Greek Drama and the Hellenic Age

I.  Hellenic Age: 600-300

II.  Religious Festival and the Development of Greek drama
Dionysus
 
  • mythic origins:  son of Zeus and Semele--more on this in Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3
  • associations:  wine, wild nature, sexuality, surrender of identity, ecstatic possession, dance, masks and disguise
  • does not appear in Homer, but evidence of his cult survives from the Mycenean period
Dionysia
 
  • festivals of Dionysus:  Rural Dionysia (December), Great Dionysia (March)
  • festivities included processions moving the statue of Dionysus from the temple to the theater and the presentation of comedies, tragedies, and satyr plays
  • three poets were chosen and each presented a trilogy of tragedies and a satyr play; awards were given to the winning playwright and, later, to the best actor.

    • wealthy citizens filled the civic role of choregoi, patrons of dramatic productions
    Theaters
     
    • plays were performed outside on the southern slope of the Acropolis near the temple of Dionysus
    • the earliest remains on the site appear to date from the sixth century, when Pisistratus was influential in initiating the Great Dionysia
    • the theater was rebuilt in the fifth century, perhaps by Pericles

      • the theater consisted of an orchestra, where the chorus stood and performed, the theatron, the benches circling the orchestra where the audience sat; the thymele or altar of Dionysus; a stage at the back of the orchestra; and behind it the skene, which housed dressing rooms.
     III.  Aeschylus and Attic Tragedy
    Life