THE ECHOES OF ANCIENT GREEK CULTURAL TRADITIONS IN GEORGIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE

Abstract

By employing an interdisciplinary approach that combines ethnomusicology, cultural history, and performance studies, this presentation uncovers the deep-rooted influences of ancient Greek culture, theatre traditions on Georgian religious syncretic rituals, as well as on folk music, dance, and musical-poetic performances. The world’s familiarity with Georgia is largely due to the ancient Greek myth of the Argonauts, in which Medea, the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, helps the Argonauts steal the Golden Fleece from Colchis—located in what is now modern-day Georgia. After Greek colonizers became interested in Georgia, the Milesians (the inhabitants of Miletus) founded city-like settlements in Colchis, transforming it into their strategic eastern outpost. From a political, socio-economic, and religious perspective, Colchis became an integral part of the vast trade network connecting the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. An important outcome of Greek cultural expansion was its influence on various layers of Georgian culture:

— The traditions of Greek theatre and chorus can be partly linked with Georgian pagan circular dances, performed with chorus accompaniment and featuring a soloist, the Coryphaeus, dancing at the centre of the circle. This also highlights the influence of Greek theatre traditions;

— The influence of Greek theatre masks is also revealed in Georgian culture, including the ithyphallic sculptures of the Kazbegi hoard, which depict masked dancers in a ritual honoring the moon cult, where they also took on the role of the chorus;

— During the pagan ritual of Berikaoba, celebrated in honour of the fertility cult, the berikas wore goat or bull skins and masks, reminiscent of the Greek satyrs who laid the groundwork for the chorus in Greek drama;

— The theatre built within the Roman fortification in Apsarus or Apsaros (Nowadays, Gonio in West Georgia) had a significant influence on the syncretic art of the region by staging Greek dramas in general; for example, the influence of the Greek chorus is evident in the pre-Chris- tian syncretic poetic-musical masterpiece Eteriani, which was performed as a theatrical pro- duction, featuring the singing of both poetic and prose texts. Notably, sections of the poem were performed in responsorial and antiphonal styles, with the chorus playing a role similar to the Greek chorus by commenting on events. The chorus engaged in dialogical interaction with the characters, reflecting or amplifying the emotional tone of the scenes;

— Echoes of Greek tragedy continue to resonate organically within the Georgian cultural context, extending into the 20th century; Zakaria Paliashvili’s first opera Abesalom and Eteri (1919)—widely regarded as the best Georgian opera is usually examined in relation to Greek tragedy, as the choruses in the opera serve a function similar to that of the Greek chorus in opera dramaturgy;

In conclusion, the Colchian culture, with its rich traditions, provided fertile ground for the introduction and establishment of Greek culture in Georgia, fostering a mutually enriching integration of the two. The unique Georgian a cappella choral traditions (even if it had not yet developed into a high level of polyphonic structure, which emerged much later), archaic songs of the pagan period organically combined with Greek cultural traditions. All this was made possible by

the Georgian culture’s openness to integrating foreign artistic elements into its national context, reflecting its highly developed nature. This paper seeks to analyze the cases mentioned above by examining archival and visual materials to explore the multifaceted influence of Greek culture on Georgian art.