The Ancient Greeks were very proud of their art so it’s not surprising that it is one of the most valued things today. Art influenced the everyday activities of the Ancient Greeks so its very common to hear arts referenced throughout Ancient Greek history. The Ancient Greek culture was greatly influenced by the arts, like dance, theater, music and poetry. One of the most influential arts in Ancient Greek history is dance. It was quoted by Lawyer that, “no people ever appreciated the dance more than did the ancient Greeks” (Lawyer 11). Dance was used on a day to day basis including in the daily schedule at a Greek school (Leonardo).
The Greeks believed that dance taught communication skills to the students as well was improving their health because it was a way to express themselves and rid of negative energy. Many students staged an annual display of accomplished skills in their dancing which all citizens attended. Religion was probably the area in which dance was most common for the Ancient Greeks. In the religious ceremonies they would use the ecstatic dance because it became a dance that dancers would he able to connect to and get lost n showing a lot of emotion. Nearly everything the ancients did while dancing was pleasing to the gods,” claims Dimple (Dimple 40). The god being worshiped is said to take control to the performer’s body (called enthusiasms meaning ‘possessed by the god’) (Status 621). Dance was an intricate part of theater in the ancient world. The relation between theater and dance is better illustrated than anВ»veer else in the large performing circle, found in most Greek theaters, known as the orchestra or dancing circle (Status 625).
The Ancient Greeks took their entertainment very rigorously and used genres of drama in order to investigate the world they lived in (Greek Drama). The three most common genres of drama were comedy, satyr plays, and most important, tragedy. The first comedies were mainly satirical and mocked men in power for their vanity and foolishness. Tragedy dealt mainly With the big themes of love, loss, pride, the abuse of power, and the fraught relationships between men and gods.
During the tragedies there were little short plays performed between acts that made fun of plight of the tragedies characters. These were called satyr plays. The main function of music was to accompaniment to poetry and dance. Most poetry, such as epics, lyrics, and the choruses in tragedy and comedy, was sung or even sometimes chanted to the accompaniment of some sort of music (Music in Ancient Greece). Music was so important that virtually all the games, but especially the Pithily Games, had music competitions as well as athletic ones (Adkins 265).
The first Pithily Games were held to commemorate Apollo, the Greek god of music, who managed to kill the serpent python that guarded Delphi and then built the First temple at that specific_ site. This is how music_ began to get onto the games in Ancient Greece, all started with the Pithily Games, Over a period of more than ten centuries, the ancient Greeks created a literature of such brilliance that it has rarely been equaled and never surpassed, There were four major periods of Greek literature; preclinical, classical, Hellenic-Roman, and Byzantine.
Of these the most significant works were produced during the preclinical and classical eras. During this time Homeric poems had been written. These poems have social values that underlie the stories told in the Odyssey and Iliad. There was a specific behavioral code that s portrayed in the verses that primarily reflected values established in society before the rise of the political system (Martin 55). The most important poetry to the Greeks was epic poetry.
Epics always share certain characteristics that will separate them from other poems that were written (Mean). There are about 6 characteristics that are in all epics. These include; the hero being a figure of great importance, the setting is ample in scale being worldwide, action involves superhuman deeds, the gods and other supernatural beings take an interest, a style of sustained elevation and poet attaining a measure of objective. There is also a thing called an epic cycle.
An epic cycle is a collection of epic poetry written by different poets in the 7th and 6th centuries BC and sometimes, but rarely, attributed to Homer, They were always arranged in chronological order of subject, extending from the beginning to the world to the end of the heroic age, The only surviving epic cycles include Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Although many were written to be a single story, the poems came together to make an overall story, The poetry of pantywaist represents the end of this phase in epic poetry.
