Week 6: Classmates' Research Excursions (Antigone)

     The two research excursions I looked at were Gema’s essay on the Festival of Dionysus and Monique’s essay on Ancient Greek Burial Customs. Gema contextualized the essay by mentioning that Ancient Greek practices were all about self-examination and coming to your own conclusions. I found this interesting because we often hear about how ancient civilizations tended to let others think for themselves, especially considering how many governments were a single ruler with essentially all power allocated to them. She further expands on this point by mentioning how this period in question was politically characterized by citizens starting to move towards democracy over tyrannical rulers. These ideas while mentioning that Greek dramas were deeply embedded in politics contextualizes the widespread nature of Antigone and Greek plays in general. According to the essay, they even brought the children of the dead soldiers onto the stage as an example of the consequences of aggressive policies. Overall, I was very interested to find out the political and social contexts of Ancient Greece’s plays and the Festival of Dionysus.

    Monique’s essay about Ancient Greek Burial Customs was also interesting. I learned a lot about the cultural context of the importance of burial. She mentions that a heroic death in battle and living on in memories were essential to the afterlife. Monique draws an interesting comparison here by mentioning how in Catholicism, it is simply living as a good person that gets you into heaven. The essay notes that the Greeks believed that the bodies don’t reach the underworld until they are properly buried and honored in ceremony, and that these bodies that originally belonged to the gods were properly returned with these rituals. That definitely helped me understand why burial was so deeply essential to the Ancient Greeks, to the point where the punishment for not bringing back fallen soldiers’ bodies could even be death. Overall, this essay was very informative and did a good job in helping me understand the mindset of the Ancient Greeks.

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