Notes From All Over, Part 1 -- 2020

From twitter yesterday:

Destination today:

Making pancakes yesterday:

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The Book Page

From Rediscovering Homer: Inside the Origins of the Epic, Andrew Dalby, c. 2006.

This one is an important one for the oldest granddaughter whose favorite high school / college activity might be the theater: she has acted, written, and directed high school theater productions.

From Dalby on the Iliad, pages 94 - 95:

 As in nearly all lists in the two epics [the Iliad and the Odysset], more space is automatically given to the last item -- in this case, the fourth tradesman. This does not mean that the singer is more important than the other three; it is simply that the last item in a list earns a formula. The chosen [formulaic] adjective is thespis, a rare word that is applied elsewhere in Greek poetry to songs and storms, for these, like singers, are filled with a divine breath -- theya re inspired.

Epic poets in many traditions are considered to be divinely inspired; they are often called "seers," those who can see, beause unlike ordineary people, there are permitted by inpsiration to see the past and the future as well as the present.

So, back to thespis, or thespian.

What does wiki have to say?

Thespis: along with Aeschylus considered the father of Greek tragedy; Sophocles was the playwright; Thespis, the actor.

Aeschylus: 525 - 455 BC
Thespis: won competition in 534 BC -- so preceded Aeschylus

Thespis:

• 6th century BC
• Dionysos, Greece
• first person to ever appear on stage as an actor playing a character in play (instead of speaking as him or herself) [Aristotle]; in other sources, he is said to have introduced the first principal actor in addition to the chorus; introduced tragedy; 534 BC -- won Greek competition to find best tragedy; competition held in City Dionysia in Athens; Thespis won the first documented competition. At that point; went on tour.

Translate: "City Dionysia in Athens" -- Athen's festival for plays; the second most-important festival after Panathenaia. The Lesser Panathenaia was an annual event; the Greater Panathenaia was held every four years.

The question is, of course, if thespis is an older Greek word than the actor named Thespis, was that his given name, or was that a stage name?

Of course, there is some irony here: epic poets were called "seers." Homer was said to have been blind.