Greek Drama

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Western Civilization
Greek Theater
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The Greek Theater

• 5th Century B. C.
• Golden Age of Greek Drama
• Dramatic festivals were popular
• People witnessed tragic and comic plays

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Overview of Greek Theatre

• The land

• The myths

• The stage

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The Land

• Greece has thousands of inhabited islands and
  dramatic mountain ranges
• Greece has a rich culture and history
• Democracy was founded in Greece
• Patriarchal (male dominated) society
• Philosophy, as a practice, began in Greece
  (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle)

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The Land

• Located in Europe in the Aegean Sea

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The Land
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Overview of Greek Theatre

• The land

• The myths

• The stage

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The Stage
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The Stage
Three Main Portions of Greek Theatre Skene
Portion of stage where actors performed (included
1-3 doors in and out) Orchestra Dancing Place
where chorus sang to the audience Theatron
Seating for audience
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The Stage
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The Stage

• Greek plays were performed during religious
  ceremonies held in honor of Dionysus, the Greek
  god of wine and revelry (altars generally on
  stage)
• Banks would shut down for days, people would
  travel from all around to see the drama
  competitionseven prisoners were temporarily
  released to see the plays
• Tragedy means goat song (relates to Dionysian
  rituals)

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The Stage
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Where and how were the dramas performed?
In an amphitheatre With a chorus who described
most of the action. With masks With all the
fighting and movement going on off stage..With
tragedy first, then comedy later.
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Masks of Greek Theater
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The masks were worn for many reason including 1.
Visibility 2. Acoustic Assistance 3. Few Actors,
Many Roles 4. Characterization
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Some general categories of masks 1. OLD MEN
Smooth-Faced, White, Grizzled, Black-Haired,
Flaxen and More Flaxen 2. YOUNG MEN Common,
Curled, More Curled, Graceful, Horrid, Pale and
Less Pale 3. SLAVES Leathern, Peaked-Beard, Flat
Nose 4. WOMEN Freed Old Woman, Old Domestic,
Middle Aged, Leathern, Pale-Disheveled, Pale
Middle Aged, Whorish-Disheveled, Virgin, Girl 5.
SPECIALIST MASKS Some made for specific
characters, others for Mourning, Blindness,
Deceit, Drunkenness...etc. (The comic masks,
those especially of old comedy, were as like as
possible to true persons they represented, or
made to appear more ridiculous)
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Masks of Greek Theater
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Masks of Greek Theater
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Modern-day replicas
Hero-King
Comedy (Servant or Herald )
Tragedy (Weeping Chorus)
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Theater at Epidaurus
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Theater at Epidaurus
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Major Greek Dramatists
Aeschylus 524 B.C. Seven Against Thebes
Sophocles 496 B.C. Antigone Oedipus
Euripides 480 B.C. Medea
Dramatist Born Wrote
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Sophocles Antigone

• Set in Thebes (a city in ancient Greece)
• Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta
• Antigones brothers, Eteokles and Polyneces, took
  opposite sides in a war
• Eteokles and Polyneces killed each other in
  battle
• Antigones uncle, Kreon, became king of Thebes

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Sophocles
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Greek Comedy and Aristophanes
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Euripides Medea

• Medea is a princess from Colchis
• Medea marries Jason, who is in Colchis on a quest
  for the Golden Fleece
• Medea betrays her father and murders her brother
  for her love of Jason
• Medea has magical powers
• Jason takes Medea back to his homeland, Corinth,
  where they have children
• Jason takes another wife, the king of Corinths
  daughter

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Jasons Voyage on the Argo
Jason and Medea meet
Corinth Where Jason and Medea settle down
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Overview of Greek Theatre

• The land

• The myths

• The stage

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Myths played a key rolein Greek drama
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The Myths Why they were written

1. Explained the unexplainable
2. Justified religious practices
3. Gave credibility to leaders
4. Gave hope
5. Polytheistic (more than one god)
6. Centered around the twelve Olympians (primary
   Greek gods)

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Explained the Unexplainable

• When Echo tried to get Narcissus to love her, she
  was denied.
• Saddened, she shriveled to nothing, her existence
  melting into a rock.
• Only her voice remained.
• Hence, the echo!

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To justify religious practices

• Dionysian cults in ancient Greece were founded to
  worship Dionysus, god of grapes, vegetation, and
  wine.

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Roots in Worship of Dionysus
God of wine and revelry
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Theater of Dionysus

• Dionysia was an annual festival in honor of the
  god Dionysus
• Theater of Dionysus was an open-air Theater with
  room for fifteen thousand spectators

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Theater of Dionysus

• carved out of a stone hillside
• looked like a semicircle with steeply rising
  tiers of seats

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Theater of Dionysus
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Theater of Dionysus

• At the bottom was the rounded orchestra or
  performance area where the chorus sang and danced

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Dionysus Theater in Athens
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Theater of Dionysus

• Behind the orchestra was an open, almost bare,
  stage where actors spoke their lines from behind
  huge masks

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Dionysus Theater in Athens
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Dionysus Theater in Athens
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Theater of Dionysus

• Male actors performed all the roles
• Actors switched masks to play a number of roles
  both female and male

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Dionysus and Satyrs
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To give credibility to leaders

• Used myths to create family trees for their
  leaders, enforcing the made-up idea that the
  emperors were related to the gods and were, then,
  demigods.

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To give hope

• The ancient citizens of Greece would sacrifice
  and pray to an ORACLE.
• An oracle was a priest or priestess who would
  send a message to the gods from mortals who
  brought their requests.

Where DID hope come from? After unleashing
suffering, famine, disease, and many other evils,
the last thing Pandora let out was HOPE.
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Oracle of Delphi
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Oracle of Delphi
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Delphi
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Delphi
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Mount Olympus
Where the Olympians lived. Who are
the Olympians?
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The Olympians Are the 12 Main Gods
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The Olympians
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Zeus

• King of gods
• Heaven
• Storms
• Thunder
• lightning

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Poseidon

• Zeuss brother
• King of the sea
• Earthquakes
• Horses

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Hades

• Brother to Zeus and Poseidon
• King of the Underworld (Tartarus)
• Husband of Persphone

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Ares

• God of war

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Hephaestus

• God of fire
• Craftspeople
• Metalworkers
• Artisans

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Apollo

• God of the sun
• Music
• Poetry
• Fine arts
• Medicine

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Hermes

• Messenger to the gods
• Trade
• Commerce
• Travelers
• Thieves scoundrels

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Dionysus

• God of Wine
• Partying (Revelry)

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Hera

• Queen of gods
• Women
• Marriage
• Childbirth

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Demeter

• Goddess of Harvest
• Agriculture
• Fertility
• Fruitfulness
• Mom to Persephone

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Hestia

• Goddess of Hearth
• Home
• Community

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Athena

• Goddess of wisdom
• Practical arts
• War

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Aphrodite

• Goddess of love and beauty

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Artemis

• Goddess of hunting and the moon.

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The Storyline
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Central Character is of the Elite Class
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Central Character suffers a Downfall
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Central Character is Neither Wholly good nor
wholly evil
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Downfall is the result of a Fatal Flaw
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Misfortunes involve characters who are related or
who are friends
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Tragic actions take place offstage
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Central Character has a moment of recognition
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Audience experiences pity and fear
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Pity and Fear leads to a catharsis
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The End