Come to the heartland of Greek mythology for an exploration of The Oral Tradition and the Woman’s Voice that celebrates Greek Poetry and Myth. We will examine the tradition of “Praise Song” as it relates to the “Agon, or contest, as both the origin and root of ancient Greek Drama and Sport.  We will give emphasis to the role of women in ancient Greek athletics at the Argive Heraean, Vavrona Brauron, and Olympia, and consider the original unity that existed, to some degree, between art and sport in Greek antiquity. We will question the relevance of this curious tradition as it relates to notions of the HERO in our own time.

~This 4-day workshop will take place at ElaGaia, a restored farmhouse west of Mycenae and Argos). Performances of ancient verse by Dianne and presentations by students will take place at ElaGaia on the aloni or threshing floor that has been made into a theatre. (See elagaia.com) Classes will be held in what was formerly a sheep pen, To Madri. (Please see elagaia.com.)

The Course

Ours will be an exploration of a curious theme in Jane Harrison’s: THEMIS, that is, that there existed in ancient Greece an original unity between drama and sport. For us in the modern era, this is somewhat hard, if not impossible to fathom. Harrison suggests “different though ancient Greek drama and sport became over time, the origin and root of both were the same.”

We shall explore this concept as it relates to ancient ritual and the tradition of praise song by lyric and religious poets such as Pindar, among others, as we pursue answers and meaningful questions around the relevance of sport and drama then, and now. Whereas sport became the domain of men in the Great Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece and women were barred from participation, even killed, for spectating at such contests, the games that honored the gods and bestowed hero-hood on the victors were oftentimes occasions for competitions in music and poetry as well. The participation of women in ancient Greek athletics, though limited, was largely a religious affair. However, the female voice as it comes to us from the arena of Ancient Greek poetry and drama continues to resound with much needed “words of encouragement” in our own struggle to be human.  This said, it is accepted by most scholars that women had no role, or even presence, in the theater of the Classical period – the period of Pindar.

Lectures having to do with the oral tradition and praise song of the ancient Greeks will be experiential as well as academic so as to enliven this tradition and attempt to bring the modern listener closer to the ancient one. Dianne will give voice to the lyric and epic poetry of Sappho, Homer, and Euripides’ Trojan Women on the threshing floor at ElaGaia. It has been suggested by some scholars that the ancient “aloni”, stone threshing circles were the very places where people gathered after the harvest to celebrate, and that such celebrations may have given rise to ritual, and hence, to religious myth in Pre-Hellenic Greece. It has also been suggested by Robert Graves in his “White Goddess” that migrations from the area around Argos prior to the Trojan War spread the ancient ways of ancient Greek worship to the Holy Land and as far north as Ireland. Therefore, Dianne will also include in her presentations on the aloni, verse from seemingly different oral traditions, namely the Irish epic, The Tain, the Victory Song of Deborah from the Old Testament, and the Norse Song of the Sybil as a means of conveying the richness of this tradition beyond the borders of Greece.

It is the aim of this workshop to pull, if only on a single thread of a tapestry that weaves together distinct and different expressions of drama and sport in antiquity, and ask ourselves: what is our legacy in the modern day? What do we know of this “goddess of the moment” once thought “to be found in the thrill of impassioned spectacle and the brightness of gold?” And what do we make of the moment of victory relative to Pindar who seemed to see “a kind of transcendence, briefly making radiant an otherwise dark and brutal world?” To question, and, yes, to feast on questions that invite dialogue, excite the imagination, and deepen our understanding of one aspect of the rich and sometimes mysterious legacy from the ancient Greek world.  Questions that will occasion dramatic monologues by attendees based on “voices” from ancient Greek drama, and collaborative praise song involving poetry and music on the threshing floor. Questions that, when put to rest after class, might even inspire one to run, to break a sweat in the environs of Artemesio, or whet an appetite for traditional foods served in antiquity and prepared by a local shepherdess. In short, we will attempt to come closer to yet one more Greek mystery by means of studied, slow steps, and the occasional poetic leap that we might know Aristotle’s definition of Happiness as that “exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence in a life affording them scope,” or Pindar’s “May God grant us love for that which has splendor” as precisely the ticket to our game at ElaGaia next August, 2019.