Athens in Pieces: The Tragedy of Democracy

The tower that tops the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville is derived from the Monument of Lysicrates. The building was designed by William Strickland ca. 1840.

Though the Athenian democracy repressed women in every way, their tragedies and comedies gave women voices, strong voices. Yet the actors were all men dressed as women. Nevertheless, who can forget Clytemnestra, Medea, Antigone, Cassandra, Lysistrata and others - who gave such detailed expression to the women silenced in Athenian society otherwise. I can't help but believe there was some sort of underground social revolution going on, that recognized how unfairly women were being treated.

I have a sense that Prof Critchley is over-thinking the concept of tragedy. The nature of what tragedy actually is has been debated since Plato and Aristotle’s time, and it centres around what these audiences experienced in watching the plays. Athenians of the 5th Century BC may well have been suffering from PTSD at the time; their polis had been burned down twice by the invading Persians, they had to flee to the isle of Salamis and beyond twice, and they lost many relatives in the sea battle off Salamis and later in the land battle at Platae that expelled the Persians. As such, they were painfully aware of how unjust life seemed, and the lack of any control in their future. The feelings engendered by watching a hero face equally fatal choices out of his control was known to them, and best described by Hegel as the collision between opposed but mutually justified claims to what is right. I like to think that one of the lost tragedies of the time concerned the Spartan Aristodemus, one of King Leonidas’s 300 at Thermopylae, blinded by infection and removed to the rear. On returning to Sparta, he was scorned and reviled for not dying with his king. He lived a ghost’s existence until his death at the battle of Platae the next year in which he distinguished himself, but the Spartans never forgave him. The decision of dying with his king, a beautiful death (kalos thanatos), or a death in life back in Sparta, was taken from him, the quintessence of tragedy.

A professor of philosophy, and an author of philosophical science fiction. Remarkable. Thank God that the American University is pathologically immune to the study of Philosophy as it exists beyond the confines of consumptive capitalism.

“[T]heater is the place where the tensions, conflicts and ambiguities of democratic life are played out in front of the people.” Indeed, the Greeks had a distinct and rich term for life’s daily tensions and conflicts, a term that is captured by such English words as agony and agonize: agon. Agon literally translates as struggle or contest. To the ancient Greeks, the agon is life itself, writ both large and small, and it is always a struggle between or among combatants: an athletic contest, a chariot or horse race, a competition among poets, musicians or playwrights, a debate between two politicians or philosophers, and of course a battle between two armies or navies. Agon applies in the microcosm as well, in our individual lives, according to the ancients. But it doesn’t just relate, say, to when you’re playing checkers with a friend. It also applies when you’re doing things by yourself. Such as when going out for an evening jog or waking up to go to work with the aid of an early morning alarm. Such activities would be (quite understandably) construed as struggles between your rational intellect and the fleeting whims of your physical body. To the ancient Greek mind, EVERYTHING under the sun, for animals and humans alike, is to be interpreted as a struggle, as an intense, life-impacting competition of one sort or another. The early Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius succinctly summarized this outlook thus: “Life is but one long struggle in the dark.”

Thank you, Mr. Critchley. That series about Greek culture--profoundly interesting. Do you feel--after all this--something irremediably alien about these Greeks? Amazing as they were. During my graduate school days, I studied both Latin and Greek. And here too--I found the Greeks just a little puzzling--alien. As witness my encounter with a professor in a bar one night-- --when I shared these thoughts. I told him: deep down, I related to the Romans much more readily. Maybe 'cause I know more Latin than Greek. Or perhaps I'm just not very bright. My professor (holding his glass--my! that was a delightful evening)--my professor gazed at me: "I know exactly how you feel," he said. "The Greeks-- "--were like brilliant spoiled children.' Which says it all. To say nothing of Greek tragedy. And tragedy is the word. When Creon (say) at the end of Sophocles' "Antigone" is ruined--that ruin is COMPLETE. This is a destroyed man. Alive--yes. And alive is all. His son--dead. By his own hand. His wife--dead. By her own hand. His notions--honorable as far as they went--utterly discredited. Overthrown. Subverted. 'Cause that (after all) was the trouble. "As far as they went." They didn't go far enough. They "missed the mark." They failed. As did the man that clung to them. And yet--the Greeks ARE the Greeks. An astonishing people. Keep those articles coming, Mr. Critchley. I love them.

my takeaways from this piece include: we should celebrate the concept of "theater" and how it contributes to explaining the human experience; those who purport to support massive immigration into Europe but spit on, that is vandalize European monuments to key pieces of the origin of European civilization deserve no consideration, they are the barbarians of the current age

Oh no. So basically we are doomed because of “Hamilton” on Broadway.

Nietzsche wasn’t the only one to loathe democracy. Plato did too.

Did any of the ancient Athenian plays deal with the corrosive power of money on the political process? From the history that I have read, that was a contributing factor in its downfall. Oh, I forgot, the plays were sponsored by wealthy individuals. Is it possible that then, as now, the interests of the wealthy controlled what was shown to the common people? Never mind that fool Socrates. We took care of him. (turn up your sarcasm detector). In spite of that criticism, this was a good and informative article. Thanks, Professor Critchley.

I very much wish that the wisdom of the masses were not so easily undermined by willfully deceptive oratory. I need to read more Greek plays.

Greek democracy has been in ruins since 2009, when PASOK PM voted for austerity rejected by the voters. These cut programs have restricted the right to strike and have turned the parties into servants of Germany, all as they pursue economic policies that have created double-digit unemployment. If Venezuela's Maduro should be removed for allegedly destroying his country's economy single-handedly, Papandreou, Papademos, Samaras, and Tsipras all belong in dungeons for starving Greeks and harming refugees.

I've taught a few ancient Greek plays to high school students. My personal favorite is Medea. Medea captures the essence of Professor Critchley's best sentences in this essay, when he writes: "[The theater] is the place where those excluded from Athenian democracy are presented on stage: foreigners, women and slaves. Theater is the night kitchen of democracy." Hear, hear Professor! You are so right, and this is why teaching these ancient plays, the forerunners of all we love about the theater today, is still so rich and satisfying. In Medea we see the same hypocrisies we face in today's politics, in which pompous, short sighted old men think they know everything, rule everything, while in fact the women, (even a crazy women, like Medea), and the slaves (the disenfranchised) know and see the truth. From the very beginning students relate to Medea's plight: she has done everything for Jason, the handsome, virile husband she adores. But he is egocentric and greedy. He casts her aside when King Creon's daughter becomes available. Now Jason thinks he may be King someday! But, Medea and her slaves all prove more knowledgeable, insightful and intelligent than Jason or Creon in the end. Medea played the long game. Her loyal servants feared her but knew she was the smart one, not Jason. Just as Dr. King reminds us, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." It did in Medea's day- the gods in fact, supported her. We would do well to remember that.

Shall we regard our own society by how we treat the most vulnerable people and how we support artistic expressions and forms? We show ourselves by neglecting and degrading our most important functions. It could be helpful to ask and answer questions about what our contemporary "gods" represent in order to improve life on this planet.

I stopped believing in Democracy back in 2012. The reason-I learned that 47% of eligible voters don't pay any Federal Income taxes. A system that allows moochers and looters to legally steal from producers is unjust.

Professor Critchley, thanks so much for this ongoing series, each installment of which I read with great interest. While the ancient Greeks were no more perfect than we are, an undergraduate philosophy professor over forty years ago awakened in me a lifelong love of the life of the mind. He focused exclusively on the ancient Greek philosophers, especially the Socratics. Although those thinkers did not have the last word on anything, I was simply astonished at the power and depth of their insight into nature, including human nature. Thankfully, I've never recovered. I look forward to your remaining essays.

Despite indoor plumbing and iphones, human behavior remains captured in the web of competing emotions, fear and greed.

I especially liked the comment that Greek tragedy does not present a theory of justice, but rather an experience of justice. As I'm sure Professor Critchley knows, Mikhai Bakhtin wrote extensively about the polyphonic nature of literature.

"To be sure, classical Athens was a patriarchal, imperialist society based on slaveholding." Patriarchal? Yes, undoubtedly so. Imperialist? Perhaps, though, every state of that era that had the means would and did try - with varied degrees of success - to subjugate other states through war. That's how countries started and countries ended: with war. But, 'based on slaveholding'? That's a bit much (also, anachronistic). Which nation, country, state or even tribe of goat-herding nomads of the antique world did not have slaves? In that sense, they were all 'based on slaveholding'.

Thanks for this thought provoking column. More than 2000 years later we struggle with the same issues, sometimes advancing, sometimes retreating. It helps to see how those issues were treated, what mistakes were made, what people got right, and, how feeble humans are against the march of time.

Great column, as are the others in this series. But could have mentioned the riotous, viciously satirical, politically engaged comedy of Aristophanes, which is arguably even more "democratic" than tragedy since it took full advantage of the "free speech" that was not only allowed but treasured in Greek Old Comedy, sometimes mocking politicians to their face as they sat right there in the theater.