CHAPTER X
RELIGION AND EDUCATION

IT lies beyond doubt that during the period of Old Comedy

the economic factor became steadily more important in the
lives and the minds of the Athenians. This fact cannot be
explained merely on economic and social grounds. We must
seek the general foundation,, that is to say, the general
development of mind and intellect upon which the economic
and social developments rested,

Comedy no less than tragedy formed part of a religious
festival, either the DIonysia or the Lenaia3 both of which were
dedicated to Dionysos,1 If we think of the god Dionysos as
he appears for instance in the Frogs ^ we realize immediately
how different Greek 'cult* and 'service' was from anything we
are accustomed to connect with these words This, of course,
is familiar, and need not surprise us. The spirit of Greek
religion is worlds apart from that of all revealed religions. We
must realize this essential fact when we try to ascertain what
comedy tells us about Greek religion; but this general fact will
not of itself suffice to explain its peculiar quality
The famous scene in Homer in which Hephaistos catches
in a net his unfaithful wife Aphrodite and her lover Ares and
exposes them to the laughter of the other gods^ leads directly
to the ludicrous gods of satyr-drama and comedy,, such as the
glutton Herakles, the rascal Hermes, the debauched and
cowardly Dionysos s Travesties of myths, though more fre-
quent in Middle Comedy, occur also in Old Comedy more
than once We must beware of interpreting as rationalizing
1 On the programme of the Dionjsia, which alone contained both tragedy and
comedy, cf. J. T. Allen, Unw ofCahf&rsta Publications m Cl Pit/ XII (1958),
3$£ Cf alsop 35,11 4
z Od VIII, 266£ —For Dionysos, as depicted by Krateos, cf G- Mcautts,
Rev. It me 36 (1934), 462?.