GREEK

DRAMA
• Was the crowning glory of the
Athenian Age.

• The three genres of drama

were comedy, satyr plays, and most
important of all, tragedy. Comedy:
The first comedies were mainly
satirical and mocked men in
power for their vanity and
foolishness.

• Greek drama is also important during

their time took their entertainment
very seriously and used drama as a
Greek Drama has been called by
different terms:
Age Of Pericles Golden Age

Athenian Age
•In the drama , the
poets become the
characters.

•Gestures by a
narrator of an
orator may be
considered dramatic.
Aeschylus Sophocles Euripides
The greatest writer
of comedy

Aristophanes
 Epic Poetry
• Belongs to a period when the minds of the people
were deeply influenced by legends handed down
from antiquity.

 Lyric Poetry
• Developed in a more republican form of
government.

 Dramatic Poetry
• Appeared as an expression of the summit Greek
civilization in the very prime of Athenian power and
freedom.
Example of EPIC POETRY
• It has dignity , nobility and power.
• The Greek drama was cut up into
situations or episodes and between
these episodes were choral
recitations of great length.
• The choruses were visually
attractive.
 Greek Tragic Hero
The greek tragic hero was purposely
made taller and larger than ordinary
man. He wore very high-heeled shoes
and his face seemed very large
because of his tragic mask.
• The classical Greeks valued the power
of spoken word, and it was their main
method of communication and
storytelling. Bahn and Bahn write, "To
Greeks the spoken word was a living
thing and infinitely preferable to the
dead symbols of a written language."
Socrates himself believed that once
something has been written down, it
lost its ability for change and
growth. For these reasons, among many
others, oral storytelling flourished
in Greece.
• Greek tragedy as we know it was
created in Athens around the time
of 532 BC, when Thespis was the
earliest recorded actor. Being a
winner of the first theatrical
contest held in Athens, he was
the exarchon, or leader,[4] of
the dithyrambs performed in and
around Attica, especially at the
rural Dionysia.
• By Thespis' time, the dithyramb had
evolved far away from its cult
roots. Under the influence of heroic
epic, Doric choral lyric and the
innovations of the poet Arion, it
had become a narrative, ballad-like
genre. Because of these, Thespis is
often called the "Father of
Tragedy"; however, his importance is
disputed, and Thespis is sometimes
listed as late as 16th in the
chronological order of Greek
tragedians.
• The dramatic performances were important
to the Athenians – this is made clear by
the creation of a tragedy competition and
festival in the City Dionysia. This was
organized possibly to foster loyalty among
the tribes of Attica (recently created by
Cleisthenes). The festival was created
roughly around 508 BC. While no drama
texts exist from the sixth century BC, we
do know the names of three competitors
besides Thespis: Choerilus, Pratinas, and
Phrynichus. Each is credited with
different innovations in the field.
• Until the Hellenistic period, all
tragedies were unique pieces written
in honour of Dionysus and played
only once, so that today we
primarily have the pieces that were
still remembered well enough to have
been repeated when the repetition of
old tragedies became fashionable
(the accidents of survival, as well
as the subjective tastes of the
Hellenistic librarians later in
Greek history, also played a role in
what survived from this period).
• Ancient Greek Theatre Playwrights Aeschylus
Aristophanes Euripides Sophocles The Greek
theatre history began with festivals honoring
their gods. A god, Dionysus, was honored with
a festival called by "City Dionysia".

• In Athens, during this festival, men used to

perform songs to welcome Dionysus. Plays were
only presented at City Dionysia festival.
Athens was the main center for these
theatrical traditions. Athenians spread these
festivals to its numerous allies in order to
promote a common identity.
FRONT VIEW
• At the early Greek festivals,
the actors, directors, and
dramatists were all the same
person. After some time, only
three actors were allowed to
perform in each play. Later few
non-speaking roles were allowed
to perform on-stage. Due to
limited number of actors
allowed on-stage, the chorus
evolved into a very active part
of Greek theatre. Music was
• Comedy, and satyr plays were the theatrical
forms. Tragedy and comedy were viewed as
completely separate genres.

• Satyr plays dealt with the mythological

subject in comic manner. Aristotle's Poetics
sets out a thesis about the perfect structure
for tragedy.

• Tragedy plays Thespis is considered to be the

first Greek "actor" and originator of tragedy
(which means "goat song", perhaps referring to
goats sacrificed to Dionysus before
performances, or to goat-skins worn by the
performers.) However, his importance is
disputed, and Thespis is sometimes listed as
late as sixteenth in the chronological order
of Greek tragedians
• Aristotle's Poetics contain the
earliest known theory about the
origins of Greek theatre. He says
that tragedy evolved from
dithyrambs, songs sung in praise of
Dionysus at the Dionysia each year.

• The dithyrambs may have begun as

frenzied improvisations but in the
600s BC, the poet Arion is credited
with developing the dithyramb into a
formalized narrative sung by a
chorus.
• Three well-known Greek
tragedy playwrights of the
fifth century are Sophocles,
Euripides and Aeschylus.
Comedy plays Comedy was also
an important part of ancient
Greek theatre. Comedy plays
were derived from imitation;
there are no traces of its
origin. Aristophanes wrote
most of the comedy plays.
• Out of these 11 plays
survived - Lysistrata,
a humorous tale about
a strong woman who
leads a female
coalition to end war
in Greece. The
theaters were large,
open-air structures
constructed on the
slopes of hills. They
consisted of three
main elements: the
orchestra, the skene,
and the audience.
• Orchestra: A large circular or rectangular
area at the center part of the theatre,
where the play, dance, religious rites,
acting used to take place. Skene: A large
rectangular building situated behind the
orchestra, used as a backstage. Actors
could change their costumes and masks.
Earlier the skene was a tent or hut, later
it became a permanent stone structure
• These structures were sometimes
painted to serve as backdrops.
Rising from the circle of the
orchestra was the audience. The
theatres were originally built on
a very large scale to accommodate
the large number of people on
stage, as well as the large
number of people in the audience,
up to fourteen thousand. Acting
The cast of a Greek play in the
Dionysia was comprised of
amateurs, not professionals (all
male).
• Ancient Greek actors had to gesture grandly so
that the entire audience could see and hear the
story. However most Greek theatres were cleverly
constructed to transmit even the smallest sound to
any seat. They also have to louden their voices.
• Costumes and Masks The actors were
so far away from the audience that
without the aid of exaggerated
,costumes and masks.

• The masks were made of linen or

cork, so none have survived. Tragic
masks carried mournful or pained
expressions, while comic masks were
smiling or leering. The shape of the
mask amplified the actor's voice,
making his words easier for the
audience to hear.
 GREEK
DRAMATISTS
• Aeschylus was born in c. 525 BC in
Eleusis, a small town about 27
kilometers northwest of Athens, which
is nestled in the fertile valleys of
western Attica, though the date is
most likely based on counting back
forty years from his first victory in
the Great Dionysia. His family was
wealthy and well established; his
father, Euphorion, was a member of
the Eupatridae, the ancient nobility
of Attica, though this might be a
fiction that the ancients invented to
account for the grandeur of his
plays.
• Aeschylus was a poet by profession and
he was regarded by the Athenians as
the father of tragedy. He is reputed
to have written seventy tragedies, but
only seven have come down to us. He is
called the theological poet because
his plays had great spiritual and
religious fervor; he presents the
original dignity and greatness of
nature and of humankind. His greatest
work is considered to be Prometheus.
The Hero of this play, a Titan, was
chained and tortured on a rock in the
Caucasus because he had, against the
explicit orders of Zeus, given the
humanity the gift of fire
• A Brief Summary: It all
starts when Prometheus
steals fire from Zeus,
king of the gods, to
give to mankind.
Apparently this isn't
cool, and Zeus is so
mad that he chains
Prometheus up and
inflicts on Man the
worst thing he can
think of: Woman. (Yeah,
this was pre-feminism.)
• Aside from Prometheus, he
also wrote the trilogy
Oresteia, Which is
composed of the three
plays: Agamemnon,
Cheophori (Library
pourers, and Eumenides
(The FURIES).
• Sophocles, the son of Sophilus, was a
wealthy member of the rural deme (small
community) of Hippeios Colonus in Attica,
which was to become a setting for one of
his plays, and he was probably born there.
Sophocles was born a few years before the
Battle of Marathon in 490 BC: the exact
year is unclear, although 497/6 is the
most likely. Sophocles was born into a
wealthy family (his father was an armour
manufacturer) and was highly educated.
• It is said that for twelve years he
trained himself and studied to
become a playwright. One hundred
plays followed his first victory. In
all he won eighteen first prizes; he
never placed lower than second
prize.He was a remarkable person.

• Sophocles died at the age of ninety

or ninety-one in the winter of 406/5
BC, having seen within his lifetime
both the Greek triumph in the
Persian Wars and the bloodletting of
the Peloponnesian War.
• Euripides was born at Salamis in 480bc and
died at Macedonia in 406bc(age
approximately 74). He is one of the three
ancient Greek tragedians along with
Aeschylus and Sophocles. Partly his
popularity grew as theirs declined, he
bacame a corner stone of ancient literary
education in the Hellenistic age.

• Works: Medea, 431 BC Hippolytus, 428 BC

Electra, c. 420 BC The Trojan Women, c.
415 BC Bacchae, 405 BC.
• Aristophanes (446-380 b.c) He was the
master of greek comedy and he typically
belonged to his people and to his age.

• It was not easy to appreciate him

correctly.

• The intention of Aristophanes was to

attack the faults and weaknesses of
society.

• His stinging wit created fantastic

comedies exposing even the latest gossip
publicly.
• The main actors in his comedies
wore comical clothes, tight on
the legs , very short coats
with tattered sleeves.

• Animal figures or insects

formed the chorus thats why
many of the titles of his plays
are derived from the costume of
the chorus such as The Birds
and The Wasps
• The surviving plays
of Aristophanes, in
chronological order spanning a
period from 425 to 388 BCE, are:

• “The Acharnians” ,
• “The Knights”
• “The Clouds”
• “The Wasps”
• “Peace”
• “The Birds”
• History of Peloponnesian War The
Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.)
took place between the Athenian
empire and Peloponnesian league
lead by the Spartans. The
Peloponnesian league was a
coalition of the Thebes, Corinth
and Sparta. The war was divided
into 3 phases: The Archidamian
War, The Sicilian war and The
Ionian or Decelean War. .
• The Peloponnesian War
remodeled the entire Greek
state. The Athenian empire,
which was a stronger side
prior to the war, was reduced
to a mere vulnerable slave of
Sparta. After the war, Sparta
was the ruling state of
Greece. The war destroyed the
economies and brought poverty
and sufferings to the state.
• Athens & Sparta, both powerful
Greek cities, had fought as
allies in the Greco-Persian
Wars between 499 and 449 B.C.
Athens grew more powerful and
tensions rose, escalating into
nearly 30 years of war. The
Spartans won while Athens being
bankrupt. After heroic roles in
the defeat of the Persians
(480-479 B.C.), for the next
half-century Athens and Sparta
assumed superiority among the
• Thucydides, a contemporary
historian, believed that the
war broke out because of
Spartan fear of the rising
power of Athens, whose empire
and capital increasingly
isolated less imaginative and
less adventurous rivals. Both
were unusually powerful,
unusual and unlike Greek states
that could afford to ignore the
old rules of infantry warfare.
 •The majority of
its citizens were
not infantrymen
and increasingly
saw the navy as
the bulwark of
radical democracy.
• The Spartans’ best ally was the
unforeseen outbreak of plague inside
the cramped walls of Athens, which
killed Pericles and nearly one
quarter of the citizenry. With
stalemate in Attica, both
belligerents turned to a variety of
secondary theaters throughout the
Aegean world and Asia Minor, as
Sparta tried to turn Athenian
subjects, and Athens in turn sowed
insurrection among the Helots.
• And–disastrous for both
sides–all apparently were
incapable of ending an
engagement decisively
through a day’s destruction
or humiliation of an
enemy’s forces in the
field.
• Nearly three decades of
constant fighting left Athens
bankrupt, exhausted, and
demoralized. But Sparta and its
allies were in no position to
maintain an even harsher
military hegemony over Greece.
In the detritus of the
Peloponnesian War, the agrarian
fighting of the old polis was
ended. Warfare now meant
expansion of conflict onto a
variety of costly and deadly
•The Greek genius was
freed to apply
capital, technology,
and manpower to war
without ethical
restraint, but in the
process the old idea
of a city-state was
lost.
• Our form of government does not
enter into rivalry with the
institutions of others. Our
constitution does not copy the
laws of our neighbors, but is
an example to them. Our system
of government is called a
democracy because power is in
the hands not of a minority but
of the whole people.
• If we look to the laws, they afford
equal justice to all in their
private differences, but the claim
of excellence is also recognized;
and when one person is in any way
distinguished, he is preferred to
the public service, not as a matter
of privilege, but the ability which
possesses. No one, so long as he has
it in him to be of service to the
state, is kept in political
obscurity because of poverty.
• We Athenians regard
wealth as something to be
properly used, rather
than as something to
boast about. As for
poverty, no one need be
ashamed to admit: the
real shame is in not
taking practical measures
• We believe that happiness depends on
being free, and freedom depends on
being courageous. The freedom which
we enjoy in our government extends
also to our ordinary life. In our
private lives we are free and
tolerant, but in public affairs we
keep to the law. This is because it
commands our deep respect. We are
prevented from doing wrong by
respect for the magistrates and for
the laws, especially those which are
for the protection of the oppressed,
and those unwritten laws which it is
an acknowledged shame to break.
• Our city is thrown open to the
world, though and we never expel a
foreigner and prevent him from
seeing or learning anything of which
the secret if revealed to an enemy
might profit him. This is because we
rely, not on secret weapons, but on
our own real courage and loyalty.
And in the matter of education,
whereas they from early youth are
always undergoing laborious
exercises which are to make them
brave, we live at ease, and yet are
equally ready to face the perils
which they will face.
• Here each individual is
interested not only in his
own affairs but in the
affairs of the state as
well: even those who are
mostly occupied with their
own business are extremely
well-informed on general
politics this is a
peculiarity of ours: we do
not say that a man who takes
• We Athenians do not consider
the discussion as an
obstacle to political
action, but as an
indispensable premise to act
wisely and responsible. We
are capable at the same time
of taking risks and of
estimating them beforehand.
Others are brave out of
ignorance; and, when they
• But the man who can most truly be
accounted brave is he who best knows
the meaning of what is sweet in life
and of what is terrible, and then
goes out undeterred to meet what is
to come. In short, I have sung the
praises of Athens, the city that I
ensure to be the school of Hellas,
but it was the courage of the
individual Athenian and the power of
adapting himself to the most varied
forms of action with the utmost
versatility and grace, which made
her splendid.