Greek Theatre
Overview of Theater
Greek Gods
Antigone—by Sophocles
and
(Medea—by Euripides)
Overview of Greek Theatre
• The land
• The stage
• The myths
The Land
• Greece has thousands of inhabited islands
and dramatic mountain ranges
• Greece has a rich culture and history
• Democracy was founded in Greece
• Patriarchal (male dominated) society
• Philosophy, as a practice, began in
Greece (Socrates (Socratic discussions!),
Plato, Aristotle)
The Land
Located in Europe in
the Aegean Sea
The Land
Overview of Greek Theatre
• The land
• The stage
• The myths
The Stage
The Stage
Three Main
Portions of Greek
Theatre:
Skene – Portion of
stage where actors
performed
(included 1-3 doors
in and out)
Orchestra –
“Dancing Place”
where chorus sang
to the audience
Theatron – “seeing
place” Seating for
audience
Other parts of the theater:
• Parados=“Passageway” (plural is paradoi)
• Eisodos=long ramps
• Skene=“Tent”/“booth” in English—3 doors for
entrances
• Paraskenium/Proscenium--stage in front of
curtain, with projecting sides
• Altar (Thymele)—place for offering to Dionysus
• Logeion-a platform above the proskeneum
• Thelogeion—roof above logeion wher the gods
and the mechane (deus ex. Machina) sat.
Further parts…
• The mechane (machina) was a crane
mounted on the roof of the skene to lower
the gods into the action of the play.
• “Deus ex machina”—god out of the
machine.—surprise or god-like entrance.
Seating capacity
• 78 rows of the Theatre of Dionysus would
seat between 15,000 and 16,000 people,
approximately 1/3 of the population of
Athens.
• In contrast, a large Broadway theatre,
designed primarily for musicals, seats
about 1,200.
The Stage
The Stage
• First Greek plays were performed during
religious ceremonies held in honor of Dionysus,
the Greek god of wine and revelry (altars
generally on stage)
• Banks would shut down for days, people would
travel from all around to see the drama
competitions—even prisoners were temporarily
released to see the plays
• Tragedy translated means “goat song” (relates to
Dionysian rituals)
The Stage
Where and how were the dramas
performed?
…In an amphitheatre,
open-air.
…With a chorus who
described most of the
action.
…With masks, all male
casts
…With all the fighting
and movement going
on off stage.
….With tragedy first,
then comedy later.
Three Major Greek Dramatists
Aeschylus
524 B.C.
Seven Against
Thebes
Sophocles
496 B.C.
Antigone
Oedipus
Euripides
480 B.C.
Medea
Dramatist
Born
Wrote
What is Sophocles’ contribution to
the art of playwriting?
• He added the third actor to the stage—
allowing for more complex stories.
Sophocles’ Antigone
• Set in Thebes (a city in ancient Greece)
• Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta
• Antigone’s father, Oedipus, murders his father
and marries his mother…(as seen in Oedipus
Rex)
• Antigone’s brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices,
took opposite sides in a war
• Eteocles and Polyneices killed each other in
battle
• Antigone’s uncle, Creon, became king of Thebes
Copy Only The Boxed
Portion!
Perfect Tragedies…
• Unity of Time: The play takes place in a 24 hr.
time period.
• Unity of Place: The play has a simple, one
setting
• Unity of Action: The play has one plot and no
mix of tragedy and comedy.
TRAGEDY and Tragic HERO
• Morally instructive and entertaining
• Stories of the nature of humans in conflict with
themselves, with society, and with the Gods.
• Develop the tragic hero=a high born person who
displays hubris (too much pride/arrogance in the face of
the gods) shown through hamartia (tragic flaw, or an
error in judgment) that leads to their downfall/suffering.
• Once realized, character enters the stage of anagnorisis
(recognition) and will undergo a peripeteia (reversal of
fortune or fall from high to low).
• Eventually, this leads the audience to a catharsis, or
feeling of emotional cleansing, pity, fear, or relief that we
do not face the same outcome.
Tragedy:
• Reaffirms that life is worth living,
regardless of suffering or the pain of
human existence
• Tragedies are about spiritual conflicts,
never about everyday events.
• Tragic protagonist goes from high to low—
and have a noble soul. The audience
must care about the protagonist.
• The protagonist is good, not perfect.
TRAGIC ACTION
ARETE, ARISTEIA: excellence
HUBRIS: arrogance
HAMARTIA: fatal mistake
PERIPETEIA: reversal of fortune
ANAGNORISIS: understanding
CATHARSIS
5 sections of Greek Tragedy:
• The Prologue—opening portion of the play,
sets the scene and contains the exposition.
• The Parados—The entrance song of the
chorus. Named after the broad aisles on either
side of the theatron, along which the chorus
entered/exited.
Continued…
• The Episodes (Scenes): Scene in the action of
the drama. Episodes, performed by actors, are
distinguished from the Stasimons, performed by
the Chorus. The episodes alternate with the
Stasimons.
• The Stasimons (Odes)—a choral passage
alternating with the episodes of the plot of the
drama. A type of lyric poem, using exalted,
dignified diction. The chorus sang and danced
the tragic odes accompanied by musical
instruments.
SECTIONS CONTINUED:
• The tragic ode consists of both Strophes
and Antistrophes—essentially stanzas of
the poems.
• Exodos: The concluding section, contains
the resolution, tragedy, and outcome.
Overview of Greek Theatre
• The land
• The stage
• The myths
Myths played a key role
in Greek drama
The Myths – Why they were written
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Explained the unexplainable
Justified religious practices
Gave credibility to leaders
Gave hope
Polytheistic (more than one god)
Centered around the twelve Olympians
(primary Greek gods)
Explained the Unexplainable
• When Echo tried to get
Narcissus to love her, she
was denied.
• Saddened, she shriveled to
nothing, her existence
melting into a rock.
•
Only her voice
remained.
• Hence, the echo!
To justify religious practices
• Dionysian cults in ancient Greece were founded
to worship Dionysus, god of grapes, vegetation,
and wine.
To give credibility to leaders
The Romans used
myths to create family
trees for their leaders,
enforcing the madeup idea that the
emperors were
related to the gods
and were, then,
demigods.
To give hope
• The ancient citizens of
Greece would sacrifice
and pray to an ORACLE.
• An oracle was a priest or
priestess who would send
a message to the gods
from mortals who brought
their requests.
Where DID hope come from?
After unleashing suffering, famine, disease,
and many other evils, the last thing Pandora let
out was HOPE.
The Oracle at Delphi
Most famous oracle in Greek mythology.
Mount Olympus…
…Where the
Olympians
lived.
Who are the Olympians?
The Olympians Are the 12 Main
Gods
Zeus
•
•
•
•
•
King of gods
Heaven
Storms
Thunder
lightning
Poseidon
•
•
•
•
Zeus’s brother
King of the sea
Earthquakes
Horses
Hades
• Brother to Zeus and
Poseidon
• King of the
Underworld (Tartarus)
• Husband of
Persphone
Ares
• God of war
Hephaestus
•
•
•
•
God of fire
Craftspeople
Metalworkers
Artisans
Apollo
•
•
•
•
•
God of the sun
Music
Poetry
Fine arts
Medicine
Hermes
• Messenger to the
gods
• Trade
• Commerce
• Travelers
• Thieves & scoundrels
Dionysus
• God of Wine
• Partying (Revelry)
Hera
•
•
•
•
Queen of gods
Women
Marriage
Childbirth
Demeter
•
•
•
•
•
Goddess of Harvest
Agriculture
Fertility
Fruitfulness
Mom to Persephone
Hestia
• Goddess of Hearth
• Home
• Community
Athena
• Goddess of wisdom
• Practical arts
• War
Aphrodite
• Goddess of love and
beauty
Artemis
• Goddess of hunting
and the moon.
Temperaments of the
Olympians
The End
Jason’s Voyage on the Argo
Jason and
Medea meet
Corinth: Where Jason
and Medea settle down
Euripides’ Medea
• Medea is a princess from Colchis
• Medea marries Jason, who is in Colchis
on a quest for the Golden Fleece
• Medea betrays her father and murders her
brother for her love of Jason
• Medea has magical powers
• Jason takes Medea back to his homeland,
Corinth, where they have children
• Jason takes another wife, the king of
Corinth’s daughter