"Aristophanes and the Eleusinian Mysteries: Religion, Drama, and Politics" with Lois Spatz, Phd Professor of Classics, Latin, Greek, and Classical Literature

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Media Contact: Genevieve Antaky 510/482-3553, [email protected] Humanities West: 415/391-9700 www.humanitieswest.org HUMANITIES WEST PRESENTS LECTURE PRESENTATION "Aristophanes and the Eleusinian Mysteries: Religion, Drama, and Politics" with Lois Spatz, PhD Professor of Classics, Latin, Greek, and Classical Literature 5:30 pm, Reception; 6:00 pm Lecture THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2008 MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE 57 POST STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA Join Classics scholar Lois Spatz for an evening lecture exploring Aristophanes and the Eleusinian Mysteries: Religion, Drama, and Politics. The Athenian democracy produced two unique annual festivals: The Eleusinian Mysteries with its public processions, rituals, and secret rites in honor of the grain goddess Demeter, and the dramatic festivals of tragedies, satyr plays, and comedies in honor of Dionysus. Both spectacles became synonymous with the power, culture, and ingenuity of Athens. In his comedic play, The Frogs, Aristophanes combines the myths of the two patron deities with the facts about drama in Athens to create a lively fantasy. As Dionysus goes down to Hades to bring back Euripides and returns instead with Aeschylus, Aristophanes examines both the state of the drama and the state of the democracy. This program precedes and complements Athens in its Golden Age: The Time of Pericles, Humanities West’s two-day program of lectures, discussions, and theatrical presentations on the significant contributions of 5th-century Athens to art, architecture, philosophy, and theatre, on Friday and Saturday, May 2 & 3, 2008 at Herbst Theater. (see additional news release) What: Aristophanes and the Eleusinian Mysteries: Religion, Drama, and Politics Lecture Presentation with guest speaker Lois Spatz, PhD When: 5:30pm Reception; 6:00 pm Lecture, Thursday, April 24, 2008 Where: Mechanics’ Institute, 57 Post Street, San Francisco, CA Cost: $10 general public; FREE to members of Mechanics’ Institute, and Humanities West contributors Public Info: 415/393-0100 OR www.milibrary.org OR www.humanitieswest.org ### .

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Resounding Mysteries: Sound and Silence in the Eleusinian Soundscape
Body bar (print) issn 2057–5823 and bar (online) issn 2057–5831 Religion Article Resounding mysteries: sound and silence in the Eleusinian soundscape Georgia Petridou Abstract The term ‘soundscape’, as coined by the Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer at the end of the 1960s, refers to the part of the acoustic environment that is per- ceivable by humans. This study attempts to reconstruct roughly the Eleusinian ‘soundscape’ (the words and the sounds made and heard, and those others who remained unheard) as participants in the Great Mysteries of the two Goddesses may have perceived it in the Classical and post-Classical periods. Unlike other mystery cults (e.g. the Cult of Cybele and Attis) whose soundscapes have been meticulously investigated, the soundscape of Eleusis has received relatively little attention, since the visual aspect of the Megala Mysteria of Demeter and Kore has for decades monopolised the scholarly attention. This study aims at putting things right on this front, and simultaneously look closely at the relational dynamic of the acoustic segment of Eleusis as it can be surmised from the work of well-known orators and philosophers of the first and second centuries ce. Keywords: Demeter; Eleusis; Kore; mysteries; silence; sound; soundscape Affiliation University of Liverpool, UK. email: [email protected] bar vol 2.1 2018 68–87 doi: https://doi.org/10.1558/bar.36485 ©2018, equinox publishing RESOUNDING MYSTERIES: SOUND AND SILENCE IN THE ELEUSINIAN SOUNDSCAPE 69 Sound, like breath, is experienced as a movement of coming and going, inspiration and expiration. If that is so, then we should say of the body, as it sings, hums, whistles or speaks, that it is ensounded.
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Aristophanes' Frogs
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Aristophanes, Frogs (E-Text)
________________________________________________________ ARISTOPHANES FROGS ________________________________________________________ TRANSLATOR’S NOTE This translation by Ian Johnston, Professor Emeritus at Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, BC, has certain copyright restrictions. For information please use the following link: Copyright. For comments or question please contact Ian Johnston. This text is available in the form of a Word or Publisher file for those who would like to print it off as a small book. There is no charge for these files. For details, please use the following link: Publisher files. The translation is also available in the form of a published paperback book from Richer Resources Publications. For additional translations and lectures by Ian Johnston, please consult the following link: johnstonia. This text provides links to explanatory notes (indicated by asterisks), but those reading the entire play might be better served by printing out those pages separately. The translator would like to acknowledge the extremely valuable help of W. B. Stanford’s edition of The Frogs (London: Macmillan, 1963). In the following translation, the normal line numbers refer to the English text. The ones in square brackets refer to the Greek text. HISTORICAL NOTE Aristophanes (c. 456 BC to c. 386 BC) was the foremost writer of comic drama in classical Athens. His surviving plays are the only complete examples we have of Old Comedy. Frogs was first produced in Athens in 405 BC. By this time Athens had been at war with Sparta for over twenty-five
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