#ancient comedy

[beggars-opera]

Happy Black History Month

[daemonianymphe-official]

'Lysistrata' travels to Nafplio!

Directed by Angeliki Kassola

Music by Daemonia Nymphe

«Λυσιστράτη: Όχι άλλο αίμα» – Μια παράσταση για την εποχή μας στην Κάντια Ναυπλίου - dri news

Η Λυσιστράτη που χρειάζεται η εποχή μας, μιλά μέσα από το σώμα και τη φωνή μιας γυναίκας – μίας καλλιτεχνικής κραυγής για ειρήνη, ανθρωπιά κ

[theoi-crow]

One time the ancient Athenian comedy poets were so mean in their heckling of a leader trying to impose Athenian imperialism on a smaller polis but got his ass handed to him in naval battle (which Athens normally excels at) that comedy was prohibited in Athens for 3 years because *checks notes*

They really hurt his wittle feewings...

[classics-cassandra]

From the people who have taught me classics, I am very obsessed by this one key difference:

Teacher A: I don’t read Roman comedy to under 18s because it’s too dirty

Teacher B: *rocking up to give a lecture* who wants to hear my new translation of Plautus?

[ere-the-sun-rises]

Corypheus’ name and the Followers of Dumat

Have you ever wondered what BioWare was on about when they went on that whole tangent about the Followers of Dumat in the Fade in Inquisition - one that ultimately went nowhere? Have you ever wondered why there actually was no formal answer to the question of Corypheus’ name despite it being brought up all the time? Have you ever thought that Tevinter seems to relate closely to Ancient Rome? 

Well, as a Classics major who just had an epiphany, let me enlighten you with my discovery:

Firstly, I should establish that much of what I’m discussing here is what Rome lifted/copied from Greek culture, and are very closely related. 

So, the Mysteries. What are the Mysteries, you ask? Well, actually, that’s a damn fine question. The Mysteries (or closed Cults) were members-only private gatherings devoted to specific gods. As the name implies, the practices/rituals of the Mysteries were a closely guarded secret, and the evidence that’s left to us is actually quite nominal. We know that ancient sources attest to anything from extensive worship rituals (like sacrifices, drinking, singing and dancing) to other “less savoury” activities (orgies, adultery, murder). Sound like anything you can think of?

The Followers of Dumat. 

In the city of Rome, only certain cults were state-sanctioned to practise within the city, and everyone else had to leave the city’s walls to practise. Some were very frowned upon, like the Cult of Bacchus (Dionysos), to the point where having a known association with the Cult would damage your reputation. Now, in the Fade, you can find descriptions of the Followers of Dumat having to commit to secrecy, allusions to how being associated would ruin higher status members, blood sacrifices and chanting/singing. Varric says that Corypheus’ last words when Hawke killed him was to yell “Dumat! Dumat!” He was a member of this Cult - quite likely a high ranking member, if not the leader. Keep this in mind. 

Now, onto the promise of the title. His name. 

In Ancient Athenian comedy, there’s a role called the koryphaios (sometimes transliterated as koryphaeos, koryphaeus or coryphaeus), which roughly translates to “chorus leader”. Old Comedy has a chorus and chorus leader that interact with the plot and the characters and they can be either helpful or problematic, but their general function is to sing exposition. The chorus leader is the only one to have actual speaking lines, interacting directly with characters. 

Now, I think it’s fairly obvious that Tevene is supposed to mimick - if not directly lift from - Latin. Koryphaios is the Greek term for the chorus leader, so do you want to know what the Latin version is?

Corypheus.

The chorus leader of the Followers of Dumat. 

[svenson777]

“By words the mind is winged.” ARISTOPHANES >> WORKS • List of the eleven surviving plays • The Acharnians (Ἀχαρνεῖς Akharneis; Attic Ἀχαρνῆς; Acharnenses) 425 BCE The Knights (Ἱππεῖς Hippeis; Attic Ἱππῆς; Latin: Equites) 424 BCE The Clouds (Νεφέλαι Nephelai; Latin: Nubes); original 423 BCE, uncompleted revised version from 419 BCE – 416 BCE survives The Wasps (Σφῆκες Sphekes; Latin: Vespae) 422 BCE Peace (Εἰρήνη Eirene; Latin: Pax) first version, 421 BCE The Birds (Ὄρνιθες Ornithes; Latin: Aves) 414 BCE Lysistrata (Λυσιστράτη Lysistrate) 411 BCE Thesmophoriazusae or The Women Celebrating the Thesmophoria (Θεσμοφοριάζουσαι Thesmophoriazousai) first version c.411 BCE The Frogs (Βάτραχοι Batrakhoi; Latin: Ranae) 405 BCE Ecclesiazusae or The Assemblywomen; (Ἐκκλησιάζουσαι Ekklesiazousai) c. 392 BCE Wealth (Πλοῦτος Ploutos; Latin Plutus) second version, 388 BCE >> • Datable non-surviving (lost) plays • The standard modern edition of the fragments is Kassel-Austin, Poetae Comici Graeci III.2. Banqueters (Δαιταλείς Daitaleis, 427 BCE) Babylonians (Βαβυλώνιοι Babylonioi, 426 BCE) Farmers (Γεωργοί Georgoi, 424 BCE) Merchant Ships (Όλκάδες Holkades, 423 BCE) Clouds (first version) (423 BCE) Proagon (Προάγων, 422 BCE) Amphiaraus (Αμφιάραος, 414 BCE) Plutus (Wealth, first version, 408 BCE) Gerytades (Γηρυτάδης, uncertain, probably 407 BCE) Cocalus (Κώκαλος, 387 BCE) Aiolosicon (Αιολοσίκων, second version, 386 BCE) >> • Undated non-surviving (lost) plays • Aiolosicon (first version) Anagyrus (Ανάγυρος) Frying-Pan Men (Ταγηνισταί Tagenistai) Daedalus (Δαίδαλος) Danaids (Δαναίδες Danaides) Centaur (Κένταυρος Kentauros) Heroes (Ήρωες) Lemnian Women (Λήμνιαι Lemniai) Old Age (Γήρας Geras) Peace (second version) Phoenician Women (Φοίνισσαι Phoinissai) Polyidus (Πολύιδος) Seasons (Ώραι Horai) Storks (Πελαργοί Pelargoi) Telemessians (Ίελμησσείς Telmesseis) Triphales (Τριφάλης) Thesmophoriazusae (Women at the Thesmophoria Festival, second version) Women in Tents (Σκηνάς Καταλαμβάνουσαι Skenas Katalambanousai)

[theoi-crow]

"Open your mind before your mouth."

—Aristophanes

[failedhellenist]

Fiction and Ancient Comedy

So I've begun this blog so I can get all of the academic dreams and thoughts still rattling around in my brain out there. Just because I didn't get the PhD doesn't mean all of these thoughts are completely invalid. They are just underdeveloped, like me as an scholar.

So...my dissertation was going to be about how Aristophanes uses the chorus in each play to establish the relationship between the divine and mundane within the fiction of the play, as well as how much bleed-through there was between the boundary of the theater and the people watching as audience vs. worshipper for each of his plays.

And I think it is the real lynchpin of the fictionality of it all, and it makes me wonder about the very beginning of fiction. I'm defining fiction as a genre where the stories are not at all believed to be real or factual. Not urban legends, not hymns to gods, but fully imaginary. When was the first of those? Greek comedy? Drama? Satyr plays? Or earlier, the myths of the first civilizations, or maybe in Asia?

I was looking at the Epic of Gilgamesh, and it feels like fiction, except how much was believed to be an actual story of the past? Need to see what scholars think about this.

All of this to say I have a suspicion that Ancient Greek Comedy is early in that timeline. I want to believe it is the first truly fictional piece, because how beautiful would it be if the first time people branched out from what was known and made up their own stories, it was to make each other laugh?