Response to Slater, ‘Bringing up Father
Paideia and ephebeia in the Wasps’
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23437458 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alan H Sommerstein (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Pages | 192-202 |
| Publication date | 2009-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Talking about laughter and other studies in Greek comedy (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199554195.003.0010 |
| OpenAlex | W2501527394 |
| ISBN | 9780199554195 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
In this chapter, originally a response to a symposium paper by Niall Slater, it is argued that ephebeia, a concept that had been endowed with great explanatory importance in some recent studies of Athenian drama, did not exist as an institution in 5th-century Athens under that or any other name; for if it did, the silence of our sources about this alleged institution is deafening and inexplicable. The transition to adulthood was indeed a process that intensely interested fifth-century Athenians, but it was seen as an event in life, not in ritual. In Wasps, Bdelycleon tries and fails to enable his father to make this transition, and only Dionysus proves truly capable of healing the old man's ‘sickness’. Dionysus and wine act as restorers of social health in many other comedies by Aristophanes, Cratinus, and Menander.
Aesthetics · Art · Drama · Institution · Literature · Paideia · Silence · Social science · Sociology · Classics · Historical and Literary Studies · History
| Citations per year | 0.08 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2013 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |