It is believed that first evidence of artistic activity is a diagonal itching on a stone with a shark tooth, associated to Homo erectus around 500 000 years ago. However the oldest undisputed form of figurative art is a sculptured Venus figurine around 40 000 years ago. A time where human behavior hadn’t yet developed behavioral modernity which consists of abstract thinking and symbolic behavior among other things, yet art found its way. These first forms of art were not pure creation of the human mind but a consequence of primordial form of mimesis. With the evolution of human consciousness and complex cognitive skills, like language, writing, analytical abilities, the artistic ability evolved as well. The interpretation of art relies on symbolic
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Dionysus was the god of wine, theater, masks, and ritual madness. His worship in ancient Greece goes way back than the development of theater. His figure is associated with madness, chaos, and irrationality and an important aspect of his is that he is portrayed wearing a mask. In Homeric poems he is described as the “maddened one” and his presence “maddens” all the mortals he comes in contact with. Even though he seems as an unwanted figure in today’s society, in ancient Greek theater his presence was “embedded” in a lot of choral performances through the use of masks. When actors are moving in stage and they put their masks on they become “maddened” by the possession of Dionysus. That is because the plays were performed for his honor and in vicinity of his temple. However, his worship, finds presence in other, more mysterious rituals called Dionysian Mysteries, which used intoxicants, dance, and music to free the mind from social constraints, liberating the individual to its natural state, and becoming a communion with the god. In a Dionysian analysis Calame claims that Dionysus “allows man to bring about in himself the transition between submission to civilized order and the liberation of natural forces leading to otherness. So what was the purpose of such worship? According to Bassi, “Dionysiac madness entails a radical confusion of those ontological categories, that, normative and hierarchical, are constitutive of Greek cultural identity”. So the spirit of Dionysus is something that arises from our intrinsic mind, being tamed through linguistics and art. Bertram states that “Dionysus is a name for the transformative power that forces people to become masks, masks of superpersonal, “divine” being.” The spirit of Dionysus served as an enchantment for the Athenian audience going through catharsis watching the tragic plays performed in honor of the god of
Dionysus was the god of wine, theater, masks, and ritual madness. His worship in ancient Greece goes way back than the development of theater. His figure is associated with madness, chaos, and irrationality and an important aspect of his is that he is portrayed wearing a mask. In Homeric poems he is described as the “maddened one” and his presence “maddens” all the mortals he comes in contact with. Even though he seems as an unwanted figure in today’s society, in ancient Greek theater his presence was “embedded” in a lot of choral performances through the use of masks. When actors are moving in stage and they put their masks on they become “maddened” by the possession of Dionysus. That is because the plays were performed for his honor and in vicinity of his temple. However, his worship, finds presence in other, more mysterious rituals called Dionysian Mysteries, which used intoxicants, dance, and music to free the mind from social constraints, liberating the individual to its natural state, and becoming a communion with the god. In a Dionysian analysis Calame claims that Dionysus “allows man to bring about in himself the transition between submission to civilized order and the liberation of natural forces leading to otherness. So what was the purpose of such worship? According to Bassi, “Dionysiac madness entails a radical confusion of those ontological categories, that, normative and hierarchical, are constitutive of Greek cultural identity”. So the spirit of Dionysus is something that arises from our intrinsic mind, being tamed through linguistics and art. Bertram states that “Dionysus is a name for the transformative power that forces people to become masks, masks of superpersonal, “divine” being.” The spirit of Dionysus served as an enchantment for the Athenian audience going through catharsis watching the tragic plays performed in honor of the god of