2018, Vol.75, No.3

Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.89

pISSN : 1598-3021 / eISSN : 2671-7921
https://journal.kci.go.kr/snu-ioh

This article comprises part of a larger research endeavor exploring the theme of “Festival and Life in the Ancient Greek and Roman World.” Given that the festival was the most important frame for cultural consumption in ancient western society, it is necessary to study the festival in order to understand and appreciate literature works as tragedy, comedy, and lyrics. For example, as tragedy and comedy (the most representative literature genres) were presented in the festival Dionysia, many important points might escape our notice if literary works were only approached from the perspective of textual criticism, ignoring any contextual considerations of the festival. In this article, Isocrstes’ epideictic discourse Panegyricus is the object of analysis. This political discourse was delivered in the ancient Olympics in 380 BCE, even though we do not know exactly in which program it was spoken at this panhellenic festival, which was the most famous sporting event of the time. He gave counsel on the war against the barbarians, so to speak, Persians and on the concord among Greeks. This idea can be called panhellenism, which was Isocrates’ consistent political project for the Greeks; it was also a political and rhetorical topos popularly used in panhellenic oration at that time. Although he thought of Athens as the leader of the panhellenic league, his intention was to show the conditions that the leader city-state should fulfil. In conclusion, the Olympics were the most effective place for delivering his panhellenic oration.

The aim of the article is to analyze how the Thesmophoria is depicted in the Thesmophoriazusae and to explain the meaning of Aristophanes’ ‘women’s play.’ This article overviews summarizes the events of the Thesmophoria and analyzes the parodies of the Euripidean tragedies and the chorus’ parabasis in the play. In the play, Euripides was accused of misogyny at the Thesmophoria and his in-laws sneaked into the festival to defend Euripides but were discovered and caught. They try to secure their release by parodying Euripides’ four tragedies but fail. In the end, they are released thanks to the reconciliation between Euripides and the women; and Euripides’ comic play. All the parodies used in the process are based on the motif of the Demeter-Persephone myth, the background myth of Thesmophoria. Aristophanes links the events of the Thesmophoria to its background myth, while connecting the festival to the City Dionysia during which the play is performed. By linking the two festivals, Aristophanes wishes for peace in the city, seeking harmony between women and men, and criticizing men's doubled-edged attitudes toward women.

This study focuses on the question of what function the Greek festival played in society at the time, what implications it had on the members of society, and how it ultimately influenced their lives. In particular, I will try to reconstruct the form and content of the Greek festival, around references in Aristotle’s Politics, Poetics, Athenian Constitution, and Nicomachean Ethics, and trace the implications of the festival to citizens at the time. The mediator in this study is Aristotle’s term ‘leisure’(scholē) of the citizen, who participates in the festival and watches the theater shows and performances. This term is understood in the same context in which Aristotle emphasized music as an educational subject, when he insists on a certain level of education as a precondition for a free citizen. The final argument of this study is, on the ground of Aristotle’s thoughts in his texts, that participation in festivals and the enjoyment of theater is a public activity that involves free citizens and at the same time is the beginning of the personal act of contemplation. Because contemplation is not an idea that is irrelevant or distant from real life, but rather a reflection of the reality surrounding life or a particular situation that seems to be a problem in theatrical works, and a deep and fundamental reflection of life in general.