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The Dramatic Festival of Dionysos | English Drama

The Dramatic Festival of Dionysos

At Athens, the god Dionysos was honored through dramatic festivals. He was one of the most renowned of Greek gods. He was the god of fertility, religious and wine activity. He was a prevalent figure in Greek mythology. He was often referred to as Eleutherios meaning ‘the liberator’ because his music, wine and ecstatic dance freed his followers from self-consciousness and societal constraints.

The dramatic festivals organized as a worship of god Dionysos performed dual functions of not only honoring him but also state supported events to develop communal life of the city. It is not surprising to find out that these preparations and arrangements were made by the tyrants to create, strengthen and promote the sense of national unity as well as cultural identity of the citizens.



Dramatic Performances of Festival

These festivals were splendid in their vigour and vitality making Athens the most notable place in Greece. And the finest example of state governed centralized instructions to minimize the chances of any sort of ethnic divisions and deviations by bringing all rural festivals into a unified activity in the city of Athens. These dramatic performances were competitions in comparable sense as we arrange award ceremonies. And then prizes for best cultural products and performances in the modern times.

Greeks and Festival

As the ancient Greek civilization once governed and ruled over the world. This owes a great deal to penetratingly competitive nature of Greeks besides some other compelling factors. So, these festivals provided them golden opportunities to exhibit their unique talent and skills. Special judges were selected from all the tribes to judge and award these performances.

Ancient Greeks

Ancient Greeks were not the followers of any religion as the idea of religious conviction exists in the modern sense of the term. They did not have any conventional system of religious principles or principles.

Hence, the term ‘religion’ may not sound suitable to describe their belief systems. Because they did not have any such religious paradigm. In the ancient Greece, distinct boundaries were not drawn between morality and ethics or between the realm of religion and philosophy.

Though, they did have faith in mighty powers of various gods and deities based on their mythological knowledge. Furthermore, they did not worship their gods to seek purgation of their sins and spiritual salvation. But they believed that these forces had control on the human beings, and they were powerful enough to redirect destiny of the humans.

They, also, believed that gods could be influenced by human worship and offerings and sacrifices they made to please them to resist evil. Greek drama is replete with examples when the powers of gods were invoked to escape sufferings and ill destiny.

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