Komos


Image:Komast cup Louvre E742.jpg|thumb|right|280px| revellry scene from a Komast cup by the KY Painter, BC, Louvre
Image:Komos Staatliche Antikensammlungen 1432.jpg|thumb|right|280px| scene, black-figure amphora by member of the Tyrrhenian group, BC, Staatliche Antikensammlungen
The was a ritualistic drunken procession performed by revelers in ancient Greece, whose participants were known as kōmasts. Its precise nature has been difficult to reconstruct from the diverse literary sources and evidence derived from vase painting.
The earliest reference to the is in Hesiod's Shield of Herakles, which indicates it took place as part of wedding festivities. And famously Alcibiades gate-crashes the Symposium while carousing in a. However, no one kind of event is associated with the : Pindar describes them taking place at the city festivals, while Demosthenes mentions them taking place after the and on the first day of the Greater Dionysia, which may indicate the might have been a competitive event.
The must be distinguished from the pompe, or ritual procession, and the chorus, both of which were scripted. The lacked a chorus leader, script, or rehearsal. In the performance of Greek victory odes at post-Game celebrations for winning athletes, the choral singers often present themselves as kōmasts, or extend an invitation to join the, as if the formal song were a preliminary to spontaneous revelry. Nevertheless, some were expressly described as, which implies that standard were anything but.
Demosthenes upbraids the brother-in-law of Aeschines for not wearing a mask during the komos, as was the custom, suggesting costume or disguise may have been involved. The playing of music during the is also mentioned by Aristophanes and Pindar. There are also depictions of torch-lit processions in vase painting, yet it is not always clear from the evidence of vases if they depict symposia, choruses or kōmoi.
It is now widely thought that and κωμῳδία –, "comedy", are etymologically related, the derivation being + ᾠδή - ode, "song". However, in part III of the Poetics, Aristotle records the tradition that the word derives from the Megaran mime that took place in the villages of Sicily, hence from κώμη – . Nevertheless, it remains unclear exactly how the revel-song developed into the Greek Old comedy of the Dionysian festival in the 6th century BC.