1. The Origin of Greek Drama  religious celebration  song and dance  dancing choruses  sang hymns of praise to the god  competing for prizes

2. The Worship of Dionysus  Dionysus: --- a vegetation deity especially associated with the vine vine --- wine --- freedom and ecstatic joy --- savage brutality  Dionysus vs. Apollo: ---the two struggling forces in human nature

3. The Rise of Greek Drama In late the sixth century BCE, the Athenians converted the rural celebration of Dionysus into an annual city festival ---dancing choruses competing for prizes the appearance of a masked actor: --- probably by Thepis --- playing a god or hero, engaged the chorus in dialogue

4. The Rise of Greek Drama the adding up of a second actor: --- Aeschylus the creator of tragedy --- an important breakthrough: the possibility of conflict conflict ---the prototype of drama

5. The Rise of Greek Drama  The appearance of the third actor  Sophocles  A further step toward the maturity of Greek drama

6. The Rise of Greek Drama  the more sophisticated form --- time: 5th century BC --- Dionysia

7. The Maturity of Greek Drama  Time & place: late March in Athens  Play competition: --- 3 days --- 3 tragic poets selected earlier present a tetralogy: 3 tragedies and a satyr play tetralogy: 3 tragedies and a satyr play

8. Historical Background  The defeat of the Persian invaders (480- 479 BC)  Location: only in Athens--the supreme power in the Greek world

9. The Structure of Play Production  the poet’s various jobs: --- playwright --- production --- casting (actors; chorus; musicians) --- music composing

10. The Structure of Play Production  The mature form: 3 actors with chorus  subject matter: mythology  drawback: no suspense  strength or feature: the poet’s interpretation of the character and the event

11. The structure of the theater  big size--sits 17000 people  good acoustic  structure: --- costumes: masks and elaborate costumes costumes --- actors: male, competent singers/dancers

12. The structure of the theater  Orchēstra: dancing area  Skēnē: a wooden building on the platform  Ekkuklēma: trolley (thing that rolls out)  Mechanē: (machine or device) a pulley system that allowed for the appearance an disappearance of actors in the air, above the Skēnē building.

14. The pattern of dialogue Agon (“contest”; “struggle”): one character makes a long, sometimes legalistic speech, arguing a particular case, and a second character replies with another speech, putting the case against. Stichomythia (“line-speech”): characters speak just a single line each—a fast-paced exchange

15. The chorus  Members: 12 or 15 masked dancers; only the leader had a speaking role

16. The role of the chorus  1) Often a group of local inhabitants -----Representing the voice of the ordinary person or the word on the street; frequently fails to get things right  2) An internal audience: the revelation of inner thoughts  3) characters themselves

17. The role of the chorus  4) broadening the perspective of events: take us back in time or tracing parallels between this story and others  5) reflecting on the ethical, theological, and metaphysical implications of the events at hand  Providing a break from the main narrative, a switch to an entirely different mood or perspective

18. The role of the chorus  Choral songs can increase the dramatic tension or surprise, as when a cheerful, optimistic song is followed by a disaster

19. A basic code  Little visible horror

20. Greek religious philosophy  Athenians of this age saw no necessary connection between relision and morality.

21. The Theater  the costs: ---sponsored by appointed wealthy citizen  admission: ---originally free, later on charged; the poor sponsored by government