Rural Dionysia & Deme Theaters

Introduction to the Rural Dionysia and Deme Theaters

Rural Dionysia Brief Explanation

The Rural Dionysia was a countryside festival in honor of Dionysus that included theatrical performances at local deme theaters originating in Eleutherae. It was celebrated just after the winter solstice (in the month of Poseidon, roughly December-January) and centered around the performance of both tragedies and comedies in local deme theaters throughout Attica. It may have celebrated the collection of vines or the practice of consuming wine because of its primary purpose of celebrating Dionysus, god of wine. It began as a procession in which initiates and followers of Dionysus carried cult offerings and symbols of the god's fertility and ended with the performance of dramatic and later comedic plays which often consisted of competitions between play-writes and actors. The Rural Dionysia is the less famous counterpart to the Greater Dioysia, or the City Dionysia. The Rural Dionysia is therefore sometimes referred to as the Lesser Dionysia. The City Dionysis was celebrated partially on and around the Acropolis and the Theatre of Dionysus (Habash 560).

Origins of the Rural Dionysia

The Rural Dionysia purportedly originated in Eleutherae potentially as a celebration of the discovery of a new kind of wine (Seaford 1). Eleutherae, on the border of Attica and Boeotia, spread the Dionysia throughout Attica after it became part of Athens (Pausanias 1.38.8). In the mythology of the festival, the people from Eleutherae brought a statue of Dionysus to Athens to introduce the Rural Dionysian practices but the Athenians rejected the cult of Dionysus. Soon after Dionysus set a plague on the male genitalia of Athens and the Athenians subsequently accepted the tradition. This purportedly led to the Greater or City Dionysia (Berberović 36). Attica from then on celebrated both versions of the Dionysia.

Practices of the Rural Dionysia

The Origin of Theater

(Image from Goette 95)

Many Rural Dionysia involved dramatic productions acted out by a troupe of actors, play writes, and followers of Dionysus who traveled between demes and performed comedies, tragedies, and dithyrambs (Habash 560).

What may have begun as simply acting out the arrival of Dionysus in a ritual procession with masks and props such as phalloi and baskets of offerings may have eventually led to more theatrical performance in the later years of the Dionysia (Scullion 344)

Cult Statues

(Ikaria) (Image from Goette 82)

Cult statues were often used during ritual processions, often carried from and to demes and their theaters potentially to symbolize the arrival of Dionysus to that deme. Statues were also placed inside deme theaters, which also points to a potential religious use of the deme theaters after the end of the Rural Dionysia each year. Nevertheless statues of Dionysus and other goods were found in multiple deme theaters and are a vital paart of the Rural Dionysia and deme theatral areas (Wilson).

Highly involved with the origin story of the Rural Dionysia (Berberović 37).

The Birth of Comedy

Some academics classical scholars like Aristotle pin the likely birth of comedy as the first celebration of the City Dionysia in Athens in 487/6 BCE, there is evidence that comedy was an integral part of the later Rural Dionysia (Rusten 38). There is likely a connection between the birth of comedy and some practice related to Dionysus, and the comedic processions and plays that were part of the Rural Dionysia could be the first evidence of a formal expression of comedy.

Since Dionysus is the god of wine and festival, his causal relationship with the birth of formal comedy is not unlikely. Dionysus in later tradition is almost synonymous with both formal and informal expression of comedy (Rusten 40).

(Image is a pedimentala stele with a relief depicting Dionysus accompanied by a satyr. Above are five comedic masks that would have been used in conjunction with rituals of the Dionysia. Image from Goette 93)

Ritual accessories

Traditionally accepted accessories of the Rural Dionysia: Thyrsus (phallic long wand adorned with a pinecone on its top and carried by Dionysian followers and initiates), theatrical masks, bread, wine, pan flutes, liknon baskets to carry offerings (carried most often by young women), other forms of phalloi, and crowns of laurel and flowers (Habash 562)

Possible accessories of the Rural Dionysia as evidenced in traditional Dionysian paraphernalia: Kantharos (drinking cup with large handles often used for wine), double axe (Habash)

Deme Theaters

(Image is from Paga 352, and depicts a map of probable deme theaters in Attica)

Deme theaters served as the primary location for the performance of the Rural Dionysia but were perhaps multifunctional.

An apparent pattern of one deme theater per trittys points to a multifunctional use of the theatrical areas, but mainly its use during the rural Dionysia is well-documented (Paga 352).

Archaeological Evidence and Plans of Deme Theaters

Thorikos

The theater at Thorikos is an early example of a deme theater likely used for the Rural Dionysian. It is contemporary with the first Theater of Dionysus in Athens (between 525 and 480 BCE), and it originally contained a small rectilinear orchestra with no archaeological evidence of seating (Paga 355). It was renovated between 480-425 and a temple dedicated to Dionysus was built. An altar and stone seating further evidence this location as a very likely place for both the Rural Dionysia and perhaps administrative use (Paga 355).

Ikarion

Ikarion has strong ties with the performance of tragedy as depicted in inscriptions that indicate to dramatic theatrical performance ta this site. Ikarion was also in mythology the first landing place for Dionysus in Attica. The theatral area consists of a “packed-earth floor” orchestra with a rectilinear shape (Paga 357). The site is asymmetrical perhaps by useful design.

Piraeus

Piraeus had ties with political rallies and deme assemblies, which gives proof to the potential multiple use of deme theaters within a deme. The theater was perhaps built in the mid-5th century and is referred to be Thucydides as the “Dionysiac Theater at Mounychia” and later in antiquity as “the old theater” (Paga 360).

NOTABLE DEME THEATERS (Paga 354)

Demes with archaeological evidence: Thorikos, Ikarion, Euonymon, Rhamnous, Piraeus, and Acharnai

Demes with literary and epigraphic evidence of theaters: Acharnai, Aigilia, Aixone, Anagyrous, Eleusis, Euonymon, Hagnous, Halai Araphenides, Ikarion, Kollytos, Myrrhinous, Paiania, Piraeus, Phyla, Rhamnous, and Thorikos

Below are a few deme cite pages of demes that include theaters!

Other uses of deme theaters

After the Kleisthenic reforms (which saw the official creation of 139 demes, 30 trittys, and 10 phylai), demes often conducted local events such as cult activities and festivals within their own administration. The Rural Dionysia was conducted by these rural demes perhaps as a way to celebrate on a local level and theaters in demes clearly served as areas for performance during these festivals (Paga 353).

However because these demes were often rural and did not contain agoras or central buildings large enough for political and administrative meetings, deme theaters may have served as the location for politicians and citizens to meet en masse. The large seating areas of these structures and central location would have made them an optimal alternative to agoras. They may have served as "civic centers" and were in certain locations perhaps multifunctional (Paga 381).

Music

Much of the archaeological evidence in deme theaters points to its use in a religious setting, such as the image to the left which is a votive relief to Dionysus. Notably this relief also includes a chorus. Music was likely a part of the celebration of Dionysus but there is no evidence that it was a part of the plays that occurred after the Rural Dionysia (Goette 90). Choregoi were a large part of the Rural Dionysia as demonstrated in votive reliefs and dedications in theaters but anecdotal evidence of them specifically in the Rural Dionysia is scarce.

Theater legacy

(Image from Goette 78)

(This section is theoretical)

There is evidence that earlier theaters, namely those from the Rural Dionysia but also Athens's Theater of Dionysus, influenced later deme theatral areas. Although theaters shaped their structure around surrounding land (Thorikos as an example included a hill which could have served as seating), many are similar in both structure and use. Since many purported deme theaters do not have existing archaeological evidence, the tie in architectural influence between old theaters and newer theaters is tenuous.

The Rural Dionysia and its deme theaters likely influenced the City Dionysia as some deme theaters were probably built earlier than the Theater of Dionysus. However the City Dionysia differed significantly from the Rural Dionysia in practice. While the Rural Dionysia allowed citizens of Attica to travel to view plays and ritual processions in different locations on varying dates, the City Dionysia was limited and form-specific.

Piraeus and Eleusis were particularly influential on the City Dionysia because of their situation as prime port demes that interacted often with Athens, but there is little evidence of the architecture of Eleusis's deme theaters (Goette 84). The structure of the deme theater in Piraeus has a similar structure to the Theater of Dionysus.

In Popular Culture: Aristophanes' The Acharnians

Written in 425 BC, it is the oldest surviving Old Comedy play which was a satirical drama in theme and included a parody of the Rural Dionysia. Aristophanes wrote this play during the Peloponnesian War and documented a shift in Athenian culture from a rural to an urban focus, and the use of the Rural Dionysia points to the dwindling culture of rural religious practices and an attack of rural peace. It is also interesting to note that it was produced for performance in the City Dionysia (Aristophanes) (Habash).

SOURCES

Paga, Jessica. “DEME THEATERS IN ATTICA AND THE TRITTYS SYSTEM.” Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, vol. 79, no. 3, 2010, pp. 351–384. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40981054.

Goette, Hans Rupprecht. “The Archaeology of the ‘Rural’ Dionysia in Attica.” Greek Theatre in the Fourth Century BC, https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XCjoBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA77&dq=rural+dionysia&ots=T9P2i7_ZmV&sig=IMRK8h2NqUOjuToA-PTQbTvOHcA#v=onepage&q=rural%20dionysia&f=false.

Scullion, Scott. “Religion and the Gods in Greek Comedy.” The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Comedy, c. 16 p. 340. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=LVDSAQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA340&dq=rural+dionysia&ots=DTJGHDM3B5&sig=FQHIeakmtEJ5BYTEbOtFkD3LmjI#v=onepage&q=rural%20dionysia&f=false

Habash, Martha. “Two Complementary Festivals in Aristophanes.” The American Journal of Philology, vol. 116, no.4, 1995, pp. 559-577. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/295404.

Wilson, Peter. “The Festival of Dionysos in Ikarion: A New Study Of IG I3 254.” Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, vol. 84, no. 1, 2015, pp. 97–147. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.84.1.0097.

Makres, Andronike. “Dionysiac Festivals in Athens and the Financing of Comic Performances.” The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Comedy, c. 3, 2014, p. 70.

Aristophanes:Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The Clouds Alan Sommerstein, Penguin Classics 1973, page 37

Berberović, Nadja. “Ritual, Myth and Tragedy: Origins of Theatre in Dionysian Rites”. International University of Sarajevo, 2015. n.1 pp. 31-38.

Rusten, Jeffrey. “Who ‘Invented’ Comedy? The Ancient Candidates for the Origins of Comedy and the Visual Evidence.” The American Journal of Philology, vol. 127, no. 1, 2006, pp. 37–66. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3804923.

Seaford, Richard. Dionysia. Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2015. https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-2209

Pausanias. “Description of Greece: Attica”, tr. W.H.S. Jones and H.A. Ormerod (1918).

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