How ancient Greek plays allow us to reconstruct Europe's climate
The open air plays of the ancient Greeks may offer us a valuable insight into the Mediterranean climate of the time, reports new research in Weather. Using historical observations from artwork and plays, scientists identified 'halcyon days', of theatre friendly weather in mid-winter.
"We explored the weather conditions which enabled the Athenians of the classical era to watch theatre performances in open theatres during the midwinter weather conditions," said Christina Chronopoulou, from the National and Kapodestrian University of Athens. "We aimed to do so by gathering and interpreting information from the classical plays of Greek drama from 5th and 4th centuries B.C."
Ancient Athenians would enjoy the open theatre of Dionysus in the southern foothills of the Acropolis and when possible they would have watched drama in the middle of winter between 15 January and 15 February.
From Second World War bombing raids, to medieval Arabic writings historians and climatologists continue to turn to surprising sources to help piece together the climate of our ancestors. In this case the team turned to the writings of 43 plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes and several were found to contain references about the weather. Greece enjoys long, hot, dry summers, yet in contrast the rare theatre friendly 'halcyon days' of clear, sunny weather during winter appeared to be especially noteworthy.
"The comedies of Aristophanes, often invoke the presence of the halcyon days," concluded said Dr. Chronopoulou. "Combining the fact that dramatic contests were held in mid-winter without any indication of postponement, and references from the dramas about the clear weather and mild winters, we can assume that those particular days of almost every January were summery in the fifth and maybe in the fourth centuries BC."
Explore further:Britain: Atlantic 'storm factory' brews up more wet winter weather
More information: Christina Chronopoulou, A. Mavrakis, 'Ancient Greek drama as an eyewitness of a specific meteorological phenomenon: indication of stability of the Halcyon days.' Weather, DOI: 10.1002/wea.2145
More from Physics Forums - Earth
Related Stories
Britain: Atlantic 'storm factory' brews up more wet winter weather
Jan 31, 2014
With Met Office figures showing parts of Britain have had the wettest January on record, Reading weather experts say an Atlantic 'storm factory' is to blame - and there could be more to come.
Ancient Arabic writings help scientists piece together past climate
Feb 26, 2012
Ancient manuscripts written by Arabic scholars can provide valuable meteorological information to help modern scientists reconstruct the climate of the past, a new study has revealed. The research, published in Weather, analys ...
Climate change unlikely to reduce UK's excess winter death rate, study reports
Feb 23, 2014
New research published today has found that climate change is unlikely to reduce the UK's excess winter death rate as previously thought.
Federal forecasters don't expect an extreme winter
Nov 21, 2013
The weather forecast for this winter is mostly a shrug of the shoulders.
Would seasonal forecasting enable us to cope with our changing weather?
Feb 28, 2014
We've experienced an exceptionally wet and windy winter, and while our weather forecasters are far better at telling us what to expect in the next two or three days, they still struggle with long range seasonal forecasting.
Climate change threatens Winter Olympics
Jan 23, 2014
Only six of the previous Winter Olympics host cities will be cold enough to reliably host the Games by the end of this century if global warming projections prove accurate.
Recommended for you
Global warming felt to deepest reaches of ocean
22 hours ago
In the mid-1970s, the first available satellite images of Antarctica during the polar winter revealed a huge ice-free region within the ice pack of the Weddell Sea. This ice-free region, or polynya, stayed ...
What sculpted Africa's margin?
Mar 02, 2014
Break-up of the supercontinent Gondwana about 130 Million years ago could have lead to a completely different shape of the African and South American continent with an ocean south of today's Sahara desert, as geoscientists ...
GOES-West satellite eyes soggy storm approaching California
Feb 28, 2014
A swirling Eastern Pacific Ocean storm system headed for California was spotted by NOAA's GOES-West satellite on February 28. According to the National Weather Service, this storm system has the potential ...
NASA satellite sees great freeze over Great Lakes
Feb 28, 2014
At night, as cold settles in, lake ice creaks and groans. It's been excessively cold, and I camped exposed on the snow-swept surface. Other than the lack of vegetation and the sounds at night, you'd never ...
Measuring ice particles and water vapor in the upper troposphere
Feb 28, 2014
A Colorado State University-led research team is designing and building a new instrument to help NASA measure ice particles in clouds and water vapor in the upper troposphere.
Northern Sumatra dealing with smoke from fires
Feb 28, 2014
On February 27, 2014, the Wall Street Journal and Southeast Asia Realtime reported that: "the plantation-rich province of Riau on Indonesia's Sumatra Island has declared a state of emergency as fires set fo ...
User comments : 0
More news stories
Pilbara coral finds refuge on artificial reef
Leftover concrete sleepers and spare rock boulders have proven key to coral communities regaining a foothold in the heavily used Port of Dampier, research has found.
Climate scientists want to interact more directly with the public
Climate scientists need to interact more directly with the public through blogs and social media, researchers from the University of Bristol, the University of Reading and the Met Office argue in a commentary ...
Global warming felt to deepest reaches of ocean
In the mid-1970s, the first available satellite images of Antarctica during the polar winter revealed a huge ice-free region within the ice pack of the Weddell Sea. This ice-free region, or polynya, stayed ...
Nepal to force Everest climbers to collect rubbish
Climbers scaling Mount Everest will have to bring back eight kilograms (17.6 pounds) of garbage under new rules designed to clean up the world's highest peak, a Nepalese official said Monday.
Video: Colourful coral spawning event captured on film
Each year researchers flock to The University of Queensland's Heron Island Research Station to witness and study the annual coral spawning event.
Daimler job ads suggest Mercedes cars soon to have Android/iOS phones integrated into dash
(Phys.org) —Daimler, parent company of Mercedes-Benz, has posted job ads looking for software engineers to help implement a system for allowing integration between dashboard technology and user smartphones ...
House panel discuses Mars 2021 manned flyby mission
(Phys.org) —The U.S. House of Representative's Science, Space and Technology Committee has met to discuss the virtues and possibility of asking NASA to assist a private foundation in conducting a manned ...
Microsoft's Gates reclaims title as world's richest
The surging price of Microsoft shares returned US tech tycoon Bill Gates back to the top of Forbes's world's billionaires list, with his $76 billion beating out Mexico's Carlos Slim's $72 billion.
Johns Hopkins doctors remove baby's brain tumor that contained teeth
Doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital have removed a rare tumor that contained several fully grown teeth from a baby boy's brain.
Vaccines prevent millions of infections, save billions in costs: CDC
(HealthDay)—Childhood vaccines have the potential to prevent 42,000 early deaths and 20 million cases of disease among Americans born in a given year, according to a new analysis.
Javascript is currently disabled in your web browser. For full site functionality, it is necessary to enable Javascript. In order to enable it, please see these instructions.© Phys.org™ 2003-2013, Science X network
The open air plays of the ancient Greeks may offer us a valuable insight into the Mediterranean climate of the time, reports new research in Weather. Using historical observations from artwork and plays, scientists identified 'halcyon days', of theatre friendly weather in mid-winter.
"We explored the weather conditions which enabled the Athenians of the classical era to watch theatre performances in open theatres during the midwinter weather conditions," said Christina Chronopoulou, from the National and Kapodestrian University of Athens. "We aimed to do so by gathering and interpreting information from the classical plays of Greek drama from 5th and 4th centuries B.C."
Ancient Athenians would enjoy the open theatre of Dionysus in the southern foothills of the Acropolis and when possible they would have watched drama in the middle of winter between 15 January and 15 February.
From Second World War bombing raids, to medieval Arabic writings historians and climatologists continue to turn to surprising sources to help piece together the climate of our ancestors. In this case the team turned to the writings of 43 plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes and several were found to contain references about the weather. Greece enjoys long, hot, dry summers, yet in contrast the rare theatre friendly 'halcyon days' of clear, sunny weather during winter appeared to be especially noteworthy.
"The comedies of Aristophanes, often invoke the presence of the halcyon days," concluded said Dr. Chronopoulou. "Combining the fact that dramatic contests were held in mid-winter without any indication of postponement, and references from the dramas about the clear weather and mild winters, we can assume that those particular days of almost every January were summery in the fifth and maybe in the fourth centuries BC."
Explore further:Britain: Atlantic 'storm factory' brews up more wet winter weather
More information: Christina Chronopoulou, A. Mavrakis, 'Ancient Greek drama as an eyewitness of a specific meteorological phenomenon: indication of stability of the Halcyon days.' Weather, DOI: 10.1002/wea.2145
More from Physics Forums - Earth
Related Stories
Britain: Atlantic 'storm factory' brews up more wet winter weather
Jan 31, 2014
With Met Office figures showing parts of Britain have had the wettest January on record, Reading weather experts say an Atlantic 'storm factory' is to blame - and there could be more to come.
Ancient Arabic writings help scientists piece together past climate
Feb 26, 2012
Ancient manuscripts written by Arabic scholars can provide valuable meteorological information to help modern scientists reconstruct the climate of the past, a new study has revealed. The research, published in Weather, analys ...
Climate change unlikely to reduce UK's excess winter death rate, study reports
Feb 23, 2014
New research published today has found that climate change is unlikely to reduce the UK's excess winter death rate as previously thought.
Federal forecasters don't expect an extreme winter
Nov 21, 2013
The weather forecast for this winter is mostly a shrug of the shoulders.
Would seasonal forecasting enable us to cope with our changing weather?
Feb 28, 2014
We've experienced an exceptionally wet and windy winter, and while our weather forecasters are far better at telling us what to expect in the next two or three days, they still struggle with long range seasonal forecasting.
Climate change threatens Winter Olympics
Jan 23, 2014
Only six of the previous Winter Olympics host cities will be cold enough to reliably host the Games by the end of this century if global warming projections prove accurate.
Recommended for you
Global warming felt to deepest reaches of ocean
22 hours ago
In the mid-1970s, the first available satellite images of Antarctica during the polar winter revealed a huge ice-free region within the ice pack of the Weddell Sea. This ice-free region, or polynya, stayed ...
What sculpted Africa's margin?
Mar 02, 2014
Break-up of the supercontinent Gondwana about 130 Million years ago could have lead to a completely different shape of the African and South American continent with an ocean south of today's Sahara desert, as geoscientists ...
GOES-West satellite eyes soggy storm approaching California
Feb 28, 2014
A swirling Eastern Pacific Ocean storm system headed for California was spotted by NOAA's GOES-West satellite on February 28. According to the National Weather Service, this storm system has the potential ...
NASA satellite sees great freeze over Great Lakes
Feb 28, 2014
At night, as cold settles in, lake ice creaks and groans. It's been excessively cold, and I camped exposed on the snow-swept surface. Other than the lack of vegetation and the sounds at night, you'd never ...
Measuring ice particles and water vapor in the upper troposphere
Feb 28, 2014
A Colorado State University-led research team is designing and building a new instrument to help NASA measure ice particles in clouds and water vapor in the upper troposphere.
Northern Sumatra dealing with smoke from fires
Feb 28, 2014
On February 27, 2014, the Wall Street Journal and Southeast Asia Realtime reported that: "the plantation-rich province of Riau on Indonesia's Sumatra Island has declared a state of emergency as fires set fo ...
User comments : 0
More news stories
Pilbara coral finds refuge on artificial reef
Leftover concrete sleepers and spare rock boulders have proven key to coral communities regaining a foothold in the heavily used Port of Dampier, research has found.
Climate scientists want to interact more directly with the public
Climate scientists need to interact more directly with the public through blogs and social media, researchers from the University of Bristol, the University of Reading and the Met Office argue in a commentary ...
Global warming felt to deepest reaches of ocean
In the mid-1970s, the first available satellite images of Antarctica during the polar winter revealed a huge ice-free region within the ice pack of the Weddell Sea. This ice-free region, or polynya, stayed ...
Nepal to force Everest climbers to collect rubbish
Climbers scaling Mount Everest will have to bring back eight kilograms (17.6 pounds) of garbage under new rules designed to clean up the world's highest peak, a Nepalese official said Monday.
Video: Colourful coral spawning event captured on film
Each year researchers flock to The University of Queensland's Heron Island Research Station to witness and study the annual coral spawning event.
Daimler job ads suggest Mercedes cars soon to have Android/iOS phones integrated into dash
(Phys.org) —Daimler, parent company of Mercedes-Benz, has posted job ads looking for software engineers to help implement a system for allowing integration between dashboard technology and user smartphones ...
House panel discuses Mars 2021 manned flyby mission
(Phys.org) —The U.S. House of Representative's Science, Space and Technology Committee has met to discuss the virtues and possibility of asking NASA to assist a private foundation in conducting a manned ...
Microsoft's Gates reclaims title as world's richest
The surging price of Microsoft shares returned US tech tycoon Bill Gates back to the top of Forbes's world's billionaires list, with his $76 billion beating out Mexico's Carlos Slim's $72 billion.
Johns Hopkins doctors remove baby's brain tumor that contained teeth
Doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital have removed a rare tumor that contained several fully grown teeth from a baby boy's brain.
Vaccines prevent millions of infections, save billions in costs: CDC
(HealthDay)—Childhood vaccines have the potential to prevent 42,000 early deaths and 20 million cases of disease among Americans born in a given year, according to a new analysis.
Javascript is currently disabled in your web browser. For full site functionality, it is necessary to enable Javascript. In order to enable it, please see these instructions.© Phys.org™ 2003-2013, Science X network