Myths Ancient and Modern On the Boulez Ensemble’s Greek Program
Har r y Haskell
The legacy of Hellenic culture
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Throughout history, the Greeks have appealed to their ancient gods and heroes for insights into the predicaments endemic to the human condition. Greece’s recent economic and social travails are no exception. As the English journalist and historian Julius Marozzi wittily observes, “Are you puzzled by Promethean parallels? Surprised by Sisyphean allusions? Perhaps you’re exhausted by Xerxes? No explanation of the Greek crisis these days is complete without a reference or two to Greek mythology, which appears to be an even more popular way of explaining the hellishly complex calamity than dipping into real history for illumination. Just as Athens is peppered with ancient ruins, from the peerless Acropolis to the classical Agora, so comment pieces are littered with vignettes about the capricious Greek gods, long- suffering heroes, sacrificial victims and half-human monsters bent on human destruction.” The popular faith in the enduring power of ancient myth—or, in the case of Xerxes, history—to help guide us through the contemporary labyrinth of systemic financial collapse is not as paradoxical as it may sound, especially given that the very vocabulary we use to describe the current situation—“economy,” “crisis,” even the word “Europe” itself—is rooted in ancient Greek language and modes of thought. In laying the groundwork for modern Western democracy, the early Greeks used stories of potent yet alltoo-human immortals to make sense of a chaotic, capricious, often senselessly violent world—a world in some ways much like our own. In the words of the eminent classicist Paul Cartledge, Greek myths have timeless relevance because they address “the most difficult questions that don’t admit
