Greek Authors
Who are they? Try to guess!
Important to remember…
• Historians base our knowledge of Greek
tragedy on 31 plays by 3 authors when there
were over 1000 plays written by numerous
authors
Aeschylus
Aeschylus
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525-456 B.C.
Founder of Greek drama and therefore, founder of all western drama
Plays dealt with noble families and lofty themes
Master of tetralogy
Added 2nd actor
Reduced size of chorus
Won first prize often-13 times while alive-plays produced after death
Author of Agamemnon and The Oresteia-only surviving trilogy
Famous soldier
Wrote 90 plays
Only 7 still exist today
Sophocles
Sophocles
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496-406 B.C.
Author of Antigone and Oedipus
Wrote over 120 plays, but we only have 7 in their entirety
Died 90 yrs old
Won 1st place 18 times, never finished lower than 2nd
Civic leader, ambassador and Priest
Superb plot construction
Innovations in scenic painting
Chorus from 12 to 15
Increased number of actors to 3
Euripides
Euripides
• 480-406 B.C.
• More modern due to sympathetic portrayal of
women, greater realism, mixture of genres,
skeptical of Gods
• Gods fallible and human-Euripides criticized
• Reclusive
• 92 plays written
• Only 5 awards received
• Wrote Medea
• 18 plays still exist today
Aristophanes
Aristophanes
• 448-380 B.C.
• Best known playwright of Golden Age
• Comedies reflect social and political climate in
end of 5 century B.C.
• Middle class
• Bawdy with an open attitude towards sex
• 40 plays written
• 11 survive
• Wrote Lysistrata
Ancient play Critic!
Aristotle
Aristotle
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384-322 B.C.
Studied with Plato
Tutor to Alexander the Great
Opened own school 335 B.C. in Athens
170 works covering logic, metaphysics,
psychology, physics, theology, ethics, politics,
biology, and literary theory.
• Detailed Observation leading to description and
then theory-basis of scientific method
• Wrote The Poetics
The Poetics by Aristotle
• Studied through the Renaissance and by
theatre scholars today!
• Analysis of drama
The Poetics-Basic Ideas
• 1. Plot-story-the arrangement of dramatic
incidents
• 2. Character- people represented in the play
• 3. Thought-Theme-ideas explored
• 4. Language- dialogue and poetry
• 5. Music
• 6. Spectacle-scenery and visual elements
The Poetics-Definitions
• Katharsis-purge their feelings of pity fear and
sorrow, cleanse restoring the soul to harmony
• Hamartia-character flaw
• Hubris-flaw of excessive pride
• Satyr-parodies of tragedies performed by satyrshalf-goat, half-man chorus, comic and vulgar,
poked fun at Greek institutions (religions and
heros)
Greek Playwrights! Who are they?
Aeschylus
Sophocles
Aristophanes
Euripides
Greek Critic! Who was he?
Aristotle