Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

282 Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks
the hard moral choices that define human existence, explore the
problematic nature of man’s relationship with the gods, and demonstrate
the human (and divine) capacity for evil. As such, it frequently
served subversive rather than conformist ends.
There is no more eloquent proof of the central importance of
drama in the life of the Athenian community than the fact that the
hard-line conservative Plato proposed expelling the playwrights,
along with all poets, from his ideal city, being fearful of their influence
on the morals of his contemporaries. And there is no stronger
proof of the relevance of Attic drama to the contemporary world
than the fact that the Colonels, who suspended democracy and
ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974 as an oligarchy, found it necessary
in the interests of public order to ban the performance of Euripides’
works.
MUSIC
The Greek word mousikê identified a much broader range of cultural
activity than our word music. It included all of the arts that
came under the patronage of Apollo and the nine Muses—that is,
singing and dancing as well as history and astronomy. The epithet
mousikos, which means “muse-ish,” was synonymous with good
taste. Conversely, amousikos described a person who lacked refinement
or education. In this section, however, we will consider the
word music in its limited, modern sense.
Music was a central part of Greek daily life and, as such, was
essential to an Athenian education. It was a feature of all social
gatherings, including births, weddings, and funerals. Songs were
sung by laborers to lighten the workload, especially at harvest and
vintage, and by women in the home while they were grinding the
grain, weaving, or kneading bread. Soldiers and athletes trained to
the sound of pipes. Every religious event was marked by the singing
of hymns. Nearly every genre of poetry, including epic, lyric,
and dramatic, was written to be sung to music. Music was an essential
accompaniment to the drinking party.
The various modes of music were believed to exercise a profound
impact upon the mind. The so-called Dorian mode, being solemn
and martial, was thought to induce courage, whereas the Phrygian
mode, which was wild and perhaps atonal, was thought to encourage
impetuosity. Philosophers were of the opinion that music
contributed to a well-balanced and disciplined personality. Plato,
however, was extremely skeptical of its influence and banished it