katharmos

Updated: June 20, 2025

At any rate the Dionysus ritual itself was a katharmos or katharsis a purification of the community from the taints and poisons of the past year, the old contagion of sin and death. According to primitive ideas, the mimic representation on the stage of 'incidents arousing pity and fear' did act as a katharsis of such 'passions' or 'sufferings' in real life.

Aristotle - Aristotle on the art of poetry