A Presentation of
Dionysus & Theater
Man’s benefactor -- Man's destroyer
Le Qi
March 20, 2000
Spheres of Influence:
•
•
•
•
•
•
God of wine
God of wild nature
God of ecstatic possession
God of dance
God of mask and illusions
God of “pleasurable” afterlives
Source: A Show for Dionysus
Split personality/Binary Opposition
• Male vs. female
• Joy from freedom vs. savage brutality
• Man’s blessing vs. Man’s ruin
Because his “product” wine can
make you both happy and sad
The Great Dionysia
-- To purify emotions
• The poets were the
prophets and priests
• Actors and singers
took part in the sacred
performances
• All ordinary business
was stopped
• No one could be put
into prison (?????)
The greatest poetry in Greece was written in tragic plays and was never equaled except by
Shakespeare.
-- http://www.dl.ket.org/latin1/mythology/1deities/gods/lesser/dionysus.htm
The Theater
• Developed from the ceremonial worship
• Public in nature
• The focal point:level, circular space at the foot of
a hill
• Orchstra: auditorium raised in a large semicircle
• Skne(SP?):A building where actors change custom
• Proskenion: Between Orchstra & Skne, the stage
http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/12780AncientGreece.html
But, but…why Dionysus??
• Most plays don't contain too much reference
to Dionysus – except the Bacchae!!
“Theater had nothing to do with Dionysus."
--Some Ignorant Athenian
Let’s revisit…
Spheres of influence
God of wine
God of wild nature
God of ecstatic possession
God of dance
God of mask and illusions
God of “pleasurable” afterlives
Also…
Theater
Showed mostly
Tragedies
Which meant
“Goat Song”
And goats
Sacrificed in
his cult
That were
were the sacred animals to Dionysus
Thus, tragedy theater could have been originated with
the song sung during the sacrifices to Dionysus.
--http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dilorenz/myth/dionysus.html
http://web.uvic.ca/grs/bowman/myth/images/haifa/h45.jpg
http://www.belinus.co.uk/mythology/images/BacchusbyCaraglia1771.jpg
http://www.belinus.co.uk/mythology/images/BacchusbyCaraglia1771.jpg
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/image?arch=1990.01.0377&type=vase
http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~perlman/myth/images/penthprts.jpg
AND Finally…
http://www.dionysuskitchen.com/