As I wrote yesterday, the ancient Greeks thought so much of
polymathy that they had competitions in it. Here is another example of how far
some of them pushed the polymathy idea.
The great second century playwright Lucian specifically wrote
in one of his plays, De Saltatione (The
Dance), that even that a pantomime must be polymathic. Lucian’s idea of
polymathy for a pantomime included knowledge of culture; music, rhythm, and
meter; natural and moral philosophy; rhetoric; painting and sculpting; and
ancient myths and history. That seems like an awful amount of knowledge for a
mere pantomime to have, but a possible explanation for this is that, in Roman times, which is when Lucian lived, the concept of pantomime did not mean miming, as it does now. Rather, it meant a production, usually based upon myth or
legend, for a solo male dancer.
That explanation of pantomine does help somewhat, but Lucian's idea still seems like a little much for a plain old dancer to know.
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