Roots in Worship of Dionysus
God of wine and revelry

Celebration of Dionysus- God of Wine
Performed in circular dancing place
(orchestra)
A chorus of men dressed in goat skins
Trageoia= goat song
A story about Dionysus by leader of the chorus

 Orchestra
 Chorus (from 12-15 people)
 Actors- always men, masked and in costumes
 Early plays of Aeschylus- only two actors; by about 450 B.C., a third had been added
 The poet composed the music and the dance as well as the text, directed the production, and trained the chorus; some dramatists also played the leading roles .

Masks of
Greek
Theater

Masks of Greek Theater

Masks of Greek Theater

The chorus was dominant because there was usually one actor and that actor had to leave the stage several times during a show to change characters.
The chorus was to be a representation of society, they often served as the “ideal spectator” by providing advice, opinions, questions to the audience and actors.
The main actor(s) stood apart in the performance space because they typically played heroic figure that would realistically be separated from normal mortal beings.
Their costumes and masks added spectacle and their movement and dance heightened the dramatic effect.
Great actors were characterized by their voice quality and the ability to adopt their manner of speaking to the character.

The beauty of poetry and dancing
Relieves tension
Interprets events for audience
Often converses with the actors; gives advice
Gives background of events

Chorus

Tragedy
A drama of a character, usually one in high position, where a conflict usually develops between the protagonist/hero and a “superior force (such as destiny, circumstance, or society)” and the story n A drama of a character, usually one in a of the protagonist.
develops between the protagonist/hero and a “superior force (such as destiny, circumstance, or society)” and the story ends in some sort of disaster or great fall of the protagonist.

On Hamartia
: “A tragic flaw or error that in ancient Greek tragedies leads to the hero’s reversal of fortune.”
On Hubris : Excessive pride or arrogance.
Often leads to the downfall of the major character in Greek tragedy.

Ca. 535 B.C.E.
Father of Drama
Created the first actor
Hypokrites

New myths are used, not just Dionysus
Aeschylus: introduced second actor
Dialogue
Sophocles: introduced third actor
Dramatic action

 AESCHYLUS (ca.525-456
B.C.)
 SOPHOCLES (ca.495-406 B.C.)
 EURIPIDES (c 480-406 B.C

AESCHYLUS (ca.525-456 B.C.)
 The "Father of Tragedy"

Addition of a second actor

Made much use of imagery

His tragedy deals Fates and the justice of the gods

His plays reflect the contemporary belief that the gods, jealous and resentful of human greatness, typically inflict great persons with a character flaw that brings their ruin

Sophocles

 Won the competition at the Great Dionysia more often than any other of the great dramatists
 He increased the potential for dramatic conflict by adding a third actor
 wrote dramas which were complete in themselves, rather than always part of a trilogy
 Sophoclean drama deals primarily with strong characters

 Wrote prolifically- some 90 plays, of which 19 survived
 He won the prize for the best play only four times (but then the Academy
Awards usually get it wrong too).
 He wrote of less heroic, more realistic characters

 One device he uses (and it is often seen as a weakness in his plays) is the deus ex
machina, a god, not involved earlier in the action, who descends in a stage machine to straighten out the mess humans have got themselves into.

Prologue-First Act
Parados- Entrance of the Chorus
Episodes- Acts
Stasima-Choral Odes
Exedus- Action after last stasimon

Theatron- where the audience sits
Open air
Hillside
Seating capacity of the Theatron of
Dionysus of Athens?
About 17,000

Dionysus Theater in
Athens

Dionysus Theater in
Athens

Orchestra-dancing place of the chorus
Skene- dressing room for actors
Proscenium- the façade of the skene where scenery was-
No curtains
Dues et Machina- technical device- crane atop the skene with a dummy hung representing gods.

The Greek Outdoor Amphitheatre

Deus ex Machina-
“God From the Machine”
The Machina- a crane that was used to represent characters who were flying or lifted off of the earth.
Tunnel from behind the Skene to the center of the stage.
Scenic wagons revealed through doors on the Skene.
Pinakes painted panels that could be attached to the skene.

Differences: Drama, Then and Now
Greek drama(GD) is a religious
GD get its subjects from mythology
GD outlines the plot in advance, little suspence
GD main intrest is relgioun and ethical instruction
All Short plays 17,000 longest to 900 shortest

No violent action
Scenes of horror happen off stage
Reported to the audience

Unity of action- no subplots
Unity of place-no change of scenery
Unity of time- max of one day
No intermissions
Twice a year in the day

 Plays were funded by the polis
 Plays presented in competition with other plays
 Tragedies almost exclusively dealt with stories from the mythic past
 Comedies almost exclusively dealt with contemporary figures and problems.
 The great tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were performed annually at the spring festival of Dionysus, god of wine, and inspiration .

Theater at Epidaurus

Theater at Epidaurus

Dionysus Theater in
Athens

Chorus

Aristotle’s
Poetics

1. Central
Character is of the Elite Class –
Usually noble or
Royal

2. Central
Character suffers a
Downfall

3. Central
Character is
Neither Wholly good nor wholly evil

4. Downfall is the result of a
Fatal Flaw or error
(Hamartia)

5. Misfortunes involve characters who are related or who are friends – closely connected

6. Tragic actions take place offstage

7. Central
Character has a moment of recognition

8. Audience experiences pity and fear

Pity and Fear leads to a catharsis
According to
Aristotle, this is one of the most important purposes of Drama

Oedipus and Sphinx

Oedipus and Sphinx

Oedipus and Sphinx

Audience at Theater of Delphi

7th Century BC
 c. 625 Arion at Corinth produces named dithyrambic choruses
6th Century BC
 600-570 Cleisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon, transfers
"tragic choruses" to Dionysus
 540-527 Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens, founds the festival of the Greater Dionysia

 536-533 Thespis puts on tragedy at festival of the
Greater Dionysia in Athens
 525 Aeschylus was born
 511-508 Phrynichus' first victory in tragedy
 c. 500 Pratinus of Phlius introduces the satyr play to Athens

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5th Century BC
 499-496 Aeschylus' first dramatic competition c. 496
492
Sophocles was born
Phrynicus' Capture of Miletus (Miletus was captured by the Persians in 494)
485
484
Euripides was born
Aeschylus' first dramatic victory
472
467
Aeschylus' Persians
Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes
 468 Aeschylus defeated by Sophocles in dramatic competition

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463?
Aeschylus' Suppliant Women
458 Aeschylus' Oresteia (Agamemnon, Libation
Bearers, Eumenides)
456 Aeschylus dies c. 450
447 c. 445
441
Aristophanes was born
Parthenon begun in Athens
Sophocles' Ajax
Sophocles' Antigone
438 Euripides' Alcestis
431-404 Peloponnesian War (Athens and allies vs.
Sparta and allies)

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431 c. 429
428
423
415
406
405
404
Sparta
Euripides' Medea
Sophocles' Oedipus the King
Euripides' Hippolytus
Aristophanes' Clouds
Euripides' Trojan Women
Euripides dies; Sophocles dies
Euripides' Bacchae
Athens loses Peloponnesian War to

 401: Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus
4th Century BC
 399 Trial and death of Socrates
 c. 380's Plato's Republic includes critique of Greek tragedy and comedy
 c. 330's Aristotle's Poetics includes defense of Greek tragedy and comedy

Delphi

“Indeed, some say that dramas are so called, because their authors represent the characters as "doing" them ( drôntes ).
And it is on this basis that the Dorians [= the Spartans, etc.] lay claim to the invention of both tragedy and comedy. For comedy is claimed by the Megarians here in Greece, who say it began among them at the time when they became a democracy [c. 580 BC], and by the Megarians of Sicily on the grounds that the poet Epicharmas came from there and was much earlier than Chionides and Magnes; while tragedy is claimed by certain Dorians of the Peloponnese. They offer the words as evidence, noting that outlying villages, called dêmoi by the Athenians, are called kômai by them, and alleging that kômôdoi
(comedians) acquired their name, not from kômazein (to revel), but from the fact that, being expelled in disgrace from the city, they wandered from village to village. The Dorians further point out that their word for "to do" is drân , whereas the Athenians use prattein .
”(Aristotle:
Poetics Chapter 3)