Theater of War - modern warriors find solace in ancient tales

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Discussion Overview

The discussion explores the connection between ancient Greek drama and modern military experiences, particularly focusing on how performances of plays by Sophocles can resonate with contemporary soldiers dealing with the psychological impacts of war, such as PTSD. The conversation touches on the therapeutic potential of theater in addressing mental health stigma among veterans.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that performances of Greek drama can help soldiers feel less isolated by allowing them to identify with the characters and themes of war.
  • Others argue that the historical context of Sophocles as a general enhances the relevance of his works to modern military personnel.
  • A participant references Jonathan Shay's book "Achilles in Vietnam," which draws parallels between the experiences of Vietnam veterans and the characters in Homer's "The Iliad," suggesting that understanding these connections can provide insights into modern combat experiences.
  • Concerns are raised about the stigma surrounding PTSD and how theater might facilitate discussions that encourage soldiers to seek help.
  • Some express admiration for the concept of using ancient narratives to address contemporary issues, noting that themes of war and trauma are timeless.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the potential benefits of linking ancient narratives to modern military experiences, but there are varying opinions on the effectiveness and implications of such approaches. The discussion remains open-ended without a clear consensus on specific outcomes.

Contextual Notes

Participants reference various sources and ideas, but there are limitations in terms of empirical evidence supporting the therapeutic claims made about theater's impact on mental health. The discussion also reflects a range of interpretations of ancient texts and their relevance to contemporary issues.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to those studying psychology, military history, literature, and the arts, particularly in relation to trauma and healing.

Ivan Seeking
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At military bases around the nation, performances of Greek drama are linking ancient and modern warriors in an understanding of war's pain and mental agony. Jeffrey Brown reports.

...The concept is simple. Four actors read scenes from plays written in the 4th century B.C. by Sophocles, who, not incidentally, had himself been a general in the Athenian army.

...And we scheduled the town hall meeting to go on after the performance, just thinking that maybe a discussion could be had. And when we scheduled, for 45 minutes lasted over three-and-a-half-hours. And there was a certain point in the evening where I had my aha moment, where I saw almost 50 people lined up at the microphone with comments. And each person who came up to the microphone quoted lines from the plays...
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-june10/ptsd_02-03.html
 
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It's a great concept.

Soldiers can identify with characters and would feel less alone ... the fact that Sophocles was himself a general in the Athenian army helps a lot.

Soldiers are reluctant to seek treatments if and when they really need them because of the stigma of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and they also worry that they might be passed over for promotion or viewed as weak.

Since soldiers don't like to talk to a shrink and seek therapy, this theater would help them to open up and could reduce stigma and ultimately help veterans seek these treatments


That's a wonderful way of supporting our troops.
 
This book, "Achilles in Vietnam" by Jonathan Shay, was recommended to me by one of my Greek professors once:

Shay is a psychiatrist specializing in treating Vietnam veterans with chronic post-traumatic stress syndrome. In this provocative monograph, he relates their experiences to Homer's portrait of Achilles in The Illiad. War, he argues, generates rage because of its intrinsic unfairness. Only one's special comrades can be trusted. The death of Patroklos drove Achilles first into passionate grief, then into berserk wrath. Shay establishes convincing parallels to combat in Vietnam, where the war was considered meaningless and mourning for dead friends was thwarted by an indifferent command structure. He convincingly recommends policies of unit rotation and unit "griefwork"--official recognition of combat losses--as keys to sustaining what he calls a moral existence during war's human encounters. The alternatives are unrestrained revenge-driven behavior, endless reliving of the guilt such behavior causes and the ruin of good character. Shay's ideas merit attention by soldiers and scholars alike.
Shay works from an intriguing premise: that the study of the great Homeric epic of war, The Iliad, can illuminate our understanding of Vietnam, and vice versa. Along the way, he compares the battlefield experiences of men like Agamemnon and Patroclus with those of frontline grunts, analyzes the berserker rage that overcame Achilles and so many American soldiers alike, and considers the ways in which societies ancient and modern have accounted for and dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder---a malady only recently recognized in the medical literature, but well attested in Homer's pages. The novelist Tim O'Brien, who has written so affectingly about his experiences in combat, calls Shay's book "one of the most original and most important scholarly works to have emerged from the Vietnam war." He's right.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0684813211/?tag=pfamazon01-20
 
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Fascinating! As the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun.

Btw, Philosoraptor, I had to LOL when I first saw your username. :biggrin:
 
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Ivan Seeking said:
Fascinating! As the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun.

Btw, Philosoraptor, I had to LOL when I first saw your username. :biggrin:

Haha thank you! I can't claim credit for the pun (a friend of mine thought it up) but it's way too good to pass up.

And truly, the lament of Ecclesiastes is fitting: "Vanitas vanitatum." Thanks for the link to the story, it is a good one. PBS is wonderful.

"Solomon saith: 'There is no new thing upon the earth.' So that as Plato had an imagination, that all knowledge was but remembrance; so Solomon giveth his sentence, That all novelty is but oblivion."
--Francis Bacon