Greek drama originated from religious ceremonies honoring Dionysus, the god of wine. Over time, performances evolved from a single speaker and chorus to include multiple characters. The earliest dramas were called dithyrambs, songs and chants performed at Dionysian festivals. Major playwrights like Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides competed annually with their tragedies at Athens' Festival of Dionysus. Tragedies dealt with profound themes and featured a tragic hero with a fatal flaw. Comedies and satyr plays were also performed. The theater of Dionysus in Athens could seat over 17,000 people and featured an orchestra for the chorus and masked actors.

1. Greek Drama in the
Golden Age of Athens

2. The Origin of Drama
• Likely originated from religious ceremonies and
rites associated with the Cult of Dionysus (god of
wine, celebration, and fertility)
• Early drama was seen as an act of service to the
gods, particularly Dionysus (who overturned world
and celebrated the imagination)
• Over time, theater evolved from dialogue between
one speaker and chorus to dialogue between two
characters. Sophocles added a third character.

3. • Earliest origin of drama are ancient hymns, called dithyrambs
• Dithyramb: a poem, chant, or hymn of ancient Greece sung
by revelers at the festival in honor of the god Dionysus
• Singers began acting out the action instead of just singing.
• Singer known to have stepped out of the dithyramb
chorus and act out characters was called Thespis (where
we get the noun “Thespian”)
• Thespians learned to switch between characters and
wear a mask
The Origin of Drama
Dithyrambs

4. Dionysus

5. God of wine, fertility and revelry
Considered a patron of the arts because he could
liberate and inspire man, endowing him with creativity
Dionysus

7. Festival Activities also included:
Theater (Dramatic Performances)

8. Artist’s Impression of Theater of Dionysus

9. Four Key Qualities
of Ancient Greek Drama
1. Performed for special occasions (festivals).
Athens had four festivals worshipping Dionysus.
2. Competitive—prizes were awarded. Actors and
playwrights competed.
3. Choral—there was singing. The chorus sang,
moved, and danced, moving the story along.
Chorus often spoke for the conscience of the
community
4. The stories were based on myth or history

10. Classical Drama as a Civic Institution
As democracy flourished, tragedies enacted political
engagement of the city by exploring concerns about…
• the polis (city-state)
• the role of the gods
• individual will and responsibility
• mortality and fate
• heroism and leadership
• family and marriage
• rhetoric
• justice and righteousness
• passion and suffering

11. Types of Greek Drama
• Tragedy—dramas based on heroic myth.
Typically drawn from the epic cycle and
concerned the gods and heroes of distant past
• Comedy—less serious; fantastic plots not
limited to those based on heroic myths
• Satyr Plays—form of tragicomedy, similar in
spirit to bawdy satire. Short plays performed
between acts of tragedies.

12. Greek Tragedies
• Tragedies dealt with love, loss,
pride, the abuse of power
• Portrayed the often fraught
relationships between men
and gods.
• Provided stories about human
relationships, often with violent
and melodramatic plots
• Raise questions about
profound issues (justice,
suffering, family vs. state,
righteousness, etc.) Chorus of Woman in a
modern adaptation of Electra

13. Greek Tragedies
• The word “tragedy” means “goat song” (origin in songs
sung as a goat sacrifice?)
• Presented in song and dance; choral songs & dialogue
• Plots were based on classical epics; myths and stories of
the distant past
• Often feature a protagonist with a “tragic flaw” (error,
mistake, or failing)
• Speakers were always male actors (wore masks)
• The Chorus, a collective being more like the assembly of
citizens, sang in elevated language of the archaic age.

14. Greek Theaters
The Theater of Dionysus in Athens

15. Formal dimensions
of theater
Not just words on the
page. Music, gestures,
costumes, props, and
visual effects had as
much effect on audience

18. deus ex machina
(“god from the machine”)

19. The Greek Chorus
a group of actors who comment with a collective voice upon the
main action of a play through song, dance, and recitation.

20. Facts about the Chorus
• Composed of 12 (later 15) masked dancers
• Only one leader had a speaking role
• Choral passages composed in complex meters,
designed to be sung
• Chorus sets mood—adds movement, spectacle,
song, dance
• Chorus serves as an agent: gives advice, etc.
• Chorus often spoke for the conscience of the
community
• Sets up a standard by which action will be
judged and adjudicated

21. Strophe and Antistrophe
The strophe is a choral song chanted while the chorus
dances in a counter-clockwise direction around the
orchestra.
The antistrophe is a choral song chanted while the
chorus dances in a clockwise direction around the
orchestra.

22. Electra and Chorus
Electra
strophe
Ah, noble-hearted maidens, you have come to soothe my
woes. I know and feel it, it escapes me not; but I cannot leave
this task undone, or cease from mourning for my hapless father.
Ah, friends whose love responds to mine in every mood, leave
me to rave thus,—Oh leave me, I entreat you!
Chorus
antistrophe
But never by laments or prayers shall you recall your father
from that lake of Hades to which all must pass. Nay, yours is a
fatal course of grief, passing ever from due bounds into a
cureless sorrow; wherein there is no deliverance from evils.
Say, wherefore art you enamoured of misery?

23. Greek Drama in the
Golden Age of Athens