Ancient Greece
Greece is considered the cradle of the western civilization. It is the birthplace of democracy, western philosophy, drama, political science, and Olympic games. Being interested in Greece and all aspects of it, today, I searched it in the Amazon Prime video and found a documentary called “Ancient Greece, the greatest show in the world”. It is directed by Dr. Michael Scott, a Professor of classics and ancient history, who is also a National Teaching Fellow[5] (the UK’s most prestigious award for teaching in Higher Education).
After watching the documentary, I start to think highly of those ancient drama producers, their courage and boldness. I also find out the true relationship between democracy and art especially theatre. Both the ancient drama or theatre performance and the modern movies look totally differently to me now. They are no longer merely an entertainment, but rather, they influenced the ancient worlds deeply because they are thought provoking and inspirational and as a result, played a critical role in the development of real human society.
Dr. Michael Scott is very knowledgeable, and there are lot I do not know about ancient Greece before, for example
Dionysus is the God of theatres,
Dionysus festival is about drama competition.
Aristotle is the tutor for the young Alexander
King Philip II was assassinated when he showed up in a theatre as the 13th god.
The English word Hypocrite is derived from Greek word, Hypokrite, which means actor.
…..
The most touching part of this documentary is that the drama producer is bold enough to put the real event such as the war between Athen and Trojan into a show right in front of the faces of the Athenians Politician. This makes people think deeply about their decision and the consequence of their decision.
I like it a lot.
