11. Hero Cults
Concept of pollution
The unwritten laws that governed the relationship between host and
strangers
12.
13.
14. Democracy & Civic Duty
“Our constitution is called a democracy because
power is in the hands of the people, not a minority.
When it is a question of settling private disputes,
everybody is equal before the law: when it is a
question of putting one person before another in
positions of public responsibility, what counts is not
membership of a particular class, but the actual
ability which the man possesses. No one, so long as
he has it in him to be of service to the state, is kept in
political obscurity because of poverty… This is a
peculiarity of ours: we do not say that a man who
takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his
own business; we say that he has no business here at
all.”
--Pericles
20. Climactic Drama
Action Begins near the climax
Very few characters
One main action
Play occurs during a short span of time
Takes place in one locale
Dramatic tension is
increased because
calamities befall the
characters in a very
short time
Audience must be
provided with a
great deal of
exposition
27. Old Comedy vs. New Comedy
(also Middle Comedy)
Key & Peele https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qv7k2_lc0M
Friends https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mP5xOg7ijs
29. If there is time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOyJqGtP-wU
Editor's Notes
What did you read about that interested/surprised you?
Polis: the city state
All were greek but your loyalty was closer to your city state than all of greece
Sort of like the US reversed – loyalty to country first then state/locality second
In Ancient Greece you were more loyal to your polis than your country. Where do your loyalties lie? To family? School? Department? Friends? State Country? What are you most loyal to ranging to least?
Oikos: a coopertative enterprise in which the interests of the individual were subordinate to those of the larger whole; the many oikoi made up the polis and provided things like able bodied soldiers
Polis: small, close knit community of citizens (free adult males) dependent on others (women, slaves, metics) for their existence and survival. Also a community of citizens bonded together by a complex of social, political, religions and military ties
What do you know of Greek Gods?
14 biggies:
Zeus – king of the gods, ruler of mt. olympus, god of the sky, weather, thunder, lightening, law, order and justice
Hera – Queen of the gods, goddess of marriage, women, childbirth, heirs, kings, and empires
Athena – intelligence, skill, peace, warfare, battle strategy, handicrafts, wisdom
Poseidon – god of the sea, rivers, floods, droughts, and earthquakes
Aphrodite – beauty love desire pleasure
Apollo – music, arts, knowledge, healing, plague, prophecy, poetry, manly beauty, archery
Ares – war, bloodshed, violence
Artemis – virgin goddess of the hunt, wilderness, animals, young girls, childbirth, and plague
Demeter – grain, agriculture, harvest, growth, and nourishment
Dionysus – wine, parties, festivals, madness, chaos, drunkenness, drugs, and ecstasy
Hades – king of the underworld and the dead
Hephaestus – fire, metalworking, and crafts
Hermes – god of boundaries, travel, communication, trade, language, and writing, messenger of the gods
Hestia – virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and chastity
Someone read from p. 31 what a myth is
“A myth is a story or legend – sometimes invented, sometimes based loosely on fact – that is handed down from generation to generation… In each culture, certain myths are seized on because they seem to sum up its view of human relationships and of the problems and opportunities life presents to individuals.”
What myths do you see being played out again in popular culture?
What do these have in common? (aside from the fact that colin firth is in two of them?)
Again and again we see the story of the lonely hero suddenly vested with or aware of powers they’ve had all along and off to save the world.
What do these stories say about us as a culture?
What do we value?
What captivates us?
What do you know about Greek myths? ( a lot of rape and loss) what do you
think the Greek myths said about that culture?
there are three other aspects of Greek religion that should be mentioned because they are relevant to understanding some aspects of ancient Greece.
Heroes were the famous dead. Their bones were thougth to be endowed with special powers and cults would grow up around supposed burial sites. Oracles would say battles could not be won until the bones of some long dead hero were brought home. This was happening during the time of Sophocles’ life.
Miasma
Unwritten laws around strangers
I found this online. I think it’s suuuuper interesting that the image they’re using for democracy is a painting of Socrates being forced to drink hemlock. Nothing says “power to the people” like forcing the smartest man alive to kill himself for posing difficult questions.
Monarchy: monos = single :: arkhien = rule
Oligarchy: Oligos = few :: arkhien = rule
Tyranny: tyrannos = usurper with supreme power
Democracy: demos = people :: kratos = power
15% get this so called democracy (the rest are women, slaves, metics, children)
Do you think Pericles' quote describing Democracy in ancient Athens sounds like what we call Democracy today? Is it truly possible for a poor man to make an impact in the political world and be elected in our country? – Trump? Sanders?
Sitting around while the rest of your family cleaned the house.
Sitting in the green room while the rest of the company works.
How would those actions be received by that community?
Dithyrambis, theater, military service + civic responsibility
p. 28 “total cessation of social activities” when do we stop everything in this culture? Christmas (sort of) 9/11
Democracy needed theater of a political platform to convey messages to a large audience
Oikos vs. Polis
Just because it is legal doesn’t make it right & vice/versa
Respect; reverence; irreverence; honor
Remember: just as the individual need was supposed to be subservient to the greater good of the oikos, so the needs of the individual oikos were supposed to be subservient to the greater needs of the polis.
“In democractic Athens, religion became increasingly politicized as the polis took greater control over the administration of religious matters, and the courts pronounced through their popular verdicts, on matters both secular and divine… Both Creon and Antigone are left by the gods to their respective fates, because Sophocles does not moralize on a solution to the problem; he simply dramatizes the crisis that can occur when there is an irreconcilable conflict of beliefs in a changing world of oikos and polis”
Just as important a question as “what did it mean to its original society?” is the next question we should ask ourselves as srtists today: “does this play speak to audiences today? Is it relevant to today’s audience? Why should we consider working on this play now?”
Discuss in terms of Antigone
Hamartia (missing the mark) – tragic flaw
Dramatic theory; written a century after the fact – not laying down rules for everyone to follow (as would happen later) rather, writing out what had worked in the golden age of Greek theater.
The original aim of tragedy: pity and fear “purges these emotions, restoring harmony to the soul”
What do you feel after watching a well made tragedy? (12 years a slave, schindler’s list, hotel rwanda)
Me reading The Invention of Wings over break
What is it that wearing a mask allows us to do? Think about this both from the audience's perspective and the actor. What happens when an actor puts on a mask? What does the mask change? What does it make possible? Thinking back to the Jabbawakeez video, what happens to the stage picture when they are all dancing while wearing masks?
Hellen was the mythological patriarch of Greece and the brother of Pandora (the one with the box, not the radio station); each of his sons founded one of the primary tribes of ancient greece.
Greeks are known as Hellenes
When Alexander the Great conquered, basically, everything Athens was still a major cultural center. Alex tG (educated by Aristotle) exported the hellenic culture around his empire.
There were significant changes in how theater was produced in this period, including…
Once acting started to become a profession, actors begin to be thought of as immoral.
WHY?
If theater is so essential to our being as humans, why do we simultaneously worship and loathe actors?
Who’s got parents that worry about theater being your career? Why??
Plato argued for censorship and strict state control over drama (he feared the influence the theater could have over the masses) what social change do you think is possible with theater?
Artists of Dionysus: first known theatrical guild. As actors begin to be professional the guild forms to protect actors. Clearly in existance by 277 BCE. Members were poets, actors, chorus members, trainers, musicians, costumers. Cities negotiated contracts with the nearest branch of the guild for festivals. International agreements gauranteed safety even in times of war
Variety entertainment: short plays, improv, mimetic dance, imitations of animals and birds. Singing, acrobatics, juggling, etc.
First known performers to include women
last sentence p. 52
“The Greeks – and many succeeding civilizations – considered theater an unsuitable profession for women, and women involved in theatrical endeavors were castigated as licentious and immoral.”
Though, women have been castigated as licentious and immoral for engaging in pretty much any profession for much of western history so I’m not sure how that’s particularly unique.
[when possible get them to answer]
Old Comedy: biting political satire, abundance of sexual innuendo; lampooned the most important personalities and institutions of the day.
Middle Comedy: not super clear. Post Aristophanes/Pre Menander. Role of the chorus is diminished; public characters were not impersonated; objects of ridicule general rather than personal. Not political. No extant plays.
New Comedy: comparable to sticoms. About the fears and foibles of the ordinary man and his personal relationships rather than about politics and public life. Farce not satire. Domestic middle class comedy, ignored political issues; concern for love, financial worries, familial or societal relationships.
FRIENDS clip from minute 3:58
A typical plot would have seen a young man, against the strong opposition of his father, seeks to marry a girl (frequently a slave about to be sold into prostitution). After many comically unsuccessful attempts to circumvent the father’s wrath the son achieves the girl; who is then promptly revealed to be the long lost daughter of some wealthy athenian.
Happily ever after
(sound familiar?)
Satyr Play: structured like a greek tragedy but parodied the mythological and heroic tales that were treated seriously in tragedies. Satyr plays poked fun at honored greek institutions, including religion and folk heroes, and often had elements of vulgarity) -- the SNL greek god clips is a great example of this
They wanted to see the HONEST TRAILERS of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
Who did? Why is this here?
