Material culture

525 - 485 BC

1. Curved shape = improved acoustics

2. Rectangular orchestra = various orchestra formations

3. Temple and altar at each end of stage = significance of religion

BUT:

1. photo only from one side of the theatre

2. No indication of significance to daily life/social class

Theatre at Thorikos (3 + 2)

early 5th century - Roman times

1. Circular orchestra (20 m diameter - implies big chorus/movements) + Horseshoe shape = good acoustics + view from all seats

2. Prohedria (VIP row) w/ seat in the middle for priest = social class divide

   ALSO: Street at back from theatre to agora = Athenian involvement, significance in daily life

3. Altar and religious sanctuary next to theatre = importance of religion

4. Foundations of skene = use of backdrop

BUT:

1. No evidence of machinery

Theatre of Athens (4 + 1)

420 - 410 BC

1. ONLY ATTIC VASE TO PORTRAY AUDIENCE AND STAGE. Audience sitting on klismoi/prohedria chairs = represents elite, vs Elevated stage: raised wooden platform

2. use of props = Perseus’s sickle + bag for medusa’s head

3. Actor dancing + wearing skin-tight costume (lines on wrists and ankles) + bearded to show age

BUT:

1. No chorus/orchestra

2. no idea who is the audience (possibly Dionysus/Ariadne, choregos/playwright, judges, priests)

Perseus dance vase (3 + 2)

400ish BC

1. Use of stage and crane (Medea would’ve been suspended)

2. ekkyklema used for son’s corpses

BUT:

1. Furies not in play,

2. inaccurate to the play as sons were taken to be buried and not left on altar (maybe shows variations of myth), exaggeration of true play’s scene

3. Artistic license: Medea and Jason are looking directly at e/o, heightening the intensity of the situation; however, we have no idea if this is actually how it was portrayed

Medea’s Escape (Euripedes) (2 + 3)

380-370 BC

1. Costumes, wigs, masks

2. Wineskin as baby + bowl = PROPS

3. Male actors = crossdressing as women, dressing scene in the play, wearing female headband, shaved

4. Comedy: context of the scene (Euripedes sends an older male relative as a spy to a woman’s party)

BUT:

1. no singing/dancing

Women at the Thesmophoria (Aristophanes) (4 + 1)

500-490 BC

1. Tragic chorus dancing. Barefoot, norm for choruses

2. letters coming out of mouth = singing

3. Performing towards a statue = idol of Dionysus placed on altar = religious ritual?

4. Similar facial details = wearing masks

5. Strange costume combination = military wear with diadems instead of helmets. Also bodysuits (lines on ankles).

BUT:

1. no idea what play

Basel Dancers Vase (4 + 1)

400 BC

1. Chorus members preparing offstage. Actors have real-life names inscribed beside them

2. costumes = tightly fitting + highly patterned. Female roles played by masked men

3. masks = neutral expression

4. Aulus player = use of music

BUT:

1. We don’t know which play

Pronomos vase (actors preparing for SATYR play) (4 + 1)

450 BC

1. Tragic actors getting into costume BACKSTAGE

2. SHOWS MASK = gaping mouth for projection

3. Boots had upturned toes and thin soles to move around easily (tragedy?)

BUT:

1. Only shows two actors, unclear what play or staging

2. No singing/dancing ; overall not detailed about the play itself

Tragic actors dressing (3 + 2)

380 BC

1. Tragic figure emerges from door of skene: name above him is ‘‘Aegisthus’’ = Agamemnon, stylish clothing but serious mask expression. Other 3 figures are COMIC ACTORS (grotesque masks), names are ‘‘choregos’’. This depicts comic competition between Aegisthus and Pyrrhias (represent genres of comedy and tragedy)

2. USEFUL FOR direct comparison between costumes of tragic and comic actors w/detailed designs

3. Shows stage at bottom

4. SOUTHERN ITALY, far away from Athens, and very late

BUT:

1. unclear what’s happening, artist used artistic licence to place 2 chorus members onstage

Choregoi vase (4 + 1)

510-490 BC

1. Dancing chorus members + figure playing aulos verifies this

2. Detailed and animalistic costumes. Suggests animal choruses predated Aristophanes (his first one was Birds in 414)

3. Vines in the background = Dionysus

BUT:

1. doesn’t tell us anything about the play

2. How the chorus would perform other than dance

Birds winejug (3 + 2)

380-370 BC

1. Comic scene: Xanthias helps charon up stage

2. Costumes show age: masks have exaggerated facial expressions, exposed phalluses, padded midsections, walking sticks

3. Actor pushes ‘‘rear’’ to mime horse body = physical body

4. Shows skene and elevated platform stage

BUT:

1. We don’t know the actual play, hard to tell accuracy

Chiron vase (4 + 1)

480 BC

1. Panther skin, sacred animal of Bacchus - exotic, nature connection

2. Body suit costumes

3. prop usage

4. 75 years before Bacchae; myth (and perhaps depictions of it) predates Euripedes’ tragedy

BUT:

1. artistic license (obviously no one is actually getting pulled apart onstage)

Death of Pentheus vase (4 + 1)

330-320 BC

1. Messenger at far left: gestures to audience, faces front = implied to be giving news of Polybus. Very useful for staging/theatre positioning

2. Jocasta (right) has right hand on chin and left hand on cheek: common tragic gesture = grief/worry = this is HER anagnorisis

3. (columns of) skene visible in background

BUT:

1. possible artistic licence, Antigone and Ismene are never onstage at the same time as Jocasta

2. VERY late / potentially adaptation of Sophocles?

Oedipus (anagnorisis of JOCASTA) fragment (3 + 2)

430-420 BC

1. Maenads dance around idol of Dionysus = shows Dionysia worship. They pour libations of wine. We can see what typical Dionysian idols look like. Thyrsus of pinecone & ivy = ritual staff

2. Shows typical Maenad wear. Hair falling from shoulders = INAPPROPRIATE. Tossing head back = religious ecstasy

3. Tambourines = new, shows introduction of instrument and cult into the tradition

4. Depictions of vase same shape as vase itself = META!!

BUT:

1. doesn’t depict play at all, likely of a festival rite; doesn’t show other forms of Bacchic worship eg dance

Maenad vase (4 + 1)