Essay On Ancient Greek Theater

Ancient Greek theaters were one of the corner stone’s of ancient architecture to modern architecture. The influence that the ancient Greeks had on other cultures architecture is astounding giving their lack of resources and materials. The vast beauty of how the theater evolved is something incredible. We will see how the Greek theater started and how much it actually changed over time. Also we will get a look into one of the famous ancient Greek theaters; Delphi. The first recorded Greek theater built was around 530 B.C. The actual name of the theater was a “theatron.” In the early starts of the Greek theater were festivals honoring the gods, and the genre of the play was tragedy. Thespis is considered to be the first known actor of Greek theater and mainly did tragedy acts. In early Greek theater they were mainly done for honoring their gods of the city it was conducted. Athens was the centerpiece for theatrical drama. When Greek theater first started the actor, director, and the dramatists were the …show more content…
Most of the first ancient theaters were located around the area of a sanctuary. The Delphic theater is an open air structure that was constructed in the 4th century B.C., northwest of the Sanctuary of Apollo. Musical performances, contests, and dramatic performances took place within these hollowed out slopes of hillsides. The transition from wood to stone seating was made around 160 B.C. It is divided into two uneven sections by paved landings, 28 tiers of seats in the lower section and seven in the upper portion. Six staircases divide into sevencunei for the upper and lower sections. Seating could usually hold 5,000 citizens. Inscriptions located on the theater walls can be correlated to the emancipation of slaves. Located on the stage was a relief that depicted the Labors of Heracles. The theater itself was constructed from limestone, but today it is in rather poor