chapter two
DANCE

JamesAllanEvans

Dance in Prehistoric Greece … 48
War Dances … 52
Women's Choruses … 57
The Dithyramb … 57
Folk Dances … 60
Dance in the Theater … 63
Dionysian Dance … 66
Professional Dancers … 69
Dance in Rome … 70

Arion … 75
Bathyllus and Pylades … 76
Memphius … 76
Theodora … 77

SIDEBARS AND PRIMARY DOCUMENTS
Primary sources are listed in italics
The Minoans Were Famous Dancers (Homer decribes the shield Hephaestus fashioned with its depiction of Minoan dances) … 49
Theseus Dances the Geranos (an excerpt from Plutarch's biography of Theseus) … 50
Dancing in Plato's Ideal State (Plato describes the characteristic movements of war dances) … 53
War Dances of the Greeks (Xenophon describes several war dances performed by armored soldiers) … 55
Curetes and Corybantes (Lucretius describes the ritual dance of the Corybantes) … 56
Aeschylus Reinvents the Tragic Dance (Athenaeus comments on the dance innovations introduced by Aeschylus) … 63
The Importance of Gesture (excerpt from Quintilian's discussion of useful gestures for an orator) … 64
The Ecstasy of the Maenads (Euripides writes of the ritual dance and madness of the maenads) … 68
A Dancer Entertains at a Banquet in Athens (Xenophon describes the dancers perfoming at a banquet attended by Socrates) … 70
Death of a Roman Impresario (inscription marking the grave of a third century dance master) … 72
Lucian of Samosata Argues the Virtues of the Pantomime Dance (Lucian contrasts pantomime with contemporary tragedy) … 73
The Pantomime Dancer, Pylades (Macrobius recalls Pylades, who revolutionized pantomime during the reign of Augustus) … 74