055 - The Dionysian Mysteries

In this episode, we discuss the Phrygian goddess Cybele; her cult's transportation to Greece in the 6th century BC; her assimilation with the cults of Gaia, Rhea, and Demeter as the Great Mother and as a civic protector (particularly in Athens); her cultic rites and influence on Dionysos (Bacchus), particularly music, wine, and an ecstatic following; the myths of two other Phrygian deities, Agdistis and Attis; some of the myths and the iconography of Dionysos and his companions (Silenus, Pan, the Satyrs, and the Maenads); the historicity and major themes of Euripides’ The Bacchae ("The Followers of Bacchus"); and the cultic elements of Dionysiac worship (particularly in Delphi, Boeotia, and the Peloponnese)

Primary Sources:

Text/Euripides' The Bacchae

054 - Old Comedy and Aristophanes

In this episode, we discuss the Lenaia, the intricacies of Athenian Old Comedy, and what is known about the lives and works of the earliest comedic poets, who set the stage for Aristophanes, whose eleven surviving works effectively define the genre today, which include The Acharnians, The Knights, The Clouds, The Wasps, Peace, The Birds, Lysistrata, The Women at the Thesmophoria, The Frogs, The Assembly Women, and Wealth

Primary Sources:
Text/Aristophanes' The Acharnians
Text/Aristophanes' The Knights
Text/Aristophanes' The Clouds
Text/Aristophanes' The Wasps
Text/Aristophanes' Peace
Text/Aristophanes' The Birds

Text/Aristophanes' Lysistrata
Text/Aristophanes' The Women at the Thesmophoria
Text/Aristophanes' The Frogs
Text/Aristophanes' The Assembly Women
Text/Aristophanes' Wealth