The Dance (of Pantomime)

Abstract

Lucian of Samosata – one of the greatest representatives of the writers of Greek antiquity, a satirist, rhetor and pamphleteer, was born in Syria, in the city of Samosata, in what was then the Roman province. Lucian described himself as a Syrian. He was active in the 2nd century. Exact details of his biography are unknown; we draw certain information about his life from his works. Lucian’s extensive output includes philosophical dialogues, satirical and adventurous works. The variety of genres of his writing includes rhetorical works in dialogical and epideictic form. Among his works is the writing “The Dance” (Greek title – Περὶ Ὀρχήσεως, Latin title – De Saltatione) – in the Russian version as“ “About the Dance” (Russian – “О пляске”). This dialogue describes the quarrel between two figures – Lykinos and Kraton. Lycinus (presumably Lucian himself) tries to convince a certain Kraton that the art of dance is delicate and refined, that it is extremely important for an actor to master his bodily movements, even a simple person should be able to do so, because dance is able to give a person great joy and satisfaction. Lykinos tries to prove to Kraton that his views on the art of dance are wrong, and he succeeds in doing so at the end of the script.