Ancient Greece: Laughter and Emotional Honesty

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Sparta and the word spartans, indicate a very military and a spartan life. Certainly, it is not the first ancient Greek city that comes to mind when we think of laughter, humor and comedy. Can one ever envisage wit, jokes and laughter with a spartan life? Prof. Prof Edith Hall in her recent book ‘Introducing the Ancient Greeks’ ( March, 2016) points out that: “The image of warriors of Sparta cracking acerbic jokes in the face of death encapsulates the paradox this strange city-state presents. The most military and brutal of ancient Greeks, the Spartans were also the most famously witty. Indeed, Sparta was one of only two ancient Greek city-states known to have built a special temple for the god of laughter, Gelos, in which to worship him.”

Prof. Hall further explains that the origin of the word Laconic, first adopted in English in the late 16th century, originates from Laconia, the south-eastern part of Peloponnese. Plutarch’s (AD 46-120) collected ‘Laconic Sayings’ and ‘Sayings of Laconian Women’ which has become popular and it is still studied by modern speech writers and stand up comedians as a foundation to develop the one-line putdowns.

The reason that the Spartans favoured wit, humour and laughter was because, as Prof. Hall explains: “It is easier to practice psychological honesty about dark aspects of human existence with the protective shield of laughter, and humor is the sixth of the Greek characteristics, I emphasize, in the context of the Spartans. They used pointed Laconic wit to help maintain the morale of their warrior culture.”

The Inuit Eskimos have 20 different words for snow, it was the same with ancient Greeks who had as many words describing laughter. In classical Athens, there was an exclusive club for raconteurs, where also Philip II of Macedon frequented who enjoyed a laugh, he commissioned joke writers to write jokes and perform at the club. It was ancient Greeks who invented the idea of collecting jokes in a book. There is a book of jokes in fact that survived from the 3rd Century AD called ‘Philogelos’ or Laughter Lover.

In addition, the ancient Greeks believed that the immortal Olympian Gods, they were in a state of constant bliss, rocking forever with “inextinguishable laughter.” In fact in a hymn to Demeter (translates as earth mother, the Goddess of Earth), she was inconsolable because her daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades, the God of the Underworld. Demeter protests to the Olympian Gods, and looks for consolation in Eleusis, a city in ancient Greece where the Eleusinian Mysteries were taking place.

The hostess in Eleusis, who was also queen of the surrounding area, had an idea of inviting the only stand up female comic in ancient mythology. This female stand up comic went by the name of Iambe, because of rude jokes she recited with an iambic meter. Prof. Hall explains that: “Demeter finally busts into laughter. Iambe, the comedian gave her name to the poetic meter that the Greeks always used for poems of insult and satirical abuse; it probably had its origins in prehistoric festivals, in ritual obscenity and jesting.”

Prof. Hall concludes that Spartans: “Their recognition of naked power structures and Realpolitik implies emotional honesty. They adored competitive sports and honored their athletics victors as well as their warriors. They were also very humourous, in their distinctive, succinct, saturnine way, and as such were skilled craftsmen of the Greek language. Indeed, their humor and military prowers were deeply interconnected, since laughing in the face of danger is one of the most effective ways to maintain collect morale: Many of the famous Spartan jokes designed to embolden the hearer. King Agis quipped that the Spartans never asked ‘how many are the enemy,’ but “where are they?’.”

Nat Tsolak

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