Download MYTH and SYMBOL

MYTH and SYMBOL
Winter Semester Notes: The Greeks
The Bacchae
In The Bacchae, by the Greek dramatist Euripides, the god Dionysus comes to Thebes to convert followers to his new
religion. Although Dionysus is successful in gaining many followers, particularly women, Pentheus, the king of
Thebes, opposes the new religion. Pentheus arrests Dionysus in an attempt to stop what Pentheus sees as a threat to
the good order of Thebes. Throughout much of the play, Dionysus pretends to be a mortal priest, rather than a god.
Dionysus, in Greek mythology, god of wine and vegetation, who showed mortals how to cultivate grapevines and
make wine. A son of Zeus, Dionysus is usually characterized in one of two ways. As the god of vegetation—
specifically of the fruit of the trees—he is often represented on Attic vases with a drinking horn and vine branches.
He eventually became the popular Greek god of wine and cheer, and wine miracles were reputedly performed at
certain of his festivals. Dionysus is also characterized as a deity whose mysteries inspired ecstatic, orgiastic worship.
The maenads, or bacchantes, were a group of female devotees who left their homes to roam the wilderness in ecstatic
devotion to Dionysus. They wore fawn skins and were believed to possess occult powers. Dionysus was good and
gentle to those who honored him, but he brought madness and destruction upon those who spurned him or the
orgiastic rituals of his cult.
According to tradition, Dionysus died each winter and was reborn in the spring. To his followers, this cyclical revival,
accompanied by the seasonal renewal of the fruits of the earth, embodied the promise of the resurrection of the dead.
The yearly rites in honor of the resurrection of Dionysus gradually evolved into the structured form of the Greek
drama, and important festivals were held in honor of the god, during which great dramatic competitions were
conducted. The most important festival, the Greater Dionysia, was held in Athens for five days each spring. It was for
this celebration that the Greek dramatists Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides wrote their great tragedies.
By the 5th century bc, Dionysus was also known to the Greeks as Bacchus, a name referring to the loud cries with
which Dionysus was worshiped at the orgia, or Dionysiac mysteries. These frenetic celebrations, which probably
originated in spring nature festivals, became occasions for licentiousness and intoxication. This was the form in
which the worship of Dionysus became popular in the 2nd century BC in Roman Italy, where the Dionysiac mysteries
were called the Bacchanalia. The indulgences of the Bacchanalia became increasingly extreme, and the celebrations
were prohibited by the Roman Senate in 186 bc. In the 1st century AD, however, the Dionysiac mysteries were still
popular, as evidenced by representations of them found on Greek sarcophagi.
- themes of ecstasy, violence and death (play explores and considers)
- represents paradigmatic “other”
- not given due worship; town rejects story of miraculous birth; includes mocking his mother Semele (had sex with
Zeus)
- refusing to acknowledge any aspects of nature through focusing on any one too much (throws things out of balance–
neglecting an important part of human nature)
- breakdown of social norms particularly in the women who emerge into the public sphere; enraged, Pentheus
becomes reactionary
- inverting/ reverting the roles of women (Bacchic frenzy– abandoned looms/ child-rearing)– they’ve gone into the
public space
- Pentheus recognizes him as some sort of representative of the gods; ends up doing everything he accused others of
doing, then dies tragically
- madness vs. sanity, civilization vs. chaos, pleasure vs. death (Dionysus contradictory)
- initially from Thebes, grew up in Phrygia (known for lax morals etc- modern- day Turkey- aka Lydia)
Cybele- goddess of eunics
- worship of involved castrating self/ throwing it off a cliff
- self castration via worship = barbarianism – renunciation of masculinity
- Phrygia has associations with magic- Goetia, Magos, Epoidai (Near Eastern magi)
- in the Bacchae, Dionysus is depicted as on of the Goetia
- magicians akin to charlatans
foreignness– Dionysus depicted in highly Eastern, oriental manner, drawing on cult of Cybele and magic, which
Greeks looked down on (anti-Greek)
- ancient Greeks claimed he was a foreign deity, however linear B texts reveal that Dionysus is one of the oldest
Greeks gods
- evidence shows Dionysus to be one of the oldest Greeks gods (yet he’s the son of Zeus– contradictions)
- evidence goes back to Mycenaean/ Minoan period (14th to 15th centuries); pre- Hellenic god, one of the most Greek
gods
- embraces opposition between masculinity and femininity (presented as effeminate)
vases– women white/ men brownish; Dionysus described with pale skin etc.
- Pentheus obviously taken by Dionysus’s luring, feminine beauty (homoerotic tones)– enjoys dressing in drag
- associated with Satyrs (oversexed, bestial, drunken)– caricature of over- masculinity; overzealous masculine energy
- Greeks thought large phalluses weren’t attractive– liked funnel shaped, small penises; seen as elegant, graceful–
may have tied foreskin in bow to exercise; depicted foreigners with large phalluses; barbaric with the head
showing, aesthetically inappropriate for the Greeks
SOPHOSYNE= self- restraint
- slaves/ satyrs lack this
- part of the Greek ideal; part of being a Greek citizen
- Dionysus’ worshippers are the excessively male satyrs; yet he’s seen as effeminate
- he’s associated with the bull (symbol of masculine virility)
Aniconic symbol (ie. Siva’s linga) is the winged penis bird (erect phallus that is often depicted with images of satyrs)
wine– opposition between comfort and disruption
- early form of medication; provided merriment; very important/ sacred
- Dionysus introduced wine
- brought peace to suffering
- however, also associated with violence (mythologically ingrained into actual story of its production– murder and
suicide accompany its introduction to mankind, reflects wine’s “alter-ego”/ double nature
- associated with greenery, fertility, spring etc., also with destruction
Mystery Rites- Orphic gold leaves (Dionysus’ myth most associated with them)
Orphism, in classical religion, mystic cult of ancient Greece, believed to have been drawn from the writings of the
legendary poet and musician Orpheus. Fragmentary poetic passages, including inscriptions on gold tablets found in
the graves of Orphic followers from the 6th century bc, indicate that Orphism was based on a cosmogony that centred
on the myth of the god Dionysus Zagreus, the son of the deities Zeus and Persephone. Furious because Zeus wished
to make his son ruler of the universe, the jealous Titans dismembered and devoured the young god. Athena, goddess
of wisdom, was able to rescue his heart, which she brought to Zeus, who swallowed it and gave birth to a new
Dionysus. Zeus then punished the Titans by destroying them with his lightning and from their ashes created the
human race. As a result, humans had a dual nature: the earthly body was the heritage of the earth-born Titans; the soul
came from the divinity of Dionysus, whose remains had been mingled with that of the Titans.
According to the tenets of Orphism, people should endeavour to rid themselves of the Titanic or evil element in their
nature and should seek to preserve the Dionysian or divine nature of their being. The triumph of the Dionysian
element would be assured by following the Orphic rites of purification and asceticism. Through a long series of
reincarnated lives, people would prepare for the afterlife. If they had lived in evil, they would be punished, but if they
had lived in holiness, after death their souls would be completely liberated from Titanic elements and reunited with
the divinity.
- he’s also known for releasing his devotees from sin
- Bios- Thanatos- Bios = Life- Death- Life; suggested meaning is life, death and rebirth/ life again– promise to
devotees where Dionysus can release them from normal sufferings of the afterlife
ecstasy= lost of self; followers emulate him, in turn lose themselves in madness/ ecstasy (letting go of oneself);
embracing quintessential other that was somehow different
Festival Dionysus comparable to Mardi Gras– worship involves loosening one’s identity/ attachment to self (dressing
as opposite gender, acting “Eastern”)
- Pentheus enjoys dressing in drag (shows it is already in him, lying dormant)
- Dionysus represents presence of repressed desires– leads to/ allows the embrace of hidden, socially unaccepted
wants/ feelings
- thus god of theatre; worship involved watching plays (religious plays– put on the role of a god)
- suspension of belief/ loss of self in watching drama
- shows illusionary character of the world (recreation of the world); what is reality?
- the madness of the people in Thebes reflect the artificiality/ fragility of reality
- the plays explore artificiality of life in general; fine line between sanity and madness (people who are insane are
really sane as they are recognizing Dionysus and worshipping him– who is depicted as sane ie. Pentheus becomes
insane
- theatre has the potential to be revelatory; to see oneself separately (removed spatially and temporally)– done safely
in the distantness of myth
- Bacchae addresses current issues of Athenians
- theatre allows for release/ safe exploration of issues; place to explore societal fears (inceest, infanticide, matricide,
etc.)
- festival and production of the plays puts limit on the chaos; permits social critique within safe and contained space
(Greek theatre very structured– religious, formal, with masks, formal language etc.)– like poetry, contained freedom
to be creative within a safe structure
- format to explore private fears/ desires (projected on an other)
- Athenians defined themselves as restrained, athletic, opposite to the Persians
- Euripides shows boundaries between self and other, what society holds to be right/ true are not natural but
constructed; criticized Athenian society as overly rational
- Bacchae reverses roles– women hunt/ men turn gay – shows status quo is constructed
- critiques limited human wisdom by showing the complexity of what is wise
- forces beyond our ability to reason– constructed aspect of gender (ie. women become masculine/ men becomes
feminine; the androgyny of Dionysus)
- Dionysus complicates the status quo but in the end endorses it (shows the chaos that ensues when social constructs
are disregarded)
moral– good ruler will keep women in check by allowing them to worship Dionysus and release themselves from
social restraints
- clinging to rigid, artificial social structure will inevitably lead to a breakdown of society
- inversion of proper ritual (ie. Maenads killed wild animals over propers Greek sacrifice of domestic animals)– this
symbolizes fracture between divine-human communication, of which sacrifice is a form
Medea
Medea, in Greek mythology, sorceress, the daughter of Aeëtes, king of Colchis. When the hero Jason, in command of
the Argonauts, reached Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece, Medea fell hopelessly in love with him. In return for
Jason's pledge of everlasting fidelity and his promise to take her back to Greece with him, she used her magic gifts to
enable him to deceive her father and obtain the fleece. Medea then sailed away from Colchis with Jason, taking
Apsyrtus, her young brother, with her. To escape from Aeëtes's pursuit, Medea killed Apsyrtus and scattered his
remains on the sea. The king stopped to gather them up, and the delay enabled Jason and his party to escape. In
another legend, it was Jason who killed Apsyrtus after Aeëtes had sent him in pursuit of the fugitives.
When Jason and Medea reached Greece, they found that Jason's wicked uncle Pelias had been responsible for the
death of Jason's parents. To avenge their deaths, Jason once again asked Medea to aid him with her magic.
Responsive as always to his wishes, Medea brought about the death of Pelias by a cunning trick. Telling his daughters
she knew how they could make their aging parent young again, she dismembered an old sheep and boiled the pieces.
After she uttered a charm, a frisky young lamb jumped from the pot of hot water. The daughters were convinced they
could similarly restore their father to his youth. So, after Medea had given Pelias a powerful sleeping potion, they
were persuaded to cut him into pieces, but Medea then disappeared without saying the magic words that would bring
him back to life. After this Jason and Medea fled to Corinth, where two sons were born to them. They lived happily
there until Jason fell in love with the daughter of King Creon of Corinth. In revenge, Medea killed her rival by
sending her a poisoned robe. Fearing that Creon would attempt to avenge the death of his daughter by harming her
sons, Medea killed them.
Medea escaped the wrath of Jason by leaving Corinth in a winged car and fleeing to Athens. There she achieved great
influence over King Aegeus. Through her sorcery, she realized that Aegeus was unknowingly the father of Theseus, a
young hero, who was arriving in Athens. She did not wish to have her influence with Aegeus disturbed by the
appearance of a son, so she plotted with Aegeus to invite Theseus to a banquet and give him a poisoned cup. Aegeus
willingly conspired with her through fear that the Athenians would prefer the popular young hero to him and would
want to place Theseus on the throne. Fortunately, Theseus made himself known to his father, who dashed the
poisoned cup to the ground. Medea escaped the wrath of Aegeus by fleeing to Asia.
- priestess of the goddess Hecate
- play is shocking, disturbing
- Jason used magic first to het Medea to help
- Jason and the Golden Fleece (Colchis) background to Medea
- Medea alienates her father, kills her brother for Jason by chopping him up as a diversion, must flee with Jason
- involved in homicide and theft against her family
- tricks girls into killing their father– makes enemies in Jason’s hometown as well; they must flee, becoming exiles
(guests living in another country)
- Jason offered hand of the princess of Corinth; something he can’t give up
- king banishes Medea because of her reputation; has nowhere to go
- brother-sister relationship stronger than marriage bonds in ancient world– protection from brother kept husbands in
check (primary source of legal and financial support in a woman’s life)
- devises plan to kill princess and king, then Jason’s sons (children always belonged to the father– women only the
incubators)
- Oikos kept alive through lineage
- Medea appears as divine-like figure– her anger and sense of justice turned her into a fury
- final scene suggests she’s a force for justice
- begins as a sympathetic character (polite, conciliatory); presents herself as “Every woman”– irony where the typical
Greek women is far from what she is, being a foreigner etc.; seen in beginning soliloquy on marriage/ oppression of
women etc.
- Euripides uses the difficulties of Greek women in society to manipulate audience into sympathy
- Medea’s love for Jason– has been driven out of her mind– like the maenads of Dionysus; stereotype in Greek
thought that this is the natural state of women
EKPLAGEIS- panic-stricken/ stricken out of her mind (maenad state of hysteria)
- Jason presenting himself as opposite of Medea but to an extreme– planned, cool, rational etc.; Medea dismissed as
crazed with sexual jealousy
- women believed to be more sexually overwrought (“addicted to her marriage bed”)– Greek medicine depicted
women as controlled by sexual desire etc. (enslaved to their sexuality; ie. the wandering womb– hungry, if not fed by
semen, it’d float, like hungry animal; needed to be held down, moistened by pregnancy)
- medical theories re-inscribe that, prone to erratic, hysterical, non-rational behaviour, women are dependent on sex
and pregnancy
- Euripides plays on stereotypes
- Jason is taken to the extreme– over- rational; breaks his oath (vows), a serious misdemeanour; unheroic behaviour;
depicted as a coward (takes ideal hero model too far and becomes its antithesis)
- Medea shows loyalty to Jason and his crew; he shows no thanks to her etc.; thus she represents heroic virtue
- loyalty important because of way Greeks fight (line of shields– sticking together by your fellow fighter only way the
phalanx worked)– Jason’s lack of loyalty is anti-heroic, thus play is a critique of the Peloponnesian war as well
- emotional, foolish women– part of the dismissal of her is a dismissal of her heroism (expected to retreat passively,
defeated– refuses, demands to be treated as a hero
- Jason’s mistreatment of Medea results in her gender inversion
- she refuses to be tender etc.; being masculine/ courageous and thereby defending her honour causes her pain (scene
with children)
DIAPHTHERO- not willing to be seduced as she was before
- evolves/ emerges as someone questing after heroic honour
- no good or bad in Jason or Medea (complex characters)
- Euripides invented infanticide scene– makes her even more demonic (vehicle for divine vengeance)
- questions heroic code of honour
- reversal of cosmic, natural systems from Jason’s breaking his oath– Jason partly blamed/ sets everything in motion
for reversal, including her need to become overly masculine
- Euripides ironically questions heroism in which the society was build (Peloponnesian war– Greeks against
Greeks)— In 431 bc tensions erupted when Athens pressured Corinth and Megara, crucial Spartan allies who were
rivals with Athens for seagoing trade. Sparta came to the defense of its allies, and the fighting escalated into the
Peloponnesian War (431-404 bc), named for the location of Sparta and most of the city-states allied with it. Sparta
feared Athens would use its navy to cripple Spartan control over its allies. Pericles refused to let the Athenians yield
to any Spartan demands for concessions because he believed Athens could exploit its superior wealth to win a long
war.
- written 18 yrs after the passing of Pericles’ citizen laws (450/ 451)– both parents had to be Athenian for their child
to be a citizen– lots of foreigners in city around the time etc.; disputes over legitimacy (affects legalities)
METIC- landed immigrant; residents of the city (allowed to work)
- a lot of importance weighing on status of women as Greek– men forced to leave marriages with foreigners/ affairs
with concubines etc. (love triangles)
- women classed into three categories– after saga-like court cause where laws had to be observed or the system would
collapse;
women were;
1. for production of children (legitimacy)
2. concubines (for daily needs)
3. Courtesans (pleasure)
- play explores tensions around this law
- people are now coming of age with potentially questionable parentage
Women and Magic
- association of magic with women
- magic is a weapon of the weak
- reinforced by Plato; recognizes that women are crafty and secretive because they have no other course
- perceptions of women;
Sherry Ortner– association of women with various types of danger– in societies where status of men ultimately
depend on women
- Pericles’ law put power out of the hands of men (ie. distributing their property themselves to their children etc.) and
onto the status of women
- reflects the vulnerability of men
The Symposium
Greek Philosophy
Pre-Socratics: 6th Century
Urbanization and increased prosperity = development of a leisure class
Leisure Class are free to spend time speculating existence.
Pre-Socratics interested in identifying the foundational ‘principals’ of the universe: earth, air, fire, water. (This is the
origin of science)
Herodotus: “you can never step into the same river twice.”
Parmenides: Being is motionless and eternal.
Democritic: atomic theory (small particles); individual, irreducible realities; swirling.
These philosophers rejected mythology and superstition; embraced rational thought. (Nature founded on rational
principles rather than capricious gods)
5th Century Athens: Persian Wars
Athens success in the Persian Wars = Athens becomes a prosperous economic and intellectual center.
Philosophy was the pursuit of the aristocracy.
Kaloi Ka gothoi Kala: “the beautiful and the good.”
Hoi Poloi: The masses. Elites had little faith in the masses ability to govern itself.
The masses suspected the elite of living a life of decadence.
Ancient world understood sexuality very differently than the modern world.
No ethical dilemma about appropriate/inappropriate sexual behavior. (e.g. homosexuality...)
Sexuality understood in terms of dominated/dominator and active/passive.
It is masculine and an powerful to be the penetrators— feminine and submissive to be penetrated.
boys– potential citizens; fine line where potential citizen could be feminized– relationship must change from boy
being penetrated to boy being the penetrator; facial hair source of measure
- “1950's dating”; boy to be chased, gave gifts, courted, met the family etc.
ERASTES- an active “lover”
EROMENOS- the passive “beloved”
- anal sex through of as a little taboo for young boys– frontal intercourse– intercrural sex (between the thighs)
- regarded as superior form of love as women were uneducated, essentially dumb; there would be no intellectual
connection– could only be found with other males
- having wives and children were only duty– “love” attained through man-boy relationship
- original creatures also male/male and female/female; it was recognized that homosexuality existed and people were
free to choose either
- man-body was a central institution– it educated boys/ was a mentor relationship that shaped citizens
- women’s seclusion– important for legitimate children; no sense of having to woo women into marriage, to win them
over as they were already submissive
- courtship somehow important to men’s self-esteem– desire to pursue, need for romance
- another theory maintains that practice developed as part of military training– lovers side by side, less likely to drop
shield and run during fighting when partner is there
- intellectual companions found in other men– men married around 30, women 15/16, when women were children–
men almost had to raise their wives
- the masses (labourers) didn’t have wealth to “hang around”; akin to how we look at Hollywood
Summary:
Apollodorus relates to an unnamed companion a story he learned from Aristodemus about a
symposium, or dinner-party, given in honor of the tragedian Agathon. Socrates arrives at the party late, as he
was lost in thought on the neighboring porch. After they have finished eating, Eryximachus picks up on a
suggestion of Phaedrus', that each person should in turn make a speech in praise of the god of Love.
Phaedrus begins by saying that Love is one of the oldest of the gods, and the one that does the most
to promote virtue in people. Pausanias follows Phaedrus, drawing a distinction between Common Love, which
involves simple and mindless desire, and Heavenly Love, which always takes place between a man and a
boy. In the case of Heavenly Love, the boy, or loved one, sexually gratifies the man, or lover, in exchange for
education in wisdom and virtue. After Pausanias, Eryximachus, the doctor, speaks, suggesting that good Love
promotes moderation and orderliness. Love does not restrict itself to human interaction, but can be found in
music, medicine, and much else besides.
The next to speak is the comic poet Aristophanes. Aristophanes draws an engaging myth that suggests
that we were once all twice the people we are now, but that our threat to the gods prompted Zeus to cut us
in half. Ever since, we have wandered the earth looking for our other half in order to rejoin with it and
become whole. Agathon follows up Aristophanes, and gives a rhetorically elaborate speech that identifies Love
as young, beautiful, sensitive, and wise. He also sees Love as responsible for implanting all the virtues in us.
Socrates questions Agathon's speech, suggesting that Agathon has spoken about the object of Love, rather
than Love itself.
In order to correct him, Socrates relates what he was once told by a wise woman named Diotima.
According to Diotima, Love is not a god at all, but is rather a spirit that mediates between people and the
objects of their desire. Love is neither wise nor beautiful, but is rather the desire for wisdom and beauty. Love
expresses itself through pregnancy and reproduction, either through the bodily kind of sexual Love or through
the sharing and reproduction of ideas. The greatest knowledge of all, she confides, is knowledge of the Form
of Beauty, which we must strive to attain.
At the end of Socrates' speech, Alcibiades bursts in, falling-down drunk, and delivers a eulogy to
Socrates himself. In spite of Alcibiades' best efforts, he has never managed to seduce Socrates as Socrates
has no interest at all in physical pleasure.
Soon the party descends into chaos and drinking and Aristodemus falls asleep. He awakes the next
morning to find Socrates still conversing. When everyone else has finally fallen asleep, Socrates gets up and
goes about his daily business as always.
- intellectual parlour games– invitation to speak about love (“drinking game”)- drunken speeches in praise of
random things
- different ideas about love
- Eros = Desire
- dramatic elements are all important for understanding the whole
- leads on to a proper understanding– each speech leads to partial understanding as they critique and build
on each other
- Plato is drawing on historical personages (ie. Aristophanes- comic thought)
1. Phaedrus- love inspires noble needs/ is essentially noble
2. Pausanias
Heavenly Aphrodite- is noble, love only for the male, only with men can one have a real relationship,
cherishes what is by nature stronger, doesn’t abandon– “lifelong” relatioship, women just bodies, Pausanias
provides the “rules”– shameful to be too quick, but when one truly loves the other for their soul, sexual
gratification is allowed
Earthly Aphrodite- desire women as well as boys, temporary, exploits beloved for personal ends, pornai (root of
pornography); where the first is soul, this one is body
3. Eryximachus- medical viewpoint of a doctor
- two kinds of love
- love is a cosmic principle
- proper love leads to harmony, harmony leads to proper love
- sneeze cures Socrates of his hiccups before this speech– irony where disharmony cures; theme in details of narrative
as well
4. Aristophanes
- supposed to be funny; creatures rolling around etc.
- cut in half for being ambitious– critique on gods for being threatened by ridiculous creatures
- can be regarded as original soulmate myth
- copulation allows union with gratification
- homosexual love lowest form of love
- ultimate message– love is a desire for wholeness, to find other half, something meaningful
5. Agathon (and conversation with Socrates)
- love is young and beautiful, he is young and beautiful
- Socrates accuses him of being superficial– all the speeches only flattery
- love is desire to possess what one lacks
- love possesses neither beauty nor goodness
- Socrates claims to have learned about love by a woman; possibly represents courtesans– also suggested where she
comes from means prophecy (invented– from land of prophecy)
- suggested he needs to learn love from women because of strong birth metaphor– giving birth to beauty etc.
- women considered divine messengers, initiators of mysteries etc. (ie. Pythia of Apollo)
New Myth of Love (Diotima)
- love is the child of poverty and resource
- somewhere between wisdom and ignorance
- love is desirous of understanding/wisdom
- love is the erastes– the searching, the one that desires, not possesses, beauty
- the good is beautiful therefore love searches for the good
- desire for the good leads to happiness
- yearning to be reunited
- desire for immortality– expressed through creation
- everyone is pregnant– pregnant of the soul, attracted to beauty of the soul, give birth to conversation and to ideas
- homosexuals pregnant in the body
- attracted to beautiful body then to beautiful soul– gives birth to beautiful ideas (by engaging in conversation)
- person gradually becomes attracted to another level of understanding– abstract beauty; the beauty of all bodies is
one of the same
- process of ascension; Beauty– Form of Beauty– bodies– souls/conversation
- because the good is beautiful– leads to virtue