2. Theatre was born in Athens, Greece between
600 and 200 BC.
Ancient Athenians created a theatre
culture, and plays that are considered some
of the greatest works.
3. The theatre of Ancient Greece evolved from religious
rites which dates back to at least 1200 BC
In an area called Thrace, Greece a cult arose that
worshipped Dionysus, the god of Fertility and
procreation.
The cults most controversial practice involved
uninhibited dancing and emotional
display that was thought to created an altered
mental state.
This Altered state was known as „ecstasis‟
from which the word ecstasy is derived
from.
4. Ecstasy was an
important religious
concept to the Greeks,
who would come to see
theatre as a way of
releasing powerful
emotions through its
ritual power.
What started out as
purely religious
ceremonies to worship
and tell about the
adventure of Dionysus
evolved into theatre.
5. A essential part of the rites of
Dionysus was the dithyramb; meaning
choric hymn
This hymn about the adventures of
Dionysus would normally be accompanied by
mimic gestures and music.
It was probably performed by a chorus of about
fifty men dressed as satyrs (half man, half goat)-
servants of Dionysus.
Introduced into Athens shortly before 500 BC it
soon became a competitive subject during
festivals.
6. Soon the Dithyramb became less about
Dionysus and more about other subjects from
all periods of Greek
It was in Athens that Thespis of Attica added
an actor to interact with the chorus
during the hymn of Dionysus
From there, one actor became two
and now instead of a choric chant
you have a play.
7. Plays and Drama back than were much more
simpler than what we now have as plays.
There were normally only two or three actors
allowed on the stage at a time.
And the stage settings and costumes were
very simple
Also most actors didn‟t wear make up, but
instead used elaborately decorated mask
when acting.
8. The first of one of the most famous play writers
in Athens was Aeschylus (c. 525-456 BCE)
He wrote around seventy to ninety plays though
only seven survived.
Second was Sophocles (c. 496-406 BCE) who was
a very well know play writer and who played a
significant role in Athenian social and political
life.
Thirdly there was Euripides (c. 485-406 BCE) who
often wrote plays that were bold and irreverent.
It is thought to believe he wrote
ninety-two plays but only
nineteen survived.
9.
10. Born in 495 B.C. about a mile northwest of Athens,
Sophocles was to become one of the great
playwrights of the golden age.
11. In his first competition, Sophocles
took first prize--defeating none
other than Aeschylus himself. More
than 120 plays were to follow.
Aeschylus 525- 456
B.C
12. An accomplished
actor, Sophocles
performed in many
of his own plays.
However, his voice
was comparatively
weak, and eventually
he would give up his
acting career to
pursue other
ventures.
13. Of Sophocles' more than 120 plays, only
seven have survived in their entirety.
• Ajax (447 B.C.E. )
• Antigone (442–441 B.C.E. )
• Trachiniae (437–432 B.C.E. )
• Oedipus Rex (429 B.C.E. )
• Electra (418–414 B.C.E.
• Philoctetes (409 B.C.E. )
• Oedipus at Colonus (401 B.C.E. )
14. Ajax (447 B.C.E. )
In the hero, described as second only to Achilles, is
humiliated (reduced to a lower position in the eyes of
others) by Agamemnon and Menelaus when they
award the arms of Achilles to Odysseus. Ajax vows
revenge on the Greek commanders as well as on
Odysseus. Except, the goddess Athena makes him
believe he is attacking the Greeks when he is in fact
attacking sheep. When he realizes what he has
done, he is so upset that he commits suicide. He is
given a proper burial only after Odysseus steps in to
make it possible.
15. Antigone (442–441 B.C.E. )
The title character is a young princess whose
uncle, King Creon, has forbid her to bury her
brother Polyneices. Her brother, in attempting
to seize the throne from his brother Eteocles,
killed Eteocles in a fight and also died himself.
Antigone has been interpreted as showing the
conflict between devotion to family and
devotion to the state.
16. Trachiniae (437–432 B.C.E. )
Heracles's wife, Deianira, worries about the
fifteen-month absence of her husband. Deianira
sends him a poisoned robe that she believes
has magical powers to restore lost love. Her
son, Hyllus, and her husband denounce her
before dying, and she commits suicide. In this
play Sophocles describes the difficult situation
of the person who, without meaning to, hurts
those whom he or she loves.
17. Oedipus Rex (429 B.C.E. )
Which many have considered the greatest play of
all time, is not about sex or murder, but man's
ability to survive almost unbearable suffering.
The worst of all things happens to Oedipus:
unknowingly he kills his own father, Laius, and is
given his own mother, Jocasta, in marriage after
he slays the Sphinx. When a plague (a bacteria-
caused disease that spreads quickly and can
cause death) at Thebes forces him to consult an
oracle (a person through whom a god is believed
to speak), he finds that he himself is the cause
of the plague.
18. Electra (418–414 B.C.E. )
Sophocles's only play whose theme is similar to
those of the works of Aeschylus ( Libation
Bearers ) and Euripides (484–406 B.C.E. ; Electra
). Again Sophocles concentrates on a character
under stress: a worried Electra, anxiously
awaiting the return of her avenging
brother, Orestes.
19. Philoctetes (409 B.C.E. )
Odysseus is sent with young Neoptolemus, the
son of Achilles, to the island of Lemnos to bring
back Philoctetes with his bow and arrows to
help capture Troy. Neoptolemus has second
thoughts and refuses to deceive the old man.
Philoctetes clearly shows how man and
society can come into conflict and how society
can toss aside an individual when it does
not need him.
20. Oedipus at Colonus (401 B.C.E. )
Produced after Sophocles's death, is the longest of
his dramas. It brings to a conclusion his concern
with the Oedipus theme. Exiled by Creon, Oedipus
becomes a wandering beggar accompanied by his
daughter Antigone. He stumbles into a sacred
grove at Colonus and asks that Theseus be
summoned. Theseus arrives and promises him
protection, but Creon tries to remove Oedipus.
Theseus comes to the rescue and foils Creon. The
arrival of his son Polyneices angers Oedipus, who
curses him. Oedipus soon senses his impending
death and allows only Theseus to witness the event
by which he is changed into a hero and a saint.
21. The works of Sophocles deal with how
characters react under stress (mental
pressure). Sophocles' heroes are usually
subjected to a series of tests that they
must overcome.
22. Sophocles is credited with increasing the
number of actors with speaking parts in a
play from two to three. He raised the
number of chorus members from twelve to
fifteen and developed the use of painted
scenery. He also abandoned the practice
of presenting tragedies as trilogies (series
of three works) by instead presenting
three plays with different subjects. This
led to faster development of characters.
23. In addition to his theatrical duties, Sophocles
served for many years as an ordained priest of
Alcon and Asclepius, the god of medicine.
He served on the Board of Generals, a
committee that administered civil and military
affairs in Athens.
He was director of the Treasury, controlling
the funds of the association of states known
as the Delian Confederacy.
24. Sophocles had two
sons, Iophon and
Sophocles, by his first
wife, Nicostrata. He had a
third son, Ariston, by his
second wife, Theoris.
25. The Greek playwright
Sophocles was
responsible for several
improvements in the
presentation of drama.
His tragedies (plays in
which characters
suffer because of their
actions and usually
die) rank him among
the greatest Greek
classical dramatists.
27. Merriman, C. D. "Sophocles." The Literature Network. Jalic Inc,
2011. Web. 23 Oct 2011. <http://www.online-
literature.com/sophocles/>.
"Encyclopedia of World Biography."Sophocles Biography.
Advameg, Inc, 2011. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
<http://www.notablebiographies.com/Sc-
St/Sophocles.html>.
Denault, Leigh. “Drama: Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides”.
The Glory that was Greeece. 2003. Web. 24 Oct. 2011
http://www.watson.org/~leigh/athens.html
