Plato, Memory, and Performance

It is now widely recognized among classicists that in the culture of classical Greece, that is, in the fifth to fourth century B.C.E., the element of "performance" played a prominent role in various aspects of daily life. The term "performance culture" is often applied to classical Greece, especially to Athens, in reference to many areas where the citizens conducted their activities in public, such as dramatic and poetic competitions, athletic competitions, and debates in the democratic assembly and in the law court. All these activities that took place in public were highly competitive, though in different contexts, and demonstration of one's excellence in performance mattered a great deal in them. 1 Connected to this is another distinctive characteristic of life in classical Athens: that is, the still predominantly oral presentation of poetic works and political and philosophical ideas. Despite the gradual spread of alphabetic writing, 2 the importance of oral communication in the intellectual life of Athens persisted well into the classical period. 3 However, this was also undoubtedly a period of transition when the increasing importance of