CLCV 115 Ancient Greek and Roman Mythology

Terms to remember:

Agon

Spohrosyne

Aidos

Principium Individuationis

Ecstasy

Thaumaturgy (Thaumazo)

Plastic v Non-plastic

Section II

"Yet there is another point about which we do not have to conjecture at all: I mean the profound gap separating the Dionysiac Greeks from the Dionysiac barbarians. Throughout the range of ancient civilization... we find evidence of Dionysiac celebrations which... the central concern of such celebrations was, almost universally, a complete sexual promiscuity overriding every form of established tribal law; all the savage urges of th emind were unleashed on those occasions until they reached that paroxysm of lust and cruelty which has always struck me as the "witches cauldron" par excellence. It would appear that the Greeks were for a while quite immune from these feverish excesses which must have reached them by every known land or sea route. What kept Greece safe was the proud imposing image of Apollo, who in holding up the head of the Gorgon to those brutal and grotesque Dionysiac forces subdued them" (91-92)

So as I say in the podcast re-cap, Nietzsche wants to emphasize that without the God Apollo, the Greeks would have worshipped Dionysus in much the same fashion as everyone else, i.e. sexual promiscuity and physical intoxication. It is specifically because of their reverence for Apollo that they refrain and create a simultaneously ordered and disordered celebration of the god, Dionysus, in the Greater and Lesser Dionysia.

Here, I want to point out that everyone should read this with a critical eye and be careful not to let this statement about the differences between Greeks and non-Greeks in the ancient world lead you to believe that the Greeks were "better" because they did not worship Dionysus like the "barbarians" did throughout the rest of the Mediterranean. Although Nietzsche has written a hugely important piece for Classicists, it can at times also be problematic because it furthers a type of prejudice called "orientalism". Recall out discussion that the Persian Wars (480 BCE) were the first events out of which came this idea of "Greek" and "Barbarian," i.e. non-Greek speaking people and specifically Persians. This is the beginning of the idea that the West is better than the East, and the beginning of the concept of "the other" and it permeates Nietzsche's explanations for why the Greeks were able to "avoid" becoming like the other barbaric worshippers of Dionysus. It seems in many ways that Nietzsche attempts to idolize the Greeks as "unique," but the birth of ancient tragedy could have just as easily come from somewhere else. Of course, currently when one speaks of "ancient theater" one immediately assumes ancient Greek theater. One cause for this is that we know more about Greece and Rome than any other ancient city or civilization. Then again, we know more about these two civilizations because academics and archaeologists consciously choose to continue to place those two ancient cultures as higher priorities than almost any other ancient culture, thus again perpetuating that the West is more important than the East. But our study of ancient Greek theater should never suggest to you that the Greeks or Romans were the first or the only to perform or that those "barbarian" Dionysian worshippers were "uncivilized" because they did not have a theater festival or that the Greeks or Romans are fundamentally "better" than any other ancient culture. Simply understand that in our modern Western culture, a direct descendent of Greek and Roman culture (thought mostly from the Roman Empire), much of what we do in theater performances has strong roots in Greek theater, without the attachment of worshipping Dionysus or any other god.

Reading Assignment:

The Birth of Tragedy (Wednesday), Hippolytus in Greek Tragedies Volume 1 (Thursday)

1. Why would Nietzsche bring up Archilochus?

2. In relation to the Birth of Tragedy... thinking about both theater performances and movies, what does it really mean when you see "bad acting"?

3. Do you have any remaining questions about what we read of the Birth of Tragedy?

4. Why is Aphrodite angry with Hippolytus? What is so problematic about his actions?

5. Who is Phaedra (beyond the context of the play)?

6. Who is Theseus (beyond the context of the play)?

7. Who is Hippolytus' mother and how might his parentage affect his outlook on the worship of Aphrodite or the "need" for (relationships with) the opposite sex?