The Gifts Of The Muses In Ancient Greece

Everything had began magnificently the day I attended the renaissance fair. It was the first time I’d ever been to any festival of the sort, and the air was full of magic. At exactly 10:30 in the morning, the ceremony began. The King and Queen presented themselves atop the castle’s balcony to address their people. As the beautiful royals welcomed us into their kingdom, my heart beat erratically, and I crossed the threshold with my breath held. There were so many events that I wanted to see, and activities I wanted to try; I couldn’t wait to get inside. I wasn’t just an ordinary guest, however, I had a job to do. Carrying my instrument lightly with one hand, dressed as a princess and feeling important, I walked proudly through the bustling

top of the fact that she is assured that her loved ones are safe. This shows that music is a source

The muses wre nine in number, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, Momory. They are of one mind, their hearts are set upon song and their spirit is free from care. Clio was muse of history, urania, of astronomy, melpomene of tragedy, thalia of comedy, terpischore of dance, calliope of epic poetry, erato of love-poetry, polyhymnia of songs to gods, euterpe of lyric poetry.

During ancient times, the notorious Oracle and Sanctuary of Apollo lay in close proximity to the theatre. Strategically engineered to harness the acoustic properties of the area, the theatre is composed of a stage, chorus, and amphitheatre. If filled to capacity, the amphitheatre’s thirty-five rows could hold nearly five thousand persons. Long ago, when it was still in use, the people of Greece “enjoyed plays, poetry readings, and many musical events during the various festivals that took place periodically at Delphi” (Ancient-Greece). One such event could have been the Pythian Games, which were held at Delphi every four years. The games were to commemorate the legend that in that spot the god Apollo had killed the monster Python. In accordance with their superstition, the people believed their god to be present at such celebrations. Regardless of such superstitions, the view of the lush underlying valleys from the theatre’s height is acknowledged to be unparalleled.

The downfall of Hector has a striking impact upon the audience. The last time Hector and the boys were on stage,

The Greek mythology presents Medusa as a monster, with the power to turn anyone who looks into her eyes to stone and with snakes that replicate her hair. But, in the poem by Mary Sarton “The Muse As Medusa” we see an incomparable image of Medusa to the Greek mythology. In this poem Medusa helps the speaker through a difficult time. The speaker depicts herself through her poem as someone who is lost, sad and defeated by the world around her. The speaker sees herself in Medusa, where they are both misinterpreted by the world around them. Medusa being powerful is able to cope with the world's misconception of her and shows the speaker how that's possible. The speaker takes into account how the world is the one that misinterpreted them and

A chorus is a common element to Greek tragedy’s and in ancient theatre consisted of a group of people who provide a number of different contributions to a play, providing a historical perspective, acting as counsellors and advisors to the plays characters and at times representing various groups such as villagers or a jury. Within this essay, I will consider the main contributions of the chorus within “The Burial at Thebes”

The word Orpheus means “best voice”. Everybody, people and gods alike, and everything loved his music. The whole land was moved by him and his lyre. “The universal appeal of Greek myths lies in their ability to tell us about human nature and ourselves,” is like the music of Orpheus. Everybody enjoyed his music for the same reason as we enjoy the myths.

Terpsichore is one of nine Muses and the goddess of dance and chorus in Greek mythology. Her name means “delight in dancing,” and she is often seen in artwork as sitting down and playing music for a chorus on a harp-like instrument called a lyre. Terpsichore is not known to have an evil side, but she is the mother of the Sirens. Sirens are dangerous creatures who would cause sailors to shipwreck on their island by luring the sailors with their music and singing. Sirens are shown as being females that are half human and half bird.

Music in Ancient Greece was well integrated in their society, it played a large role in various ceremonies from marriages to funerals, as well as entertainment like plays or epic poetry. Although it is believed that music was invented in Africa over 55,000 years ago, music really began and took shape in Ancient Greece. Even the word music came from the Greek word muses who were believed to be the daughters of Zeus and were the patron Goddesses of creativity. There are many references to music in ancient Greece, from drawings on pottery of people playing, as well as literary works that even describe how the instruments sounded. Speaking of instruments, in addition to the voice being used as one, there are several instruments that are known to have existed in Ancient Greece, a few different string instruments including a lyre, a kithara (which is believed to be the ancient equivalent of a guitar), and a barbitos, which is a taller version of a lyre. They also had several wind type instruments including and aulos, pan pipes, a hydraulis (which eventually led to the modern day organ), as well as a salpinx, which was an ancient type of trumpet with a bone mouthpiece that was the origin of the many brass instruments that we know of today. Finally, we also know of several percussion instruments that were used by the ancient Greeks, these include a tympanum, which was like a tambourine, a crotala, and a koudounia. Music was actually one of the main teachings, along with gymnastics

The chorus is an essential feature of Greek classical drama. Instances of various types of dance, singing, and speech are some elements of a Greek chorus. “Composed of similarly costumed men, they performed on the orchestra located beneath the stage. The chorus stayed in the orchestra for the duration of the performance from which vantage point they observed and commented on the action of the characters.” Oedipus is a play written by Sophocles, a respected playwright, and it is “generally assumed that the main function of the Sophoclean chorus is a philosophical one; that it serves above all as the spokesman for a certain view of life.” The chorus can be dramatic in the following ways: “through the personality of the group forming the chorus and the appropriateness of their relationship to the action and the characters, through the iambic lines spoken by the coryphaeus, through physical participation in the action and through the choral songs.” The chorus is an important component of the Greek Tragedy Oedipus. Aside from its responsibility to effectively represent the people of Thebes, the chorus in Oedipus has a powerful influence over audience perceptions and emotions.

Nymphs were a minor Greek deity that was known for their sensuality and great beauty. These strikingly beautiful ladies were often associated with specific landmarks. These insatiable young maidens were known for being sexually adventurous and loved to dance and sing. Their willingness to explore more sexual options in comparison to the chaste and moral wives, who would not participate in such debauchery. Known for their inability to age or die of illness, nymphs were only able to be destroyed in certain circumstances. However, this knowledge was not given to the humans by the gods. These eternally beautiful girls were thought to be known to particular lakes, rivers, mountains, and forests.The legends were said that these divine creatures could lay with the Gods and give birth to demi-gods. In some stories, the nymphs were daughters of Aphrodite and human males. But all these different stories have common factors, beautiful, young and ravenous sexual appetites. The nymph also appeared as a goddess in the Roman myths under the name, Lymphade. She has known as a water goddess and the site of her caused sheer madness. Nymphs in all forms could create the obsession, insanity and other forms of mental struggle to their suitors, making all who came into contact even visually with any of these ladies. In fact, a

A final cultural difference is the importance of the chorus and its use in the plays Agamemnon, Oedipus, and Medea. The chorus was not highly involved in the action of the plays. In general, the chorus’ main functions were to create a psychological and emotional background to the action through its odes. It introduces and questions new characters, as well as point out the importance of events as they occurred, to establish facts and avow the outlook of society. Finally, the chorus covers the passage of time, between events, and separates episodes (Calder 21). Within the play Agamemnon, by Aeschylus, the chorus represents the voice of wisdom of the city as well as its limitations (Novelguide). The chorus’ limitations are clear when they fail to

This playwright uses the mention of sun and light constantly to hint at the silent presence of Apollo, who is the god of the sun’s rays. He is guiding the fate of the drama’s characters. A second examination can be focused on the use of the flute in the drama. Apollo is credited as being the creator of music and of the flute.

        However, in addressing the role of the Chorus in this play, I think it is vital that one decides whether the role of the Chorus is and objective role, inserted in to the play by Sophocles and unaffected by the audiences perception, or whether the role is subjective, and the