Athenian Theatre

TRAGEDY
Prepared by: BABAS, Quinea S.

ORIGIN
The exact origin of Tragedy has been a long debate between scholars. Some

may argue that Tragedy indeed began in Athens, to the earlier art form, the lyrical

performance of epic poetry. Others may suggest a strong link between rituals

performed in the worship of Dionysus such as the sacrifice of goats- a song ritual called

“trag-odia” and the wearing of masks. However with the following discussion, we will be

focusing on the rituals that contributed to the origin of Tragedy (Allen, 1966, p.13).

The Ritual Theory Rituals that celebrated Dionysus spread through Greece and

the most popular was involved by a procession to Athens where worshippers carried a

phallus called dithyramb (improvisational song and dance) in praise of Dionysus. Men

provided with goat like horns, ears, hoofs, and tails and clad in a goatskin in imitation of

Dionysus’ attendant sprites, the Satyrs. Came from the word “tragoida”; “tragos” means

goat and “oidos” means song.

Defined by its function: Group of plays performed in the contest at the festival in

the city, or polis, of Athens called the Great or City Dionysia, in honor of the god

Dionysos Eleuthereus.

Aristotle’s Theory The earliest account is Aristotle’s Poetics, written in 355 BCE. He

claimed that “tragedy was produced by the authors of the dithyrambs, and comedy

from [the authors] of the phallic songs.”

 According to Aristotle, (Rabinowitz, 2008, p 14), tragedy imitates an action thus,

an actor is needed to imitate someone better, not worse than the audience. For

Aristotle, Greek tragedy focuses on the story; the characters are there for the sake of

the action, not vice versa. Moreover, he emphasizes two elements of the plot that

make for tragedy; (a) overturn or change in fortune (b) recognition eg. Oedipus

Tyrannos (blinds himself when realizes who he is). Tragedy was improvisational by origin.

Greeks are the originators of drama. They are the first ones to develop the form.

They considered theatre as one tool whereby man defines and understands his world or

one whereby he escapes from unpleasant realities.

DIONYSUS

 God of wine and of exuberant life

 God of Theatre
 God of mysteries
 Defines definition
 Elusive god
 God who instills ritual madness
 Supposedly the son of Zeus (the greatest of Greek gods) and Semele (a
mortal)
 Dionysus was killed, dismembered and then resurrected.

FESTIVALS
The basic purpose of DionysianSs
worship - the inducement of fertility – remained
unchanged.

A. The City Dionysia (around the end of March) – It was instituted in honour of
Dionysus Eleuthereus, whose image has been brought to Athens to Elutherai,
on the borders of Attica and Boeotia, and it stood in the older temple of
Dionysus within the theatre precinct.
- with performances of dramatic and lyric poetry
- open to the whole Hellenictic world
 - an effective advertisement of the wealth and power and public spirit of
Athens, no less than of the artistic and literary leadership of her sons.
B. Rural Dionysia/ The Lesser Dionysia (in December)- the central feature was a
procession escorting a phallus held aloft, and this was no doubt in origin
designed to promote or encourage the fertility og the autumn-sown seed or
of the earth in general, at the time when it seemed to be slumbering. It does
not have anything directly anything to do with wine.
C. Anthesteria (around the end of February)- celebrated wine and the dead;
oldest of the festivals of Dionysus at Athens; the name of the Anestheria is
connected with the ritual wearing of a crown of flowers by boys and girls who
were just passing out of infancy, a rite of blessing which has parallels in other
Indo-european cultures.
a. Pithoigia
- literally means, the opening of the pithoi (storage jars)
- people gathered on this day at the Sanctuary of Dionysus in Limnais, but
did not enter it, and opened the pithoi that contained the wine made
from the last autumn’s grapes.
b. The Choes
- Main day of the Anthesteria
- The name refers to the shape of the vessels from which the wine was
drunk, the chous.
- On this day city-wide drinking of wine at private parties occurred.
c. The Chytroi
- Named after the pots that were filled with a porridge-like mixture that was
dedicated to Hermes Cthonios by individual families on this day.

Terms and Concepts

 Aeschylus- is the earliest dramatist whose plays have survived; has a trilogy called

“Oresteia”, one of the great monuments of dramatic literature; introduced the 2nd

actor which allowed face-to-face conflict for the first time.

 Aesychlus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes and Menander- the only five writers

who wrote a play

 Catharsis - In literature and art, a purification of emotions. The Greek philosopher

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) used the term to describe the effect on the audience of a
 tragedy acted out on a theater stage. This effect consists in cleansing the audience

of disturbing emotions, such as fear and pity, thereby releasing tension.

 Choregoi- bore the expense of the choruses

 Choregus- appointed for each dramatist; pays for the training of the chorus, their

costumes, the musicians, the supernumetary actors and their costumes, and for the

scenery.

 Choreutae- members of the chorus/ sometimes called tragoi Greek word for goats.

 Chorus- consisted of Satyrs (forest God in Greek; half men half goat); the principal

unifying force in this early drama

 Dithyrambs- hymns to Dionysus sung and danced by choruses of fifty.

 Epigenes of Sicyon, the first tragic poet, Thespis being second. (Thespis, Solon,

Diogenes).

 Euripedes- last of the great Greek Tragedians; have written 92 plays in which 17

tragedies have survived; won only 5 victories in the tragic contests; reduced the role

of the chorus in his works until its connections with the rest of the play was often

vague; with his death, the great era of Greek tragedy came to an end.

 Hamartia - Character flaw or judgment error of the protagonist of a Greek tragedy.

Hamartia is derived the Greek word hamartanein, meaning to err or to make a

mistake. The first writer to use the term was Aristotle, in The Poetics.

 Hybris or Hubris - Great pride. Hybris often is the character flaw (hamartia) of a

protagonist in Greek drama.

 Key elements of Tragedy: prologue, parados, episode, stasimon and exodus

 Only 45 plays survived: 32 tragedies, 12 comedies and 1 satyr play

 Pegasos- a missionary of the cult of the god

 Sophocles- the greatest of the Greek dramatist; introduced the third actor and thus

allowed for still greater dramatic complexity than had been possible with 2 actors;

acted in his own plays as well

 The Cyclops- the only complete satyr play that now exists

 There were 10 choruses each year, 5 men and 5 boys.

 Thespians- performers

 Thespis- first actor; won the first contest

REFERENCES:

Allen, J.T. (1966). The Greek theatre of the fifth century before Christ. New York:
Haskell House Publisher of Scholarly Books.

Rabinowitz, N.S. (2008). Greek tragedy. Australia: Blackwell Publishing.

Brockett, O. (1964). The theatre: An introduction third edition. New York: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston Inc.

Brockett, O. (1964). The theatre: An introduction fourth edition. New York: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston Inc.

Flickinger, R. (1960). The greek theatre and its drama. Toronto, Canada: The University of
Chicago Press.

Cambridge, A. (1968). Second edition: The dramatic festivals of Athens. Oxford:

Clarendon Press.