Later Greek Legacy Essay Example for Free

Later Greek Legacy Essay Athenian comedy, satyrs and tragedy were recorded as one of the earliest theater forms to appear in world. Greek theater and plays had great impact on western drama and culture. Almost every Greek and roman city which was noteworthy in those days had open-air theater, which had neatly arranged seats in tiers looking over the nearby lovely view of landscape. In these theaters, the ancient Greek could sit so as to watch plays of Euripides, Arostophanes, Aeschhylus, Menender and Sophocles. These theatres were developed through God Dionysus ceremonial worship and were naturally communal. Greek comedy flourished much from c. 600 to c. 200 BC as a tradition in the ancient Greek. Athens comedy are claimed to have evolved from several festivals related to cult of the Dionyos who was God of Greek in charge of wine and fertility. Athens comedy was conducted during Dionysia which was festival conducted annually in honor of Dionysus. The Athens comedy ridiculed members of the society who were prominent and also mythology. Autochthony myth was basic to imaginary of culture to democracy of the Athens. These comedies narrated about people shared origins for people of diverse statuses and origins. They provided theoretical justification crucial for exclusivity and democratic egalitarianism. The comedies were furnishing basis for every one in the society to be common and thus equality between them all. The myth provided a generation model that justified exclusion of all foreigners and all the women from power. Autochthony discourse of Athenians was inextricably tied on sexual reproduction. The comedy also was advocated to release slaves from slavery and also enfranchise foreigners and other disfranchised people. Pericles’ proposal claimed that the Athenians had passed law limiting their citizenship especially people who were born by two Athenians. Menander’s comedy also had little insight to the affairs of Athenians. This comedy also eschew politics as well as talked about how young Athenians in romance faced obstacles in selecting young women of their choice (Ehrenberg Victor, 1943). Menander comedy depicted on the traditional democratic ideology of the Athenian society and is also against the sexual harassment and mistreatment that women in that society under go. This comedy also advocated for breaking down the internal divisions which was based on economic classes and status. This comedy also played role of struggling for politics between the Greek cities and the Hellenistic kingdoms. It also played role in democratic status subversion and reproduction boundaries. The comedy provided stories which could enable Athenians to identify themselves as democratic citizens rather than referring themselves with the political regime in power since the wealth people tend to control the society. Menander comedy countervails the narrative trajectories so as to reproduce and also resist the social civic order. These comedies emphasize on citizenship law may be changed and deploy characteristic of naturalism in the Athenian society. The Menander comedy in general politicized on marriage, political silence and the state and also the genre laws. The comedy also advocates for social transformation to remove the marriage obstacles and free the society away from the initial illusions and injustice. The manander comedy plays role of transforming the society from the traditional laws and ideology governing marriages and citizenship and also the elimination of the social evils in the society. The society tolerated and supported this ideology since it was deeply rooted in their minds and they had to support what their fore-fathers considered good for the society. The wealthy person could not afford to free their slaves since it would mean losing their wealth or fame. The Athenians also wanted to restore the democracy which was put in place by Demetrius (Taylor Rabun, 1997). The practices and beliefs of the Athenian sustained their identity as citizens of Athenian and more specifically as democratic citizens so they had to continue practicing them. Each individual Athenian was entitled to democracy irrespective of the social and economical class he belonged to and thus the need of maintaining their culture. The Athenians also saw the rule of sexual reproduction as being important to them since it enabled them to exist and to be at their state. They had belief that the gender and marriage practices in their society enabled them to be democratic and that is why they never accepted intermarriages in their society. The Athenians saw democratic culture and the Athenian law as governing them well. Their traditional ritual cerebrations and events were very much entertaining and supporting their traditional cultures and also were making them to be united and proud of themselves and thus it was very hard to accept to lose their cultures (McCarthy Kathleen, 2000). The Athenians also had their own laws which were governing them and they considered these laws as uniting them and thus they never wanted the laws to be interfered with by anyone since it would mean losing their identity. The Athenians also never wanted their traditions to lose vitality and vigor and thus they supported them. They supported the reproduction belief since they never wanted their society to be mixed up as they saw it could result splitting of their tradition. In conclusion, the Athenian comedy is fighting for elimination of Athenian traditions and beliefs in the society as well as enlightening Athenians to transform and leave their traditions which seem to be like illusions. Work cited Ehrenberg Victor, 1943, The People of Aristophanes: A Sociology of Old Attic Comedy, B. Blackbell. Taylor Rabun, 1997, Two Pathic Subcultures in Ancient Rome, Journal of Sexuality, Vol. 7. McCarthy Kathleen, 2000, Slaves, Masters, and the Art of Authority in Plautine Comedy, Princeton University Press.