MOCK MIDTERM. Which unusual items were on the menu of the Eleusinian festival of Haloa? CAKES SHAPED LIKE GENITALS According to Ren é Girard, protodrama.

MOCK MIDTERM

• Which unusual items were on the menu of the Eleusinian festival of Haloa?

• CAKES SHAPED LIKE GENITALS• According to René Girard, protodrama strengthens

the link between human beings and gods. It also affects the community of the people who perform and watch it. How?

• IT CREATES A BOND WITHIN THE COMMUNITY

• What fertility symbol was carried during komoi? PHALLUS

• What food or drink was consumed?

• WINE

• Who were the performers?

• FARMERS

Describe the pharmakos ritual.

• When did it take place? • DURING THARGEILA OR IN ADVERSE

CIRCUMSTANCES (E.G. WAR or FAMINE)• Who was chosen as the pharmakos? • AN OLD UGLY MALE• How was he initially treated? • WITH DEFERENCE• How did he end? • BEATEN, RIDICULED, AND BANISHED

According to Aristotle…

• Comedy originated with a type of proto-dramatic performance, which at first was improvised. What type of performance does he name?

• PHALLIC SONGS. • Aristotle tells us that comedy is an imitation of

character of • LOWER type. • Does he also claim that such characters are evil? • NO. (They are merely ugly.)

Great Dionysia

• Who presided over the Great Dionysia?• AN OFFICAL called ARCHON• The celebration of the Great Dionysia

began as the cult image of Dionysos Eleutheros was taken from

• ACROPOLIS • on the road to Eleutherae.

• Name at least one author name or title of the earliest comedies

• Authors:• CHONIDES and MAGNES• Titles • BIRDS, GALLFLIES, FROGS, HARPERS,

GRASSCUTTERS

• What do you think is the most important concern underlying Aristophanic comedy?

• (tip: sex is not the answer.)

• THE CITY /POLIS

• (the pervasiveness of sex can be derived from the fertility rituals from which comedy originated)

• The disastrous expedition to Sicily was undertaken by the Athenians under the pretext of

• REQUEST FOR HELP• sent by • THE CITY OF SEGESTA.• What was their real agenda?• THE CONQUEST OF SICILY

• The early philosophers were interested in

• THE ORIGINS AND THE MAIN ELEMENT OF THE MATERIAL WORLD.

• (but they did believe that the world had DIVINE origins)

• How did Heraclitus explain Homer’s portrayal of divine laughter in the episode featuring the gods laughing at Hephaestus?

• THE GODS WERE CHEERFUL, KNOWING IN ADVANCE THAT THE UNION OF LOVE AND WAR WILL PRODUCE HARMONY

• OR THROUGH ALLEGORIES

• According to Democritus, the state of cheerfulness (EUTHYMIA) could be achieved through

• MODERATION• PURPOSEFUL LIFE• INDEPENDENCE FROM FORTUNE• INDEPENDENCE FROM DESIRE(name one way out of four mentioned in class)

• Why could the Socratic sense of humor be thought similar to that of the Sophists?

• BOTH USED HUMOR AS MEANS OF PERSUASION

• Who said that “nothing existed, and, if something did exist, we couldn’t know, and even if we knew, we couldn’t speak about it.” ?

• GORGIAS

• What are the main sources for reconstructing Socrates’ true thought? (Name three authors and at least two titles):

• ARISTOPHANES’ LYSISTRATA

• XENOPHON’S DEFENCE OF SOCCRATES

• PLATOS DIALOGUES (E.G. GORGIAS)

• When Athenian democracy was restored in 403 its cultural politics was characterized by

• REACTIONARY CULTURAL POLICIES/ INTOLERANCE

• What did Aristophanes think of the Clouds?

• HE CONSIDERED IT HIS BEST PLAY.

PART 2

• Hymn:• Keep silence all, and hear my prayer.• O lord, O boundless air,• On whom the earth supported floats, • And Ether bright, hear these my notes; • And you who send the thunder loud • Almighty Goddess of Cloud,• Behold your thinker waiting here:• Arise and in the sky appear!

• Which play does this passage come from?

• The Clouds

• Who is the speaker?

• What are the implications of this passage for the plot of the play? What light does it shed on the speaker and on the source of his ethical attitude?

• With what philosophical school is the speaker and by extension his teacher assimilated?

• It this assimilation historically accurate?

• Did it have any consequences in real life?