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(Almost) Done
As a warming-up, I'll talk about a bunch of the quotes that are in my quote generator. For these aren't any random bunch of quotes. Each and every one has a particular thing I really like about it, or carries wisdom which I (try to) adhere to.
If you know a good one, let me know and I might place it up there as well :-)
- ἆ. For those of you who don't read (ancient) Greek: it says "ah." It was written by Euripides in one of his best known tragedies, the Bakchai (or Bacchae, if you want to insist on English transliteration, or even Bacchantes if you really want to screw it up). More specifically, it's line 810. You can download the Greek edition from the link, or you can read a translation here
Why is this single letter so important? Exactly! When I still attended the gymnasium, I visited an entire lecture on this single letter.
It is, as it were, the entire axis of Euripides' tragedy. The first 809 lines, humans, by the means of Pentheus the king, are in firm and strict control of their lives, their culture and their fates. At line 810, Dionysos (yes, that IS his name) has yet to prove himself as a god, but has gathered a large following of females, the Bakchai. These rebellious women are starting to present a major problem for Pentheus. He's acting ever more feverishly and blindly (and, most important to Greeks, irrationally) against the clearly mounting facts that Dionysos is in fact a god. He's standing firm in his resolve to quell the rebellion, and stop these woman from worshipping Dionysos, which is rather an orgy-like deal, actually. Dionysos implores him not to go and slaughter the women and even offers to get them off the mountain himself peacefully. Pentheus, partly blinded by anger, won't have none of it.
Then comes line 810. Pentheus is raging on against these lewd women and gathers his army. Dionysos is fed up with him and interrupts his ranting with a commanding "AH!". At that point, Pentheus loses all and clearly has no constraint any more. Dionysos feeds his curiosity for these women's rituals. This curiosity wins it in the end over his will to destroy them. Dionysos' command is luring him into a trap as he convinces him that the only way to get close enough to the women is to dress up as a woman himself.
Now, the end of this story is of course that Pentheus dies. After all, how stupid can you get, going against a god?
But there's a lot more to it. First of all, it's this pivotal turning point where Dionysos takes over control of the situation and indeed the entire tragedy. A single letter can make a huge difference, showing you that none should underestimate the importance of anything.
On a somewhat larger scale, Euripides' was addressing the position of women in the ancient Greek society. To put in plainly: it sucked. Even by ancient standards Greek women had it bad.
Euripides saw that social order and the standings of different groups within it where all parts of the same system. Therefore any rebellion against a fixed position within this social order poses a possibility of change in the entire system, which exists partly because of these hierarchies. This is likely to be considered a threat. Then again, as the position and standing lowers, rebellion in any form becomes much more likely as resistance against the system increases.
That's why Pentheus has such major problems with these free and independent women. They are threatening his world And, to me at least, it is a vital piece of wisdom to keep in mind when looking at a lot of what's happening today.
