Post on 07-Jan-2016
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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