Greek Culture and Drama Terms

Agamemnon

(Greek mythology) the king who lead the Greeks against Troy in the Trojan War(1300 BC), a king of Mycenae. His gold death mask is preserved to this day

Mycenae

An ancient Greek citadel ("lion's gate") In Homer's epic poems This place was the base of King Agamemnon, who commanded the Greeks besieging Troy. (1600 BC) Also was once a major center of Greek civilization

Clytemnestra

(Greek mythology) wife of Agamemnon who had him murdered when he returned from the Trojan War. Took another lover, Aegisthus, while Agamemnon was away

Heinrich Schliemann

Discovered Troy in Turkey. He ravaged the site so that he could prove it was Troy. He also found Mycenae in 1876.

Parnassus

sacred mountain; home of the Muses

Delphi

An ancient city in central Greece, in Phocis: site of an oracle of Apollo. The Oracle of Apollo dates back to 1400BC

Apollo

god of music, poetry, prophecy, and medicine

Pythia

(Greek mythology) the priestess of Apollo at Delphi who transmitted the oracles

Delphic Tripod

a three-legged piece of religious furniture used in offerings and other ritual procedures. This object was where the Pythian priestess took her seat to deliver the oracles of the deity.

Tiresias

A Theban prophet who inhabits the underworld. This person accuses Oedipus of killing Laius

Pediment

the triangular top of a temple that contains sculpture. The horse sculptures in this part of the Parthenon was replaced with plaster casts to preserve the original marble

Hermes of Praxiteles

an ancient Greek sculpture of A Greek god and the infant Dionysus discovered in 1877 in the ruins of the Temple of Hera, Olympia, in Greece. It is displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia.

Discus(Discobolus) by Myron

an ancient Greek sculpture completed at the start of the Classical period in around 460-450 BC that depicts an ancient Greek athlete throwing a heavy saucer

Corinth

(1600BC) a leading city of ancient Greece famous for its architecture, pottery, and shipbuilding, Oedipus' childhood home

Sphinx of Naxians

A marble statue of a mythical creature with a woman's head, a bird of prey's torso and the body of a lioness, on an ionic column.

Man

What is the answer to "What goes on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening"

Theatre of Dionysus

The largest ancient Greek theatre, located in Athens; it could seat as many as 17,000 people, dated to the 6th century BC

Festival of Dionysia

Dedication to Dionysus; prizes were awared to the best playwright; three days that featured work by three competitors

Masks

Greek actors wore these to indicate the character that they were playing (e.g. woman, old man) or the emotion that they were showing (e.g. anger, sadness, joy)

Dithyramb

An epic hymn sung and chanted by a group of 50

Chorus

A group of characters in Greek tragedy (and in later forms of drama), who supplied antecedent of action, comments on the present, and foreshadows the future. Evolved from Dithyrambs

Greek Tragedy

Characters of high birth or status, experience a series of events that threaten position, suffer a fall of own actions.

Peripety

Reversal in the hero's fortunes.

anagnorisis

Moment of revelation - Messenger talking about Oediupus' real parents and Jocasta walks away

Tragic Protagonist

Renowned and prosperous, but not preeminently virtuous and just. His downfall however, stems not from vice or depravity, but stems rather from an error in judgement or frailty

Greek Comedy

a representation of laughable people and involves some kind of blunder or ugliness which does not cause pain or disaster.

Thespis

first actor, added speech to a drama

Aeschylus

father of Greek tragedy, added a second actor

Sophocles

Greek writer of tragedies; author of Oedipus Rex and added a third actor

Choregos

a wealthy citizen who financed productions performed at city dionysias in ancient greece. they paid for special effects, costumes, and salaries

Tragos

"goat song"; where the word tragedy came from, named such for the actors who dressed in the skins of goats to represent satyrs

Epidarus

A small city (polis) in ancient Greece, was independent till the time of the Romans, its theatre had almost perfect acoustics

Herodes Atticus

an Athenian rhetorician, as well as a Roman senator. A great philanthropic magnate, he and his wife Appia Annia Regilla, for whose murder he was potentially responsible, commissioned many Athenian public works

Sounion

An archaeological site, the promontory at the southernmost tip of the Attica peninsula, famous for the Temple of Poseidon

Temple of Poseidon

(4th century BC) A prominent temple on the site of Sounion, dedicated to the Roman god of the Sea. Built with six pillars at the front and back, and 13 pillars to the side

Athens

A democratic Greek polis who accomplished many cultural achievements, the first Western democracy, and who were constantly at war with Sparta.

Acropolis

A fortified hilltop in an ancient Greek city, its example at Athens(3000 BC) is a famous example

Theseus

(Greek mythology. 14th century BC) a hero and king of Athens who was noted for his many great deeds: killed Procrustes and the Minotaur and defeated the Amazons and united Attica

Lord Elgin

a British lord who removed the marble from the Parthenon from Greece and sold them to the British museum, which now bears his name

the Persian Destruction of Athens

In 480 BC, Persian forces led by King Xerxes I burned down the city of Athens, as well as the Acropolis

Parthenon

A large temple dedicated to the goddess Athena on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. It was built in the 5th century BCE, during the Athenian golden age, destroyed in 1687 after a Venetian shell detonated an Ottoman gunpowder magazine. 8 pillars in front, 17 at sides follow the golden ratio

Age of Pericles

the period between 461 B.C. and 429 B.C. when a Greek politican dominated Athenian politics and Athens reached the height of its power

Phidias

Athenian sculptor who supervise the building of the Parthenon. built a statue of zeus at olympia was one of the seven wonders of the world

Proplaea

Entry structure to the Acropolis, this structure to the Acropolis had a dark ceiling studded with stars to resemble entering heaven

Temple of Athene Nike

a temple on the Acropolis of Athens, dedicated to the goddesses for wisdom and victory. Built around 420 BC, the temple is the earliest fully Ionic temple(only ionic columns) on the Acropolis.

Athena

Goddess of wisdom and war

Nike

Greek goddess of victory

Caryatids

a sculpture of a draped female figure acting as a column supporting an entablature

Erechtheum (Eretheum in Klebba's notes)

Famous temple on the Acropolis known for its Porch of Maidens composed of sculpted female figures as pillars, dedicated to Athena (and Poseidon?)

Agora

a public open space used for assemblies and markets

Peloponnesian War

(431-404 BCE) The war between Athens and Sparta that in which Sparta won, but left Greece as a whole weak and ready to fall to its neighbors to the north.

Plague of Athens

Outbreak that killed 30,000 Athenians in 430 BC. Many generals and soldiers were lost. This is one of the reasons that Athens ultimately lost the war.

Capital

top of column

Ionic Pillar

Doric Pillar

Corinthian Pillar

Laius

king of Thebes who was unwittingly killed by his son Oedipus

Jocasta

Queen of Thebes who unknowingly married her own son Oedipus

Chrysippus

Raped by Laius, and committed suicide out of shame of being raped

Polybus

King of Corinth, adoptive father of Oedipus

Merope

Queen of Corinth, adoptive mother of Oedipus

Oracle of Delphi

person representing the god Apollo; received cryptic messages from the god that had predictive value if the seeker could correctly interpret the communication.

Aristotle

A Greek Philosopher, taught Alexander the Great, started a famous school called the Lyceum, studied with Plato and wrote the Poetics

Plato

Socrates' most well known pupil. Founded the Academy in Athens.

Socrates

Greek philosopher; His method was based on questions and answers; sentenced to death for corrupting Athens youth, committed suicide with hemlock

Catharsis

the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions; the proper purgation of pity and fear

Hamartia

a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine

Oedipus

a tragic king of Thebes who unknowingly killed his father Laius and married his mother Jocasta. Had four children, Antigone, Ismere, Etcoles, and Polyneices. His name means "Swollen ankles" (actually "swollen feet" but Klebba we must heed)

Antigone

daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, sister of Ismene

Antistrophe

the second section of an ancient Greek choral ode or of one division of it. Movement from west to east (left to right)

Aeetes

King of Colchis; father of Medea; keeper of Golden Fleece.

Aeson

father of Jason, king of Iolcus. In jail until Jason went on quest for golden fleece. Committed suicide by drinking bull's blood.

Absyrtus

The son of Aeëtes, king of Colchis and a brother of Medea and Chalciope; later murdered by sister Medea so as to delay her father from catching her; he would stop to pick up limbs.

Creon

the brother of Jocasta and uncle of Antigone who became king of Thebes after the fall of Oedipus.

deus ex machina

an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play or novel, "god from the machine"

Dionysus

God of wine and fertility

epilogue

a short passage added at the end of a literary work

Euripides

A playwright who wrote about 90 tragedies and included strong female characters and smart slaves

Hubris

excessive pride or arrogance that results in the downfall of the protagonist of a tragedy (putting themselves at the level of gods)

Ismene

Antigone's sister, daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta

Kommos

lyric dialogue between a principal character and the chorus.

Medea

sorceress or enchantress; from a Greek play of the same name who helped Jason and the Argonauts capture the Golden Fleece; known for her revenge against Jason when he spurned her for the princess of Corinth

Parados

entrance of the chorus

Myron

Sculpted the discus thrower

Ouida (actually "oida" but accede to Klebba we must)

"I know" in greek

Pelias

Jason's uncle; stole Jason's throne; sent Jason on quest for Golden Fleece; killed by Medea

Praxiteles

Ancient Greek sculptor (circa 370-330 BC), a sculptor who lived after Phidias who sculpted figures that were more lifelike and natural in form and size.

Sophists

Athenian men who opened schools for boys to study government, mathematics, ethics, and rhetoric. Accused for arguing both sides of any argument merely for profit

Strophe

the first section of an ancient Greek choral ode or of one division of it. Motion from east to west (right to left)

Stasimon

standing poem, a bunch of strophe/antistrophe put together. Stationary chorus

Thebes

Home of Oedipus, Laius and Jocasta

Epithet

an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality characteristic of the person or thing mentioned. --> eg. "Laius, Son of Labdacus"

1. Formal in Structure or Language, 2. Philosophical or lofty subject, 3. Long lyric

Characteristics of an Ode

1. Plot 2. Character 3. Language 4. Thought 5. Spectacle 6. Melody

Aristotelian play

Ethos

beliefs or character of a group, appeals to the speaker's status or authority, making the audience more likely to trust them

Pathos

Appeal to emotion, trying to make the audience feel angry or sympathetic

Logos

Appeal to logic, building up logical arguments

pisteis

Aristotle's means of persuasion

media

Language and Melody of Aristotle's elements and one of this three sets

manner

Spectacle of Aristotle's elements, and one of his three sets