2. Theatre of
Dionysus

3. Revelry-filled Festivals
Religious contests were for prizes.
Men dressed in rough goat skin.
Plays were only presented at one of the
four annual festivals in Athens, City
Dionysia.
Many tribes competed for prizes and the
honor of winning the contest.

4. In Athens four festivals were
organized to honor the god,
Dionysus:
1.Small Dionyssia—end of
December
2.Lenea in January- worship
occurred at the festival, but it may
have been in honor of Dionysus as a
youth, or the rebirth of Dionysus
after his murder by the Cyclops.
3.Anthesteria in February
4.Great Dionyssia in March

5. •During Small Dionyssia some old
plays were performed.
•Tragic contests were organized
during the Lenea and Great
Dionyssia.
•New tragedies were performed
during the Great Dionyssia.

6. •The celebration lasted six days.
•Day one—the sacred parade.
•Days two and three—dithyrambic
dancing contests held.
•Days four, five, six drama contests
occurred.

7. Only three The chorus
poets were was paid by
allowed to wealthy
participate. Athenians.
Poets were A few days
allowed to before the
have three contest, 500
hypocrits judges (50 from
(actors). each tribe) were
Archon chosen.
chose the The contests
poets, who began with
were paid by sunrise.
the state, as Three
were the tragedies and
hypocrits. one satyric
drama.

8. The 50-man chorus sang hymns to
Dionysus, first swaying one way, then the
other.
In 534 B.C. Thespis, the first actor stepped
out of the chorus and spoke as a god, rather
than about a god.
With this action, the concept of dialogue
began; thus, the birth of drama.
Thespis is called the “father of drama.”

9. •“Father of Greek tragedy”(goat-song)
•Introduces 2nd actor--creates dialogue
•Wrote 90 plays--7 have survived history
•From suffering, comes wisdom
•The working of divine justice (gods)
•Punishment is inevitable for disobeying the
gods
•Excessive pride creates human
tragedy
•Self-will is destructive

10. • Three actors produce -conflict
• Masterful use of dramatic irony
• Complex human characters
• Uses the reversal of fortunes
• Accepts the ways of the gods
• Fall of great people through character
flaws
• Stresses emotions
• Innocent people suffer
• Arrogance, pride, sin leads to disaster.

11. •Complex plots
•Employed deus ex machina (god by
machine)
•Psychological drama-not fate or divine
power
•Introduced love themes
•Conflict of human emotions between
characters or within one character
•Epic hero reduced to ordinary hero
•Emphasis on human weakness
•Made female characters more important

14. Diazoma
A passage
separating tiers of
seats in theatre
Koilon
A section of
seating
Parados
The procession of
the chorus going
in and out of the
theatre.

15. Proscenion
The part in front of the
skene (scene). Scenery
was painted on it.
Scene
The action occurred
in front and
eventually lifted for
a stage. There were
one to three doors
where actors could
change costumes.
Orchestra
A large circular area
where chorus danced
and later acted.

16. •Performed outdoors during daylight
•New tragedies performed for three
days, comedy one day
•Satyr plays: comedy performed
after tragedy (chorus of satyrs)
•Religious ceremony
•Attendance required
•Produced by Polis as function of
Polis three times a year.
•No intermission
•Prizes for winning poet
•Gave significance to suffering
•Admission free or nominal fee

18. Unity of place--few if any change of
scenery.
Unity of time--usually only one day
Single action--no subplots
Three actors took different roles--only
three actors on stage.
Nemesis=destruction
Hubris=excessive (obdurate) pride

19. Hero unconscious of his fate
Bloody events occurred
offstage, but chorus reported
the incident to the audience.
Concern for meaning
Audience identifies with issues
on stage
Results in catharsis or purging
of emotions.
Religious in nature

20. Western Civilization is indebted to the Greeks for many things;
they taught us to examine our hearts and then to share it in a
way that we could talk about it, through drama.