𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨-𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐭𝐬 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞

 

Abstract:

Dance held a complex and often morally ambiguous role in the Greco-Roman world, especially within the context of pagan religious rituals and public spectacles. While it was used for entertainment and religious expression, dance was also associated with eroticism, emotional excess, and idolatrous rites. This paper examines how these negative connotations influenced early Christian perceptions of dance, contributing to its exclusion from Christian worship practices despite its earlier prominence in the Old Testament.

Introduction

In the ancient Mediterranean world, dance functioned as a powerful form of ritual, cultural expression, and entertainment. However, unlike its generally celebratory and sacred use in Old Testament worship, dance in Greco-Roman paganism carried associations with sensuality, theatrical excess, and religious syncretism. The early Church, emerging within this cultural context, distanced itself from such expressions, emphasizing moral purity, order, and spiritual worship. This paper investigates the negative connotations of dance in Greco-Roman pagan worship and explains why such perceptions likely influenced the early Christian aversion to dance.

I. Dance in Greco-Roman Pagan Rituals

A. Religious Festivals and Mystery Cults

In the Greco-Roman world, dance was deeply intertwined with religious festivals and mystery religions. The cults of Dionysus (Bacchus), Cybele, and Isis, among others, frequently used dance in their rituals.

• The Dionysian cult, in particular, was known for its ecstatic dances, drunkenness, and trance-like states. Women, called maenads, performed frenzied dances in the wilderness, which symbolized a breakdown of order and submission to divine madness.¹
• The mystery religions, which promised secret knowledge and personal union with the divine, often included initiation ceremonies involving dance, music, and emotional catharsis.²

These rituals were seen by many, including contemporary Roman critics, as bordering on irrationality, sensuality, and immorality.

B. Public Spectacle and Theater

Dance was also a major component of theatrical performances in both Greece and Rome. These were typically conducted in the context of:

• Pantomime – solo dance with a narrative element, often erotic in nature.
• Stage plays and satyr dramas – which frequently depicted immoral acts using exaggerated movement and gestures.

The Roman playwright Juvenal condemned such spectacles, stating, “No noble woman ever danced in the theatre unless she was drunk or immoral.”³ In Roman moral philosophy, dance—especially public or mixed-gender dancing—was often equated with looseness of character and a lack of virtue.

II. Dance as a Symbol of Moral and Religious Corruption

A. Philosophical and Moral Critiques

Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle offered a mixed critique of dance. While they acknowledged certain noble forms of dance in education or military training (e.g., the Pyrrhic dance), they warned against dance forms that stirred excessive emotion or unrestrained desire.⁴ The Stoics, in particular, emphasized self-control and rationality, often disdaining dance for its association with ungoverned passions.

Roman writers such as Seneca and Cicero viewed dancing as unsuitable for the dignified Roman citizen, associating it with luxury, decadence, and moral decay.⁵

B. Dance in Pagan Temples and Sacred Prostitution

In certain temple contexts, dance was associated with sacred prostitution or fertility rites. Temples of Aphrodite (Venus), Astarte, and other fertility deities often involved ritual dances by priestesses or cult prostitutes that were highly sensual in nature.⁶ These rites blurred the line between worship and eroticism, reinforcing the perception that dance was spiritually dangerous.

III. Early Christian Response to Pagan Dance Practices

A. Apostolic and Patristic Warnings

The early Church fathers were highly critical of pagan entertainments, including dance. Tertullian, in De Spectaculis, condemned Christian participation in dances and theater:

"Nothing which is of the devil is to be expected at the spectacles. Let the gate of the devil be left, that is, the spectacles; we have nothing to do with the madness of the circus or the lasciviousness of the theater."⁷

Similarly, Clement of Alexandria opposed dance because of its association with drunkenness and sexual temptation, advocating instead for modesty and restraint in worship.⁸

B. Establishing a Counter-Cultural Worship Ethos

Early Christian worship emphasized sobriety, reverence, and theological instruction (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:26–40). Given the cultural perception of dance, particularly its links with paganism and immorality, the early Church adopted non-dramatic, word-centered forms of worship, including prayer, Scripture reading, singing of psalms, and the Lord’s Supper.

This shift also helped distinguish Christian worship from both Jewish temple rituals and Gentile idolatry, allowing the Church to redefine holiness and spiritual devotion in contrast to the surrounding culture.

Conclusion

Dance in Greco-Roman paganism bore powerful associations with religious ecstasy, sensuality, and public spectacle—qualities that were fundamentally at odds with the moral and spiritual vision of early Christianity. Recognizing the theological dangers and cultural entanglements of such practices, the early Church consciously excluded dance from its worship, choosing instead to cultivate a culture of purity, rational worship, and separation from idolatry. The negative connotations of dance in pagan worship played a significant role in this development, leaving a lasting imprint on Christian liturgical forms in the centuries that followed.

Bibliography

Footnotes

1. Euripides, The Bacchae, trans. William Arrowsmith (University of Chicago Press, 1959).
2. Burkert, Walter. Ancient Mystery Cults (Harvard University Press, 1987), 56–78.
3. Juvenal, Satires, VI.63–65.
4. Plato, Laws, Book II; Aristotle, Politics, Book VIII.
5. Seneca, Epistles, 76.18; Cicero, De Officiis, I.93–94.
6. Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (InterVarsity Press, 1993), 443–445.
7. Tertullian, De Spectaculis, Chapter 22.
8. Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus, Book II, Chapter 4.