Komos

The Komos (in Greek κώμος, pl. komoi) was a ritualistic drunken procession performed by revelers in ancient Greece, whose participants were known as komasts. Its precise nature has been difficult to reconstruct from the diverse literary sources and evidence derived from vase painting. The earliest reference to the komos is in Hesiod's "Shield of Herakles", which indicates it took place as part of wedding festivities (line 281), in which Alcibiades famously gate-crashes the "Symposium" while carousing in a komos. However, no one kind of event is associated with the komos: Pindar describes them taking place at the city festivals (Pythian 5.21, 8.20, Olympian 4.9), while Demosthenes mentions them taking places after the "pompe" and "choregoi" on the first day of the Greater Dionysia (Speeches 21.10), which may indicate the komos was a competitive event. (The komos must be distinguished from the "pompe" and the chorus; the latter were scripted events, whereas the komos lacked a chorus leader, script or rehearsal. [Rockwell, p8] ) Demosthenes upbraids the brother-in-law of Aeschines for not wearing a mask during the komos, as was the custom (On the Embassy 19.287) [Rockwell maintains there is some ambiguity to this, see note 7 p.214] , suggesting costume or disguise may have been involved. The playing of music during the komos is also mentioned by Aristophanes (Thesmophoriazusae 104, 988) and Pindar (Olympian 4.9, Pythian 5.22). There are also depictions of torch-lit processions in vase painting, yet it is not always clear from the evidence of vases if they depict symposia, choruses or komoi.

It is now widely thought that komos and "komoedia" (comedy) are etymologically related (the derivation being komos + aeido "sing"). However, in part III of the Poetics, Aristotle records the tradition that the word "komoedia" derives from the Megaran mime that took place in the villages of Sicily, hence from "komẽ" (the Dorian word for village [The "SOED" cites both etymologies.] ). Nevertheless, it remains unclear exactly how the revel-song evolved into the Greek Old comedy of the Dionysian festival in the 6th century BCE.

Notes

References

*Kenneth S. Rockwell Jr. ‘’Nature, Culture and the Origins of Greek Comedy: A Study of Animal Choruses’’, CUP, 2006.