The Angelica or Angelike (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: Ἀγγελική) was a celebrated
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...
among the
ancient Greeks
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
, performed at their feasts and important celebrations. It was thus called from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
ἄγγελος (''nuntius'', "messenger"), by reason, as
Pollux assures us, the dancers were dressed in the habit of messengers.
History
This dance was perfected by the
Syracusans and performed at their drinking parties. It is probably the same as the messenger's dance, called the Angelikon, which involved a series of gestures to the audience to illustrate the messenger's account of events that occurred off-stage during certain plays.
According to
Athenaeus
Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of ...
, Syracusan festivals held in honour of Artemis Chitonea involved the performance of an
Ionic dance called Angelike in connection with Hecate's announcement to Demeter of the abduction of Persephone by Hades.
[Viscardi 2021, p. 109.]
References
Sources
* Viscardi, Giuseppina Paola (2021)
"Artemis, The Bear, and the Mothers of Engyon" In Casadio, Giovanni and Johnston, Patricia A., eds. (2021). ''Artemis and Diana in Ancient Greece and Italy''. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 109.
*
Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728)
"Angelica (3)" In ''
Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences
''Cyclopædia: or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences'' is an encyclopedia prepared by Ephraim Chambers and first published in 1728; six more editions appeared between 1728 and 1751 with a ''Supplement'' in 1753. The ''Cyclopædia'' ...
''. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. London: Printed for James and John Knapton, et al. p. 88.
* Lawler, Lillian B. (March 1945)
"The Messenger’s Dance" ''Classical Outlook'', 22(6): pp. 59–61.
*
Raftis, Alkis, ed
"ἀγγελική, ἀγγελικόν, angeliki, angelike, aggeliki, angelikon" ''Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Dance''. International Dance Council CID. Accessed 10 July 2022.
*
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2016).
The Encyclopedia of World Folk Dance'. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 117.
{{Greek dances
Ancient Greek dances