Quote:
Originally Posted by DMB
Anamardoll, I think you misunderstood what I meant about the Greeks. There's was a very different culture from ours; one might call it alien. But we live in a multicultural world and I think it's a good thing to be able to take in the cultural details and differences while also seeing the common humanity. If our world is to pull though its many problems, we need to find that common humanity.
Reading the classics introduces us to different ways of looking at the world and dealing with life's problems. I don't think we should be so confident about our own culture as to suppose that if humans are still around in a couple of thousand years' time they won't look back on us with some misgivings and even contempt.
Of course I agree about Clytemnestra. Our 21st-century take on her story can provide an interesting basis for a modern novel. Have you come across the Canongate Myth Series? I really enjoyed Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad, which was part of the series.
Our take on that story is one of the many reasons for reading the stories. Reading this sort of thing isn't like reading a piece of modern genre fiction; it's a bit more gritty than that. It surprises, horrifies and challenges us. The Iliad, in particular, is definitely strange. By the time we come to read it, we may have a sketchy idea of the myth and would expect it to start with Paris, the three goddesses and Helen. Instead, it plunges into the middle of the Trojan War and is about Achilles' monstrous sulk. I think it's an interesting question to consider whether an ancient Greek audience would have sympathised with Achilles, the greatest Greek hero, or thought he was behaving badly. That raises the whole question of men's "honour" and what it means. This is still a live question today, with so many so-called "honour killings".
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The structure of works like The Iliad and Odyssey when performed was quite different as well. They had a Chorus that would introduce the audience to what was going on and of course back then they could have divine intervention in events. What we would consider cheating on the part of the author they saw as normal. Their mental outlook on the world was very different from ours. To them everything was dependent on the 'Gods' who could be angered by almost anything or who could decide to do something that caused harm to mortals on a whim if nothing else. And woe to any man who offended the Gods somehow. Their plays weren't only entertainment but warnings to not attract the attention of their Gods lest you find yourself in deep trouble.