well as the history of drama or literature. Recent scholarship, however, has greatly extended our understanding of the formation of fifth-century Athenian ideology—in the sense of the structure of attitudes and norms of behaviour—and this developing interest in what might be called a ‘civic discourse’ requires a reconsideration of the Great Dionysia as a city festival. For while there have been several fascinating readings of particular plays with regard to the polis and its ideology, there is still a considerable need to place the festival itself in terms of the ideology of the polis. Indeed, recent critics in a justifiable reaction away from writers such as Gilbert Murray have tended rather to emphasize on the one hand that the festival is a place of entertainment rather than religious ritual, and on the other hand that the plays should be approached primarily as dramatic performances.
235 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2008TL;DR: Halliwell et al. as discussed by the authors analyzed both the theory and the practice of laughter as a revealing expression of Greek values and mentalities, and showed how perceptions of laughter helped to shape Greek conceptions of the body, the mind and the meaning of life.
Abstract: The first book to offer an integrated reading of ancient Greek attitudes to laughter. Taking material from various genres and contexts, the book analyses both the theory and the practice of laughter as a revealing expression of Greek values and mentalities. Greek society developed distinctive institutions for the celebration of laughter as a capacity which could bridge the gap between humans and gods; but it also feared laughter for its power to expose individuals and groups to shame and even violence. Caught between ideas of pleasure and pain, friendship and enmity, laughter became a theme of recurrent interest in various contexts. Employing a sophisticated model of cultural history, Stephen Halliwell traces elaborations of the theme in a series of important texts: ranging far beyond modern accounts of 'humour', he shows how perceptions of laughter helped to shape Greek conceptions of the body, the mind and the meaning of life.
188 citations
TL;DR: Demosthenes as mentioned in this paper asserted that there were sixty or slightly more recurrent liturgies performed every year in Athens, but neither he nor any later scholar has pressed this doubt to the point of tabulating the relevant evidence in detail.
Abstract: In 355/4 Demosthenes asserted that there were ‘perhaps sixty or slightly more’ recurrent liturgies performed every year in Athens. Bockh doubted this figure, thinking it a serious underestimate, but neither he nor any later scholar has pressed this doubt to the point of tabulating the relevant evidence in detail. It may therefore be found useful if I do so here, for it will emerge with some clarity that Bockh's doubts were well-founded.Demosthenes' word ‘recurrent’ (ἐγκύκλιοι) achieved some currency in the last century as a quasi-technical term. By it he meant the civilian liturgies—choregia, gymnasiarchy, etc.—in contrast to the military liturgies the imposition of which was irregular and unpredictable; but since every known civilian liturgy in Athens formed part of the celebration of a festival, it may perhaps be clearer to think of them as festival liturgies and to arrange the evidence not according to the category of liturgy but by festival. I begin with the certain cases.
146 citations
01 Sep 1984
TL;DR: The legacy of Hellenistic kingship lived on in the Roman Empire, its ideology and its institutions, both secular and religious alike, now adapted to the requirements of a universal monarchy.
Abstract: Within twenty years of Alexander's death his empire had split into separate states, whose rulers had taken the title of king. The new kings were forceful and ambitious men who relied on their armies and mostly ruled in lands where monarchy was traditional. The new monarchies presented Greeks with ideological problems. Wherever they lived, they had to adjust to a dominant royal power and to find an acceptable place for monarchy within their political philosophy. It has been widely argued that the Antigonid monarchy in Macedonia differed in important respects from monarchy in the other kingdoms. Hellenistic monarchy was closely associated with religion and the gods. More varied in both its form and its implications is the religious practice commonly known as ruler-cult. The legacy of Hellenistic kingship lived on in the Roman Empire, its ideology and its institutions, secular and religious alike, now adapted to the requirements of a universal monarchy.
146 citations