In fifth century Athens, tragic competitions took place as part of religious and civic festivals, and they were embedded in the religious and civic spheres. Dionysus was the patron god of theater, and these festivals were supposed to honor him. Dionysus Eleuthereus, who sponsored the annual Great Dionysia in Athens, was the archetypal immigrant god. He was the archetypal immigrant god.He had moved from Eleutherae in Boeotia to Athens and then began to bless his new home. In fifth century Athens, religion was to bound with the government, and festivals had a political nature in an essay on the relationship between theater and the polis, states that the civic nature of festivals was to celebrate the city and its ideology.
