Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek ... - Warburg Institute

CH. Il] Dion})sos and the Dithyramb 31
centre ; opposite him Hermes stands, holding the new-born child
to either side stands a nude guardian figure holding a shield.
Who are the armed guardians ? Who but the Kouretes ?
The seated Zeus on the relief is full grown, no longer a Kouros
he is Father of the new-born child—he is the familiar Zeus of
classical theology, Father of Gods and men. Yet he is attended
by the Kouretes. Why this shift of functions, this transformation
of character ? Why this blend of Cretan and Theban mythology ?
We shall find the answer it may be in the subject of the present
chapter, the myth and ritual of the Dithyramb.
' Dithyramb,' like ' Kouros ' and ' Kouretes,' is a word of
somewhat remote and obscure association. We think of a Dithyramb
not as a god, but as a form of lyric, full of thrill in its very
Fig. 5.
name, but excited, exotic, apt to become licentious. It is with the
form rather than the content of the Dithyramb that the modern
commentator is mainly concerned. The very name might by now
have sunk into obscurity as a mere curiosity for specialists, but
for one fact which most intimately concerns us. We are told on\,
the best authority 1 that the Dithyramb gave birth to a literary
offspring greater, more vital than itself—to tragedy. T fce be-
ginnings of drama and of primitive magical rites are, we shall
1
^pxeSWill) bee, in Lei twined ui the very roots! It is then of the first
Importance that" we shoiTlcI grasp as far as may be the nature and
origin of the Dithyramb.
1 This authority has recently been called in question. See Prof. Bidgeway,
Origin of Tragedy, 1910, passim.
;