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30 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Drama and Religion |
According to Aristotle (whose Poetics is the earliest surviving work of literary criticism) tragedy developed out of dithyrambs. Dithyrambs was a hymn to Dionysus which was danced and sung by choruses. |
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Chorus of Athenians and Aegeus |
The deeds of the hero Theseus on an Attic red figure kylix. The center shows him slaying the Minotaur. The black figure amphora depicting Theseus fighting the Minotaur |
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From Dithyramb to Drama |
The chorus leader plays the role of Aegeus (father of Theseus). An imortant part of Greek drama is to make drama. This is done by the audience knowing that the hero Aegus is describing is his own soon but the actor pretends to not know, which creates drama. |
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Thespis |
The big innovation in drama is switching from 3rd person to 1st person. Thespis came up with this idea. He was the first to come up with the idea of the theatrical mask, to change the identity from actor to persona. Thespis was the first to perform at the Dionysia. |
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The City Dionysia |
The main event at which theatrical performances took place was the City Dionysia, which was the springtime festival of the god, Dionysus. The main feature was the dramatic performance competition. Lasted for 5 days. |
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Other events at the Dionysia |
The Dionysia originated when the Athenians were presented a statue of Dionysus by the eple of Eleuthera. The Athenians first rejected it, then was plagued by male fertility. Then they accepted it. At the second day of the event after the initial sacrifice, youmg men whose father died fighting were seen paraded in new armor |
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The Competitions |
Each year the archon chose 3 tragic and 5 comic poets and "granted a chorus" to each. The winner would receive a wreath of ivory. 10 men chosen by lot from each of the ten tribes acted as judges. A wreath of Ivory is seen on Dionysus illustrations |
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The Actors |
They were always men and there were never more than 3 actors. The Pronomos Vase is one of the most celebrated pottery pieces associated with ancient greek theatre. It shows 31 labeled figures. IT was found in a tomb at Ruvo di Puglia |
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The Chorus |
The chorus would dance and sign accompanied by the auloi (double pipes). Most tragedies have 5 choral songs called statima (songs sung in place) and with portions of dialogue called episodes(side songs). The Choral songs are often abstract and full of difficult vocabulary. The episodes, on the other hand, are simple in meter and very different from the choral song. |
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The Theatre |
The Dionysia was held in the theatre a Athens, but there were many other. The word theatre comes from "theatron" which means "viewing place". There's a small building made of wood in the back of the stage called the skene from which we get the word "scene". Orchestra means "dance place", located between the skene and the audience. It was round during the Greek times. The actors performed between the orchestra and the skene called the stage. It went audience->orchestra->stage->skene |
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Parts of the Theatre |
Most greek theatres followed the same plan. At the front of the seating area, the priests of Dionysus has special seats. |
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Deus ex Machina |
There was some kind of device which attached to the skene which allowed actors to swoop in and out of the stage area. Ex) in the play Medea, the title charachter whisked away on a chariot drawn by dragons. In the play Philoctetes, the god Heracles descended from the heavens |
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Other Greek Theatres |
The Odeon of Herodes Atticus is another ancient theater on the slopes of the Athenian Acropolis. Another one the the Theater of Epidaurus was built by Polykleitos the Younger. The acoustics at this theater was amazing. |
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The set, costumes, and masks |
Greek drama wasn't about elaborate sets but more about costumes. They had special large boots called kothornoi. Masks were the most imortant part of the costume. |
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Masks |
They were made of a molded fabric. THey encased the entire head. The masked actors could only convey emotion through words and gestures. |
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The Story |
The focus of Greek Tragedy was the message that the poet conveyed through the story. The poet would twist the events and charachters to portray a message that would be topical |
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Characters |
the word character comes from the greek word meaning "imprint". In The trojan women- Helen is portrayed as the weak-willed woman who won't take responsibility for her actions and blames Aphrodite, yet in Helen, she is a much purer woman who never went to Troy at all, and the ware was over a phantom |
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Narrative Structure |
Antigone by Sopholces follows the structure of plot (beginning, middle, end). Tragedies work the same way. |
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Action |
The violent or grand actions wasn't shown on stage. The play called Ajax is an exceptions, where the title character commits suicide on stage. Sometimes the characters themselves come back on stage after a tragic or violent event (such as the blinding of Oedipus). |
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Hubris and Catharsis |
Tragedy had certain rules. The characters were supposed to be grand. Their downfall or tragedy was because it was self-reflection that humanity has flaws. the most important of these was hubris meaning"violent arrogance". Tragedy was popular because it brought about karthasis which means "cleansing" or "purification" |
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Aeschylus |
The oldest of the three tragic poets who produced works. Wrote over 70 plays. Fought in the battle of Marathon. HE was the first poet to use two and then three actors. HE was very religious. His play, The Persians, is about the Persion invasion. Seven Against Thebes, is about the sons of Oedipus fighting over the rule of Thebes. The Suppliants is about a group of women seeking protection in Argos. His trilogy, the Oresteia, consist of three plays and is the story of the murder of Agamemnon and the revenge for that murder. the Prometheus Bound is about the fate of Prometheus |
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Sophocles |
Wrote 123 plays, yet only 7 survived. He competed in 30 dramatic competitions and never placed below second. Some say that it was him and not Aeschylus who was the first to add the third actor. This reduced the imortance of the chorus. His extant plays are Ajax (about the trojan hero), The Women of Trachis (about the death of Heracles), Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus (about the later life of Oedipus) |
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Euripides |
Wrote 90 plays, less than 20 survive. He wrote about female character and he was sympathetic to those victimized by society. Conversations exiled him b/c they didn't like him. His plays include: The Cyclops (which is the only surviving Satyr Play). He used many women as main characters, such as Medea, Hercuba, Electra, and others |
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Tragedy |
Tragedy was the most important form of drama for the Greeks. Many of the stories of tragedy are from the lost epics called the Cyclic Poems (tell episodes about the Trojan War not in Homers' works), the Oresteia Trilogy (about revenge and the futility of it). And the Oedipus at Colonus (theme is about the suppliant). The overriding structure (outlined by Aristotle) is the heroic protagonist's rise to high fortune, then a turning around, accompanied by some kind of recognition, then a down-turn (katastrophe). The catastrophe is the result of "hamartia" which means "tragic flaw" |
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Satyr Plays |
Each tragic poet presented a satyr play along with his three tragedies. Either presented at the end or between the second and third tragedy to provide a little comic relief. The only surviving complete satyr is The Cyclops by Euripides. Fragments remain of other satyr plays, such as The Net Fishers (about the discovery of Perseus and his mother in the sea), and The Trackers (about Apollo tracking down the thief who stole his cattle (baby Hermes)) |
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Aristophanes |
the most well-known of comic playwrights. His surviving plays are the only examples of Greek "Old Comedy". He based a lot of his material on contemporary politics, and because of this he thinks he encapsulated the life of Athens better than any author. His works: The Knights (rediculed Kleon greatly) and made fun of Socrates in The Clouds. His masks for "old comedy" were great. the Quintilians view his writting as full of charm and wit and therefore ought to be worth of study by orators |
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Comedy |
Had 2 styles: "Old Comedy" (as in plays of Aristophanes) and "New Comedy" joined by a hybrid form, "Middle Comedy". The themes of Old Comedy were contemporary politics and not mythology."New Comedy" was more slapstick and less political than "Old Comedy". New Comedy depended on situations such as mistaken identity, romance, siblings, etc. Stock characters are frequent (such as the sill old man, the dashing young lover, the clever slave). "New Comedy" influenced Plautus greatly, and through him, Shakespeare, Ben Johnson, and others |
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Aristotle |
One of the most important works about Greek drama is about Aristotle's Poetics. Said tragedy must have 6 elements: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, and spectacle |
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The Unities (TAP) |
Aristotle in his Poetics outlined three "Unities" that were important to drama: 1) unity of actions 2) Unity of place 3) Unity of time |
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Conclusion |
Over 1000 plays were written and rodced for the Dionysia. |
