Ancient Greek | Drama | Greece
September, 2018The choral odes in The Bacchae are remarkable because they give us access to the experience of collective ecstatic worship. The chorus consists of “Bacchants,” adherents of the cult of Dionysus, from Asia Minor (now western Turkey). Studying religion is often frustrating because, though we can look at scripture and rituals, what we really want is the experience of being a devotee of a particular religion. These odes provide what is, I think, the closest one can get to feeling Dionysiac worship as an insider.
- Aaron Poochigian
Attention NYC Readers!
Aaron Poochigian's translation of The Bacchae, excerpted here, will be performed by SITI Company on October 3-7 as part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 2018 Next Wave Festival. For more information and tickets, see BAM.
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We seek exceptional unpublished English translations from all languages.
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