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

42 The Dithyramb, hpu^evov and Drama [oh.
structu re known as matriarchal, a structure reflected in the divine
1 figures of Mother and Babe or K onrns ra ther than in JJ^t4r-of
Father and S on. We shall have later to consider more closely
how the divine figure developed from the human institution ; but
first it is all-important that we should examine and if possible
jj define the precise nature of a hpwfievov. We shall then be in a
1 V
position to see more clearly how from the particularSpft^teyoy_
» u nder consideration J the Dithyramb, Jarose, on the one hand, for
theology, a god* on the other, if Aristotle be right, for art^the,.
drama. 1
.
Etymologically Spco/xeva are of course things done 2 . It is,
however, at once evident that the word in its technical use as-
meaning religious rites, sacra, does not apply to all things done*
The eating of your dinner, the digesting of your food, are assuredly
things done, and very important things, but they are not Spcofieva.
Nor does a thing done become a hpwfxevov simply because it is
done socially, collectively ; a large number of persons may eat and
digest their dinner collectively, yet the act remains secular. What
is it that adds the sanctity 3
, that makes the act in our sense
religious ?
First the act must be strongly felt about, must cause or be
caused by a keen emotion. The great events of life, birth,,
adolescence, marriage, death, do not incessantly repeat themselves;.
it is about these events that religion largely focuses. When the
getting of certain foods was irregular and' precarious, a source of
anxiety and joy, the eating of such foods was apt to be religious
and protected by taboos. The regular rising and setting of sun
and moon and stars, because regular, cause little or no emotion ;
hut rnliginn r-nrly fnnnnrd
'">" t.l|jnors " f tension and terror, the
thunderstorm and the monsoon. Such manifestations cau3e*"\>ivid
reactions. Tension finds relief in excited m ovement
;
you dance
and leap fort'ear, tor joy, tor sheer psychological relief. It is this
1 In the present chapter tbe first only of these questions will be considered, the
I genesis of the god from tbe 8pu>fievov. The relation of drama to the Dithyramb is
reserved for chapters vn. and viii., and see Prof. Murray's Excursus after chapter via.
J
2 In the specialized sense of 'rites' Spuj/j.eva consist of two factors (a) the thing
done, the dpcbfievov proper, and (b) tbe thing said, rb Xeydfievov. The thing said,
which is the element of myth, will be considered later, p. 327.
;i The notion of sanctity will be further analysed in chapter in.