The Parthenon

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The Parthenon
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Greek Drama

• Its Origins

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Thespian

• Synonymous with actor
• From the Greek poet, Thespis

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Theater

• Entertainment
• Part of religion
• Method of displaying loyalty to city-state
• Method of honoring local heroes
• A major social event
• A thrilling competition
• Place to air important philosophical issues

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Singing and dancing were ways of worshiping gods
and celebrating important occasions.

• After the harvest, people rejoiced in song and in
  dance.
• What tradition of ours probably got its roots in
  Greek drama?

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Barn Dances
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dithyramb

• Religious ritual performed by a chorus of men
  wearing masks.

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Thespis

• Athenian poet
• 534 B.C., he added a character to the dithyramb
  separate from the chorus.

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The first character

• Dialogue
• Exchange of ideas
• Lively argument

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Aeschylus525-456 B.C.

• Added a second actor

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Sophocles496-406 B.C.

• Added a third actor
• Caused the audiences attention to shift from the
  chants and dances of a group to the lives and
  struggles of individuals.

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European Theater was born!!
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The Theaters
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Orchestra

• Circular dancing area
• Where chorus members performed

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skene

• Rectangular building made of wood
• Faced the audience from opposite side of
  orchestra
• Its rooms provided changing rooms for actors and
  a place to store props

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• Stone seats curved around hillside
• Wedge-shaped seating areas
• Circle for the actors
• Slope for the spectators
• Open air for a roof

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Chorus

• Enter at beginning of play and remain throughout
• Men only!!!
• Chanted and danced
• Commented on the action of the play
• Reacted to the plot with expressive dances

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aulos

• A single musician, playing a type of pipe called
  the aulos, accompanied the chorus

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Choragos

• Leader of the chorus
• Sometimes participated in dialogue
• Represented the typical responses of the ordinary
  citizen to the events of the play

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15,000 spectators could watch performances in the
Theater of Dionysos in Athens
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Exaggerated gestures

• Spectators in upper rows of theater were more
  than 55 yards from the actors, so the actors had
  to use exaggerated gestures so movements could be
  interpreted.

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Masks

• Masks were used to enable spectators to
  distinguish emotion and characters.
• All participants except musicians wore masks.

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Tragic actors were recognizable by

• Richly decorated robes

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Chorus members wore

• Traditional robes which identified the roles they
  were playing

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The Performance

• Full of color
• Lots of movement
• Lacking scenery or technical magic
• Skene served as a palace, temple, cave, etc.
• Entrances and exits made through doors of skene
  and stood on a raised platformthe forerunner of
  modern stage

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Technicalities

• Natural lighting
• Few props
• Some props used to symbolize the characters role
• Ex hunter---bow
• old man---stick

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Violence

• Murder, suicide, and battles----almost always
  occurred off stage.
• Usually, a messenger would appear after the event
  and describe it in gory detail.

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The golden age of Greek drama

• Aeschylus
• Sophocles
• Euripides
• Aristophanes
• All wrote plays capturing humankinds timeless
  struggle to find the purpose of life and to
  achieve self-understanding.

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The Athenian Masters

• Known as the Athenian masters, they
• Wrote plays in verse, based on themes familiar to
  their audiences
• Retold myths
• Rewrote history
• Ridiculed politicians

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AeschylusThe real father of tragedy

• Added 2nd actor
• Removed bloodshed from public view
• Improved costumes
• Made masks more expressive
• Established custom of competing with trilogies

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Sophocles

• Young, handsome, and athletically built
• Fond of wine and women as a youth
• Added 3rd actor
• Painted scenery
• Properly arranged scenery

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Sophocles continued

• Best known for his ability to present the
  crushing blow of catastrophe in drama
• Plots deal with the struggle of humanity versus
  irresistible march of fate.
• Improved upon Aeschylus plots, but didnt add
  new ones.
• Known as the greatest master of tragedy.

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Euripides

• A modern mind is never popular in its own day.
• Modern thinker
• Disliked by ancient audiences
• Plots were different
• Showed the ruin of war, suffering of women and
  children

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Euripides Continued

• Athletic
• Painter
• Well-educated
• Introduced women on stage, not as heroines, but
  as they are in real life.
• Didnt like the attitudes portrayed towards women
• Showed ordinary men with human failings.
• Often bitter towards women2 unhappy marriages

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Aristophanes

• Only comic
• Satirized society, politics, and even the gods
• Often found himself in legal trouble
• His favorite target was Euripides
• Only comedy writer
• His favorite target was Euripides

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Tragedy

• Fall of a great man or woman (tragic hero)

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Tragic Hero

• Fate is brought about by a flaw within his or her
  own character.
• Meant to inspire audiences to examine their own
  lives, to define their beliefs, and to cleanse
  their emotions of pity and terror through
  compassion for the character.

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Catharsis

• Cleansing of emotions through art is called
  catharsis.
• Emotional release

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Theater as Festival

• Poets competed for first prize
• Wrote and directed three tragedies and a farce
• All performed same day
• Ten judges, local citizens, selected the winner.

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Sophocles

• Won more times than anyone else
• Never placed lower than second
• Handsome and athletic
• Skilled musician

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The End