This document provides an overview of classical Greek theatre from 500 BC to 500 AD. It discusses the origins of theatre in religious festivals honoring Dionysus, with performances consisting of dancing and singing dithyrambs. Over time, theatre evolved to include formal storytelling and actors. Major playwrights included Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and performances were held in large outdoor theatres. Tragedies were considered a superior form and dealt with myths and the downfall of heroes, while comedies taught through ridiculing behaviors.

1. Classical
Greek
Theatre
David A. McTier, Ph.D.

2. Peloponnesian Peninsula

3. Greco-Roman Theatres

4. 500 BC 0 500 AD 1000 AD 1500 AD 2000 AD
Aristophanes
Lysistrata
411 BC
Plautus
Pseudolus
191 BC
Terence
Phormio
161 BC
Aeschylus
Oresteia
458 BC
Sophocles
Oedipus
430 BC
Euripides
Trojan Women
415 BC
Aristotle
Poetics
323 BC
Horace
Ars poetica
24 BC
GREEKS
ROMANS

6. Greek Gods

7. Dionysus (on Amphora)

8. Amphora

9. Dionysus (Bas Relief)

10. View of the Acropolis Looking Toward the Aegean Sea

11. Development: Ikria and Skene

12. The Akropolis

15. Greek Theatre in Performance

16. Approaching the Acropolis

17. The Acropolis Today

18. Caryatids

19. Odeon of Agrippa (at Acropolis)

20. View from Acropolis to Theatre of Dionysus

21. Theatre of Dionysus

22. Epidaurus

23. Theatre at Epidaurus

25. The Orchestra

26. Parados

27. Seating and Acoustics

31. Mechane (Deus ex Machina) & Ekkyklema

32. Periaktos (Periaktoi)

33. Greco-Roman Theatres

35. Periaktos (Periaktoi)

36. tragos
DAY 1
Playwright #1
tragos
tragos
satyr play
CITY DIONYSIA (GREEK THEATRE FESTIVAL)
tragos
DAY 2
Playwright #2
tragos
tragos
satyr play
tragos
DAY 3
Playwright #3
tragos
tragos
satyr play

37. BASICS:
• theatre as part of a religious festival (City Dionysia)
• occasional & amateur
• honored Dionysus, god of wine & fertility (harvest)
• began as a competition of dances & songs (dithyrambs)
• main component is the chorus=lots of singing and dancing
• later added formal storytelling & actors (hypokritoi)
• winner would get a goat (tragos)
• funded by wealthy citizens
• state holiday=everyone attends free (except young girls)
• outdoors; daytime
• all day-long event; 5 days (agons) but middle three for theatre
• each day showcases 3 tragedies by a single playwright plus a
satyr (sex) play

38. • only men directly participate=men play women’s roles
• everyone in masks
• chorus performs in the orchestra
• audience sits in the theatron
• scenic building known as the skene
• plays based on well-known stories and myths; perfection is valued;
originality is not
• plays divided into chorus sections (odes) and actors’ scenes
(episodes)
• tragedy considered superior form of drama; separate festival for
comedy
• 3 extant writers of tragedies: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides
• 1 extant writer of comedy: Aristophanes
• 2 men writing about theatre: Plato is against it (“it’s just lies”) and
Aristotle defines it (in his Poetics)

39. TRAGEDY
• superior to comedy
• characters = gods, mythical
figures, nobility
• heightened language
(verse)
• well-known tales & myths
• value: how perfectly tale is
told
• main character has tragic
flaw (hubris), causes
unhappy ending
• catharsis = pity & fear (if bad
things can happen to good
folks, it can happen to us!)
COMEDY
• inferior form; separate festival
• everyday characters, subjects,
and themes
• use of vernacular (everyday
language)
• usually a “happy idea” that
unifies play (“We women won’t
have sex with our men until
they STOP WAGING WAR!)
• ending usually happy (but goal
of Greek comedy is NOT to
make folks laugh but to teach
but ridiculing bad behavior)

40. Satyr

41. Satyr Chasing a Nymph

42. Rehearsal of a Satyr Play (Pompeii)

43. Costumes

45. Aulos