Tag Archives: Bakkhai

Groovy Park Instrument Players Led by a Singing and Dancing Kybele

Some male devotees accompany their chain-wielding goddess: Below are some fit lines from Euripides’ Bakkhai  (from scene 1) describing Korybantes—ecstatic drumming and pipe-playing young men devoted to the Phrygian mother-goddess Kybele: Triple-crested Korybantes Devised for me The circle of stretched hide! In … Continue reading

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Go with the flow? Six plausible options for dealing with change

What is the proper response to this burning, bleeding, milk secreting, honey babbling world? It seems to me that the range of responses are pretty limited, and can be boiled down to six plausible options: acceptance and celebration (go with the flow)  … Continue reading

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Would “The Last Exorcism” Have Been Better Titled “The Last Atheist”?

I saw The Last Exorcism  this past weekend and, yes, it’s really good. And scary. And it’s also a bit of an ancient Greek morality play, which makes it philosophically interesting as well: what if a good-hearted cynic, an unbeliever of the Marjoe or Bill … Continue reading

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Creepy Siren Selling Swedish Shampoo (or Something)

At least, at the end, her head didn’t spin.

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Jeff Locker, Eros, and Thanatos: What Motivated the Stabbed Motivational Speaker?

An old, old story? Forbidden eros once again translates into thanatos (death)? According to the AP, stabbed to death motivational speaker, Jeff Locker, may have been deceiving his wife about his own, er, motivations for being out so late: [Locker] told his wife that … Continue reading

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The Apollonian Armored vs. Tarty Nude Dionysian Graces: A Lucas Cranach Painting from 1530

I think that Camille Paglia would like this painting—with its sheeny, armored Apollonian males and naughty nudie graces. These two males have paused, dangerously, in the pagan wilderness, and like Mars, are about to be relieved of their clothes by these clearly … Continue reading

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Euripides’s “Bakkhai”: Is Dionysus Jesus?

Euripides’s “Bakkhai” is an extraordinary play, and functions on many fascinating levels. At one level it can be read as an indictment of rationalism, and a warning to the audience against atheism. Toward the beginning of the play, for example, … Continue reading

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