Theatre of ancient Greece

Theatre of ancient Greece

(The theatre of ancient Greece) or Greek drama, is a theatrical tradition that flourished in ancient Greece between ca. 550 and ca. 220 BC. Athens, the political and military power in ancient Greece during this era, was the centre of ancient Greek (theatre). Tragedy (late 6th century BC), comedy (486 BC), and satyr plays were some of the theatrical forms to emerge there. Greek (theatre) and plays have had a lasting impact on Western drama and culture.

The origin of Western (theatre) is to be found in ancient Greece. It developed from a festival in Athens, honouring the god Dionysus. The Athenian city-state exported the festival to its numerous allies in order to promote a common identity.

Etymology

The word τραγοιδία,[clarify] from which the English word tragedy is derived, is a portmanteau of two Greek words: τράγος,[clarify] the goat, which is akin to "gnaw", and ῳδή[clarify] meaning song, from αείδειν,[clarify] to sing.This explains the very rare archaic-period translation as "goat-men sacrifice song". At the least, it indicates a link with the practices of the ancient Dionysian cults. It is impossible, however, to know with certainty how these fertility rituals became the basis for tragedy and comedy.Also, until the Hellenistic period, all tragedies were unique pieces written in honor of Dionysus, so that today we only have the pieces that were still remembered well enough to have been repeated when repetition of old tragedies became fashion. It was considered a decline of the original, one-time-played tragedy.

Origins

Greek tragedy as we know it was created in Athens some years before 534 BC, when Thespis was the earliest recorded playwright. Being a winner of the first theatrical contest held at Athens, he was the exarchon, or leader, of the dithyrambs performed in and around Attica, especially at the rural Dionysia. By Thespis' time the dithyramb had evolved far away from its cult roots. Under the influence of heroic epic, Doric choral lyric and the innovations of the poet Arion, it had become a narrative, ballad-like genre. Thespis probably aided in the final transition from dithyramb to tragedy by adding characters who speak (rather than sing) with their own voice (rather than a single narrative chorus). Because of these, Thespis is often called the "Father of Tragedy"; however, his importance is disputed, and Thespis is sometimes listed as late as sixteenth in the chronological order of Greek tragedians. For example, the statesman Solon is credited with creating poems in which characters speak with their own voice, and spoken recitations, known as rhapsodes, of Homer's epics were popular in festivals prior to 534 B.C.[3] Thus, Thespis's true contribution to drama is unclear at best, but he is forever immortalized in a common term for performer, thespian.

The drama performances were important to the Athenians - this is made clear by the creation of a tragedy competition and festival in the city of Dionysia. This was organized possibly to foster loyalty among the tribes of Attica (recently created by Cleisthenes). The festival was created roughly around 508 B.C. While no drama texts exist from the sixth century BC, we do know the names of three competitors besides Thespis: Choerilus, Pratinas, and Phrynichus. Each is credited with different innovations in the field.

More is known about Phrynichus. He won his first competition between 511 BC and 508 BC. He produced tragedies on themes and subjects later exploited in the golden age such as the Danaids, Phoenician Women and Alcestis. He was the first poet we know of to use a historical subject - his Fall of Miletus, produced in 493-2, chronicled the fate of the town of Miletus after it was conquered by the Persians. Herodotus reports that "the Athenians made clear their deep grief for the taking of Miletus in many ways, but especially in this: when Phrynichus wrote a play entitled “The Fall of Miletus” and produced it, the whole theatre fell to weeping; they fined Phrynichus a thousand drachmas for bringing to mind a calamity that affected them so personally, and forbade the performance of that play forever."He is also thought to be the first to use female characters (though not female performers).

Golden age: new inventions

After the Great Destruction by the Persians in 480 BCE, the town and acropolis were rebuilt, and theatre became formalized and an even more major part of Athenian culture and civic pride. This century is normally regarded as the Golden Age of Greek drama. The centrepiece of the annual Dionysia, which took place once in winter and once in spring, was a competition between three tragic playwrights at the Theatre of Dionysus. Each submitted three tragedies, plus a satyr play (a comic, burlesque version of a mythological subject). Beginning in a first competition in 486 BCE, each playwright also submitted a comedy.

Aristotle claimed that Aeschylus added the second actor, and that Sophocles added the third actor. Apparently the Greek playwrights never put more than three actors on stage, except in very small roles (such as Pylades in Electra). No women appeared on stage; female roles were played by men. Violence was also never shown on stage. When somebody was about to die, they would take that person to the back to "kill" them and bring them back "dead." The other people near the stage were the chorus which consisted of about 4-8 people who would stand in the back wearing black.

Although there were many playwrights in this era, only the work of four playwrights has survived in the form of complete plays. All are from Athens. These playwrights are the tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and the comic writer Aristophanes. Their plays, along with some secondary sources such as Aristotle, are the basis of what is known about Greek theatre. Because of this, there is much that remains unknown about theatre.