Ancient Greek Drama

Four Qualities of Greek Drama

• Performed for special occasions (festivals)• Competitive -- prizes awarded -- early

prizes were goats• Choral -- singing seems to have been

important part -- a chorus of men begins play by chanting an ode

• Closely associated with religion -- plays based on myth or history

Drama Developed from the Worship of Dionysus

• God the grape vine, wine making, ecstasy, death, rebirth, human & agricultural fertility

• Invented wine & spread art of tending grapes

• Good & gentle to worshippers

• Brought madness & destruction to those who opposed him

Called Bacchus by Romans

• Died each winter; reborn in spring

• Cults worshipped him in spring

• Hera had the Titans kill him, but Rhea brought him back to lifer later

• Depicted as bearded youth, wearing crown of grapes & Holding a cup of wine & often a wand

Birth of Dionysus

• Son of the god Zeus and the mortal Semele

• Semele asked Zeus to show himself and by doing so she burst into flames

• Before she died, Zeus took Dionysus from her womb

• Implanted embryo into his thigh and baby born from there

Dionysus’s Wanderings

• Wandered world showing people how to grow grapes, make & drink wine

• Once kidnapped by pirates because they thought they could ransom him

Turns Pirates into Dolphins

• Any rope that touched him fell apart• One of the men realized he was a god &

wanted to free him• Captain refused to release him & tried to

sail away, but the boat wouldn’t move• Wine vine entangled ship; Dionysus turned

into lion & chased men into sea• He turned them into dolphins

Other Happenings

• Wandered around Asia spreading vineyards and his religion with a group of satyrs and maenads

• Flayed alive the king of Damascus• Chased amazons• Turned a group of women mad and set them

loose on king Pentheus whose own mother tore his head off in the frenzy

Worship of Dionysus

• Cult religion in his honor began in Thrace around 1200 BC.

• Spread across Greece during next 600 years

• Early rituals included intoxication, orgies, human and animal sacrifices.

• At first women primary worshippers, called maenads.

• Maenads would go into forest, wear animal skins

Rituals of the Cult

• Play music and dance about wildly

• May eat raw animal meat• Men dressed as satyrs,

half man, half goat, sometimes would join

• Celebration is half wild party, half holy communion with nature, which represented Dionysus

Rituals Evolved into Drama

• Cults created controversy and towns outlawed them

• Athens embraced the cult and created more civilized ceremonies

• By 600 BC the rites were practiced every spring throughout Greece

Dithyramb Beginnings of Drama

• The rituals began with a dithyramb, an ode to Dionysus, which a chorus of 50 sang

• 50 men dressed as satyrs would play music and dance around a statue of Dionysus chanting

• Some accounts say they wore phallus-like headgear

Early Drama

• From odes, evolved drama about 600 BC

• Arion of Mehtymna credited with recording first dithyramb

• Thespis, father of drama, added an actor (himself) to interact with chorus

• 534 BC, celebration included a drama competition which Thespis won

• The competition included three tragedies and one satyr play

• Tragedy designed to teach a religious lesson• Tragedy derives from Greek words for goat

and song• Satyr plays ridiculed gods & heroes • Satyr plays shorter in length and used every

day & colloquial language• Only one exists in full today Cyclops by

Euripides

Amphitheatres Constructed

• Around 484 BC, governments built large open-air theaters

• 3 minimal requirements: built into a hill, provide good view, offer flat performance area

• Largest one 17,000 seats

Parts of the Theatron

• ikria - wooden seats for spectators

• orchestra - circular performance area

• thymele - alter where sacrifice occurred

• logeion - raised stage• Skene - dressing room &

backdrop• Parados - hallway for

arrivals and departures

Parts of Ancient Theaters

Producing Ancient Drama

• Two mechanical devices.

• Ekkyklema - a wheeled cart used to show the results of events that happened off stage

• Mechane - a crane device used to give actors the appearance of being a god, angel or spirit leaving earth

• All actors were men wearing large masks which helped identify sex, age, social status of characters

Aeschylus, the First Playwright

• Turned the dithyramb into drama

• Added a second actor

• introduced props and scenery

• reduced chorus from 50 to 12

Sophocles

• Born around 495 BC in Colonus, Greece

• Died 406 BC

• Wrote more than 120 plays, but only 7 remain today

• Won 1st prize 24 times in festival

• Ideas for plays derived from myths

• Won first place for the first time at age 28.

• When he was 90, his son Iophon wanted to have him ruled mentally incompetent so that he could gain control of the family estate.

• Sophocles read part of his new play, Oedipus at Colonus, and the jury dismissed the case.

• Famous for Oedipus trilogy: King Oedipus (2) , Oedipus at Colonus (3), Antigone (1)

Major Contributions

• Added painted scenery • Increased the size of the chorus from 12

people to 15 people• Increased the number of actors from 2 to 3• Plays emphasize drama between humans

rather than between humans and gods• Plays are about the folly of arrogance and

the wisdom of accepting fate

Structure of Greek Drama

• Prologue – gives background of story, usually performed by single actor

• Parados – entrance of the chorus, usually chanting a lyric which has relation to theme

• Episode – Usually have 4 similar to acts • First Stasimos – choral ode at end of each

episode• Exodos – ceremonial exit of players

The Story of Oedipus

• King Laius of Thebes marries Jocasta

• Oracle warns that their new son would kill his father & marry mom

• To avoid this, Lauis pierces baby’s feet & tells a shepherd to put baby on the mountain

Oedipus

• Shepherd gave baby to a herdsman of King Polyobus of Corinth who gave the baby to his king

• Polyobus raises Oedipus as his own child• As a teen Oedipus heard rumors about dad• Oracle tells him about the old prediction• Oedipus leaves Corinth to escape killing

Polyobus and goes to Thebes

Oedipus Solves Riddle of the Sphinx

• On way to Thebes solves the riddle of the sphinx which leads it to jump off a cliff

• Laius & Oedipus meet on the road and neither man would allow the other to pass

• Oedipus kills him

Oedipus King of Thebes

• Receives a hero’s welcome at Thebes

• Citizens believe Laius was killed by robbers

• Encourage him to marry Jocasta

• They have four children: Antigone, Ismene,

• Eteocles, Polyneices

• Rules for many years; Plague falls on land

• Oracle because real murderer of Lauis not punished

Oedipus Finds Truth

• Learns the truth of what happened

• Blinds himself and Jocasta hangs herself

• Creon, Jocasta’s brother, banishes Oedipus

• Antigone helps her father wander the land

• No town would welcome him because of his sins

• Finally, Theseus welcomes him to Athens

Family Tree for Oedipus