The Audiences of New Comedy

2000 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent J. Rosivach
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
New Comedy

There is a school of thought which attributes the more refined discourse of New Comedy (compared with that of the Old) at least in part to a change in the composition of Athenian theatre audiences. This way of thinking assumes that payment for attending theatre performances (the so-called theōrikon) was discontinued along with other payments for i public service under the oligarchic regimes Macedonia imposed upon Athens in the late fourth century B.C.; and it further assumes that with the elimination of this subsidy many of the poor could no longer afford to attend the theatre. The first of these assumptions, that the audiences for New Comedy did not receive theōrikon payments, is reasonable enough, but the second assumption, that the poor therefore stopped coming to the theatre, is more problematic.

Broken Promises and the Rise of a Stereotype

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koji Yamamoto
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Political History ◽  
Negative Image ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Balance Of Trade

Projects began to emerge during the sixteenth century en masse by promising to relieve the poor, improve the balance of trade, raise money for the Crown, and thereby push England’s imperial ambitions abroad. Yet such promises were often too good to be true. This chapter explores how the ‘reformation of abuses’—a fateful slogan associated with England’s break from Rome—came to be used widely in economic contexts, and undermined promised public service under Elizabeth and the early Stuarts. The negative image of the projector soon emerged in response, reaching both upper and lower echelons of society. The chapter reconstructs the social circulation of distrust under Charles, and considers its repercussions. To do this it brings conceptual tools developed in social psychology and sociology to bear upon sources conventionally studied in literary and political history.

Figuras Transgressivas da União Dos Contrários na Obra de Georg Simmel

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (42) ◽  
pp. 37-44
Author(s):  
Teresa Sousa Fernandes ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Georg Simmel ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Common ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
The Stranger

“Man is the limited being that has no limit”. Simmel’s paradox illustrates the singularity of a way of thinking centered on the unity of contraries. Wandering through a large variety of seemingly disconnected objects - “bridge and door”, “the ruin”, “the handle”, “the adventure”, “the poor”, “the stranger”... - , Simmel has questioned secret affinities, transgressed limits and dissolved borders in order to recognize, at last, the unity of life manifesting in a multiplicity of forms. The most decanted expression of this subject is found in the metaphysical essays published as his “testament” - Vision of Life (Lebensanschauung ). Elucidating the common threads that weave together the diverse themes, objects and disciplines to which Simmel dedicated himself, this last book is the fragment where the totality of his work is best reflected.

The brooches in the Pietroasa treasure

Antiquity ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 46 (182) ◽  
pp. 111-116
Author(s):  
David Brown
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Poor State ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Gold Plate

The Pietroasa treasure is a late fourth-century hoard of jewellery and gold plate; it is normally associated with the Visigoths, and is thought to have been buried at the time of the advance of the Huns into Europe. The surviving pieces of the treasure were shown in the splendid exhibition of ‘Treasures from Romania’ in the British Museum last year; the objects were briefly described in the exhibition catalogue and many were illustrated, but there were no details of the finding or significance of the hoard, and the visitor was left to speculate on the very battered state of many of the pieces. In fact, when found, the treasure comprised 22 pieces and, by all accounts, all were in excellent condition; the poor state of the twelve survivors is due to an unhappy chain of events.

Social Justice in Early Christianity

2019 ◽  
pp. 518-536
Author(s):  
Maria E. Doerfler
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Christian Population ◽  
Christian Discourse

Scripture, early Christians agreed, instructed believers not only how to worship God but how to live rightly with their neighbors. Christians nevertheless pursued social justice only selectively. Concern for the poor and for strangers became an early and lasting preoccupation in Christian discourse. By contrast, many Christians remained partial to the violent entertainment of circus games, and did not consistently advocate for the empire’s least regarded members. While homilists might instruct Christians to treat well their own slaves, slavery as an institution remained unchallenged by even the most socially conscious Christian writers. By the fourth century, the increasing Christianization of the empire led to Roman legal support for clergy’s efforts to ensure social justice. The care of prisoners and orphans and, increasingly, the resolution of conflict among particularly the empire’s Christian population were tasks that had long been part of bishops’ roles and that now enjoyed imperial support.

scholarly journals Defending Listeners' Rights: Labour and Media Reform in Postwar America

2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Ann Fones-Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Corporate Control ◽  
The United States ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Postwar America ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Media Reform

Abstract: Historians have paid relatively little attention to labour’s involvement in radio reform in the United States. Unions criticized the poor quality of programming and the lack of public service. They were also concerned about corporate control of radio and particularly about labour’s lack of access. After briefly examining organized labour’s initial efforts to reform radio, this paper focuses on the key role unions played in the postwar media reform movement, which advocated a “listeners’ rights” approach to broadcasting. This concept, along with a commitment to localism, diversity, and community involvement, was among the key ideas championed by media reformers in postwar America. Résumé : Les historiens ont porté peu d’attention à l’implication de la main-d’œuvre dans la réforme de la radio aux États-Unis. Les syndicats à cette époque critiquaient la mauvaise qualité de la programmation et le manque de service au public. Ils se souciaient du contrôle que les entreprises exerçaient sur la radio, particulièrement le manque d’accès à la radio que ce contrôle leur imposait. Cet article, après un bref examen des efforts initiaux de la main-d’œuvre pour réformer la radio, se concentre sur le rôle clé joué par les syndicats dans le mouvement de réforme des médias pendant l’après-guerre ; ceux-ci prônaient une approche de la radiodiffusion qui privilégiait les « droits des auditeurs ». En plus de ce concept, les notions d’engagement vis-à-vis de la localité, la diversité et la participation de la communauté comptaient parmi les idées clés appuyées par les réformateurs des médias dans l’après-guerre aux États-Unis.

Revelry and riot in Archaic Megara: democratic disorder or ritual reversal?

2005 ◽  
Vol 125 ◽  
pp. 73-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Forsdyke
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
Radical Democracy ◽  
Role Reversal ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Historical Question

AbstractPlutarch (probably following Aristotle's lost Constitution of the Megarians) associates several episodes of riotous behaviour with the existence of a radical democracy in Archaic Megara (Moralia 295c-d, 304e-f). Modern historians, in turn, have accepted that Megara was ruled by a democracy in the mid sixth century BC. I suggest that this conclusion is unjustified because the connection between riotous behaviour and democracy in Plutarch is based on fourth-century anti-democratic political thought. I propose instead that anecdotes describing the insolent behaviour of the poor towards the rich are better interpreted in terms of customary rituals of social inversion and transgression. Drawing on comparative examples from the ancient world and early modern Europe, I show that popular revelry involving role reversal and transgression of social norms was an important locus for the negotiation of relations between élites and masses. I argue that such rituals provided temporary release from the constraints of the social hierarchy, and served to articulate symbolically the obligation of the powerful to protect the weak. The comparative examples show that such rituals were usually non-revolutionary, but could turn violent in times of rapid social and economic change. I argue that the violent episodes reported by Plutarch reflect the escalation of ritual revelry into real protest and riot in response to the breakdown of traditional relations of reciprocity between rich and poor in Archaic Megara. I suggest that élites in Archaic Megara successfully warded off more far-reaching rebellion and political reform by enacting new measures for the economic relief of the poor (e.g. the return of interest legislation). In conclusion, I address the broader historical question of why subordinate groups use ritual forms to express discontent.

The Later Comic Chorus

1935 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. J. Maidment
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
New Comedy

The history of Attic comedy after the fifth century is not simple. The comic fragments are obscure, because they are fragments: and the ancient interpreters, because they are determined to interpret. But the subject still remains interesting and important, especially in so far as it is concerned with Middle Comedy, which filled the gap between Aristophanes and Menander. Formally and materially, Menander was a modern, while Aristophanes was not: and it was during the fourth century that the ground was being prepared for the change. Now one of the most noticeable differences between Old and New Comedy was the altered position of the chorus; and although the very mixed assortment of facts available makes coherent conclusions difficult, I think it worth enquiring how much can be known of the chorus after Aristophanes.

scholarly journals “Health For All”. The Medical System in Wallachia Under Protomedicus Nicolae Gussi 1848-1859

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-272
Author(s):  
Lidia Trausan-Matu
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Medical System ◽  
Increase Life Expectancy ◽  
Medical Reform ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Reform Project ◽  
Poor Population

The main objective of this study is to provide an overview of the evolution of the medical system in Wallachia between 1840 and 1860 and the very important role of physician Nicolae Gussi (1802-1869), protomedicus of Wallachia between 1840 and 1859, to transform medicine into a modern public service, accessible to the entire population. Particularly, we will refer to the medical reform project of 1853, which Gussi implemented during the time he headed the medical-sanitary administration. We will insist on the details of the project because it was designed to create a network of county hospitals that would improve the health of the population and, in the medium and long term, would reduce mortality and increase life expectancy. Another dimension of the study aims at the tenure of physicians in county hospitals and describes the medical services they provided to patients, particularly from the poor population.

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