“Paideia and Performance” the educational function of theatrical, rhetorical, athletic, and musical performance

Seventh Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Heritage of Western Greece

 “Paideia and Performance”

the educational function of theatrical, rhetorical, athletic, and musical performance

with a pre-conference seminar on Aeschylus

and a theater-themed post-conference excursion to the Aeolian Islands

Exedra Mediterranean Center

Syracuse, Sicily, May 29 – June 4, 2022

Ancient Greek culture was marked by a love for cultural performances—theatrical, rhetorical, athletic, and musical—which always found their audience and exerted educational influence on them. The works of thinkers living in different periods of ancient history allow us to assume that such performances functioned as a school for adults and youth, where the audience was taught the correct understanding of events through the demonstration of approved patterns of thinking and behavior. However, those who study paideia as culture often ignore its educational aspect, and those who study education sometimes ignore such cultural performances. Our goal is to bring various disciplines together to discover how cultural performance functioned as education, especially in Western Greece—the coastal areas of Southern Italy and Sicily settled by Hellenes in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE.

Our conference takes place at the Exedra Center in Syracuse, Sicily—the cultural center of Western Greece known by Epicharmus, Empedocles, Plato, Aeschylus, Sappho, Theocritus, Archimedes, Cicero and many others.  It includes guided tours of local archaeological and cultural sites, communal meals, and the possibility to witness live performances in the ancient Greek theater by the National Institute for Ancient Drama.  An optional pre-conference seminar on Aeschylus’ work in Greek, and a post-conference tour to important theatrical sites is also planned.