THE-2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Hamartia, Choregos, Ancient Greek Comedy
Greek Theatre
Theatre beginnings
Major theories:
Emerged from ritual-
Dithyramb – oral poem, maybe singing or dancing, perhaps performers realized it would be more
interesting if they acted. Connected to tragedy
Phallic Procession- Phallus was pride, manly society, people carried mighty phalluses on sticks
Thought entertaining came forward in this via comedy
Great man theory- Whenever a great change comes about, 1 or 2 people are behind it
Thespis- first to come out and start “acting”
Aeschylus- Great tragic playwrites, makes two actors, separate and distinct dialogue from chorus
543 BC-146 BC
Artifact- vases and pottery art showed what was going on, up to us to interpret
Ruins- Parthenon, help us figure out what people were doing, what buildings meants
Primary sources- Historians, observers, some more reliable than others, many are not exact quotes but
paraphrased through the ages
Play texts-37 extant (complete) play texts that made it out of thousands, obviously these were the most
important since people saved them
Culture
Polytheism- multiple gods, Dionysus god of theatre and revelry and wine
Patriarchal- males led, made decisions, created and attended theatre
Competitive- Olympics,
Praise beauty and harmony, esp symmetry
Humanism, human body is beautiful, esp male body. Says that human being can change outcome of life
depending on decisions, but gods seem to have a lot of power over us, starts a lot of debates, theatre
used to get people talking and questioning ideas
Democracy- discussion and debate
Athens and Sparta, famous for culture and war respectively.
Theatres place and beginning
Greek Theatre “building” outdoor amphitheater, we’re not sure what they looked like when complete
Often carved out of a mountain
Entire day of theatrical performances, okay for audiences to get up, leave, eat, etc during show
10-14 thousand people in the theatres
WE don’t know what audience consisted of
info that says women were in audience, from primary source, in show something scary happened and
women miscarried. Probably metaphor, only evidence of women in audience
Athens, Theatre of Dionysus, under acropolis, center for religion and politics.
Orchestra=stage, where action happened
Theatron= viewing place, where audience was
Parados= aisles that allow actorof audience to get in out, away etc
Skene= backstage, could enter actor from roof. Made from wood, none survive
Festival
City of Dionysia
Thespiswon an acting competition, recorded on Parian Marble 534 BC
7 day festival, to Dyonisus, fertility and such
3 days parades and processions to puriy area, take sacrifices to temple
Days- 4-6 devoted to theatre
4 major playwrites, one per day, write all the plays, 3 tragedies and one Satyr (comedy)
7 day, dedicated to comedies, 5 of them
Athens connected to Dionysia
Document Summary
Dithyramb oral poem, maybe singing or dancing, perhaps performers realized it would be more interesting if they acted. Phallic procession- phallus was pride, manly society, people carried mighty phalluses on sticks. Thought entertaining came forward in this via comedy. Great man theory- whenever a great change comes about, 1 or 2 people are behind it. Thespis- first to (cid:272)o(cid:373)e out a(cid:374)d start (cid:862)a(cid:272)ti(cid:374)g(cid:863) Aeschylus- great tragic playwrites, makes two actors, separate and distinct dialogue from chorus. Artifact- vases and pottery art showed what was going on, up to us to interpret. Ruins- parthenon, help us figure out what people were doing, what buildings meants. Primary sources- historians, observers, some more reliable than others, many are not exact quotes but paraphrased through the ages. Play texts-37 extant (complete) play texts that made it out of thousands, obviously these were the most important since people saved them. Polytheism- multiple gods, dionysus god of theatre and revelry and wine.
