Classical Greek Theatre Notes
Welcome!
These notes were used for the Greek Theatre module of the A-Level in Classical Civilization for the OCR exam board.
Useful links:
2019 examiners report: https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/622774-examiners-report-greek-theatre.pdf
Marked pieces of work from 2019: https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/630531-greek-theatre.pdf
Quizlet: https://quizlet.com/fleurcasson/folders/classical-civilisation-greek-theatre/sets
How to Answer the Questions
Visual 10 Marker
One visual 10-marker question will be in the exam.
It could be asked as a 20-marker.
AO1: demonstrate knowledge and understanding through accurate and precise material.
AO2: engage with the question through critical analysis and interpretation, leading to well-supported points.
5 marks for selecting relevant quotes, and 5 for interpretation/analysis/evaluation of it. Aim to make 5 points.
Evaluate the source's usefulness by discussing its strengths and limitations in providing accurate information about a specific aspect of the theatre.
Use the format of ‘it’s helpful because it shows x’ but this is limited because it’s a static image’.
Add a small conclusion on how useful it is overall.
Literary 10 Marker
One literary 10-marker question in the exam and it's based off the provided text.
AO1: Shows very good knowledge and understanding of the provided source/ideas through a range of well-selected, accurate, and precise material from it.
AO2: Fully and consistently engages with the question, with perceptive, critical analysis and interpretation of the provided source leading to convincing points which are well-supported and developed.
5 marks for selecting relevant quotes, and 5 for interpretation/analysis/evaluation of it. Make 5 points.
Explain how an effect is created by writing how examples create the effect. Use quotes for support.
20 Markers
Question combines both visual and literary sources.
AO1: very detailed knowledge and a thorough understanding of the material studied, use of a range of well-selected, accurate and precise material from classical sources and appropriate, effective use of their cultural context and possible interpretation.
AO2: The response is logically structured, with a well-developed, sustained and coherent line of reasoning. A very good response to the question containing a wide range of relevant points leading to convincing conclusions points are very well supported by perceptive critical analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of classical sources.
Demonstrate wider knowledge of Greek Theatre on a specific topic, weighing up 2 different opinions. Bring in evidence from visual sources and the 3 plays studied.
Opportunity to bring in classical vs modern audiences.
Small introduction giving a brief overview.
P: Point, E: Evidence, E: Explain, A: Alternative/Counterpoint.
Concise conclusion.
Use specific evidence.
30 Marker
AO1: demonstrate detailed knowledge and understanding; use accurate material from classical sources, cultural context, and interpretations.
AO2: Structure response logically with sustained reasoning; provide relevant points and convincing conclusions supported by critical analysis of sources and scholarly works.
More evaluation than evidence. Use evidence to back it up.
If asked about the main purpose of the play, evaluate multiple answers (e.g., gods, Oedipus's fate).
Marked on variety of points, with literary, historical, and archaeological evidence.
Show understanding of secondary sources/scholarly works; pit two scholars against each other.
Small introduction outlining key issues/viewpoint.
Clear up any ambiguity here.
Conclusion summarising key points and overall opinion.
Timings
Exam starts at 1:30 and ends at 3:15 (1 hour 45 minutes).
NOTE: For 2023 exams. Verify the start time for your exam.
Little questions: 5 minutes. Move on by 1:35
10 Marker: 15 minutes. Move on by 1:50
10 Marker: 15 minutes. Move on by 2:05.
20 Marker: 25 minutes. Move on by 2:35
30 Marker: 35 minutes. Move on by 3:10
10 minutes of reading over
Key Words
Hamartia: the tragic hero’s error that leads to his downfall
Catharsis: the purification or relief felt after the tragic hero’s death
Mimesis: imitation of life through art
Pathos: suffering, sorrow
Praxis: action, deed
Anagnorisis: recognition, enlightenment
Peripeteia: reversal of an expected outcomes
Philos: a loved one to whom your obliged
Hubris: excessive pride
Polis: the city and the surrounding region. For Athens, it included the city and the surrounding area of Attica.
Demes: a village/district in Attica of varying size. Thorikos is a deme.
Eponymous Archon: A leading political figure in Athens who ran City Dionysia.
Choregos: the financial banker to support to playwright and the playwrights play. They were super wealthy and had to fund liturgies (the tax requiring the super-rich to fund the functioning of Athens)
Proagon: the plays were announced with the playwright’s synopsis, possibly an intro from the chorego, actors, and musicians. The actors might have given a taster, which would have been the only time actors appeared as characters without a mask.
Dithyramb: A choral dance in the honour of Dionysus
The Ten Tribes: political divisions which all free Athenian citizens took part in. They had their own regiment in the army and had their own religious duty.
Acropolis: A fortified part of the city, usually on a hill.
Prohedria: Seats at the front, reserved for honoured citizens.
Prohedia: Seat in the middle for priest of Dionysus
Eisodos/Parodos: way in
Ekkyklema: The wooden platform
Secont: The crane
Aulete: a player of the aulos
Aulos: an instrument that accompanied the choruses singing
Monody: a solo sung by an actor, usually in moments of great distress
Kommos: a formal song at moments of heightened emotion involving dialogue between actors and the chorus
Chiton: a full length, often decorated robe, over which a shorter robe was often worn
Himation: a cloak reaching to the knees
Kothornio: soft leather boots that reached to the thigh that actors wore
Catharsis: The cleansing/purification of fear and pity
Hamartia: A mistake (NOT a character flaw)
Peripeteia: The reversal, usually a truth coming to light
Parabasis: Where the chorus addressed the audience with the voice of the playwright.
Agon: A formal debate
Oratory: The art of giving public speeches
General Drama Modern Scholarship
Drama as a means of worship
Against:
Taplin: ‘there’s nothing intrinsically Dionysiac about Greek Tragedy.’
Easterling: ‘the plays composed for competition at the drama festivals always took their subjects from a wider range of myths than just stories about Dionysus.’
Herington: ‘even Aeschylus, who was evidently more interested than any other known dramatist in plots directly relating to Dionysus, devoted only about 1/10th of his output to such stories.’
For:
Goldhill: ‘Dionysus’s role as a god of subversion was essential to Tragedy.’
Easterling: ‘each set of 3 tragedies was followed by a short Satyr play thereby establishing a clear link between the art and the god.’
Henrich: ‘choral dancing in ancient Greek culture always constitutes a form of ritual performance.’
Ancient Audience
Cartledge: ‘it is possible that plays staged originally in one of the two national festivals subsequently transferred to one or other Attic venues such as Thorikos.’
Cartledge: ‘the debate as to whether Athenian women might watch, or rather be permitted or encouraged to watch, the plays themselves, is a controversial one.’
Goldhill: ‘foreigners were certainly present at the Great Dionysia, which was also used to honour foreign dignitaries or benefactors of the state.’
Goldhill: ‘It is often said that slaves definitely could attend the Dionysia (though it almost always assumed that many did not).’
Edith Hall: ‘non-Athenians, women, and slaves, are permitted by the multi vocal form of tragedy to address the public in the theatre as they never could in reality.’
Goldhill: ‘The Theoric Fund, which made payments to the citizens to enable them to attend the theatre, was protected by law: it was even a prosecutable offence to even propose changes to the funds it is easy to infer that attendance at the theatre was regarded as a citizen's duty, privilege and requirement.’
Garvie: ‘The audience is, as it were, in the position of the gods themselves.’
Higgins: ‘the dramatization of stories from a shared heritage helped to nurture and preserve a cultural identity through times of hardships of war.’
Burian: ‘tragedy is much easier to write than comedy, in which everything has to be invented afresh.’
Carey: ‘As the only vocal group within the play the chorus of the dramatic character which most resembles the theatre audience.’
Higgins: ‘to attend the theatre was a religious duty and responsibly of all pious citizens.’
Cartledge: masks ‘provided actors and chorus with the other by means of alienation required for the dramatic representation of others.’
Cartledge: ‘war was to a Greek man what marriage was to a Greek woman.’
Cartledge: ‘the tragedian’s exploitation of technical legal language and ideas underlines the affinity between the theatre and the courts.’
Taplin: ‘tragedy and comedy were perceived as a part of the political life of Athens; face painters and their public perceived drama is being too close to the day-to-day political life of the city to be suitable subject matters.’
Edith Hall: ‘Athenian dependence on recognised membership of the polis was expressed in the reoccurrence of themes of exile and loss of civil rights.’
Edith Hall: ‘every single transgressive woman in tragedy is temporarily or permanently husbandless.’
Edith Hall: ‘Slaves, although formerly powerless, can wield enormous power in the world of tragedy through their access to dangerous knowledge’
Edith Hall: ‘the manner in which the aristocrats treat their subordinates is an important means by which their characters are tested in tragedy’
Edith Hall: ‘the chorus members are physically at the centre of the theatre space contributing in a radical way to the stage action’
1.1- Drama and Theatre in Ancient Athenian Society
The Religious Context of Dramatic Festivals
Theatre was born in the 2 ½ of 6 century BC in West Athens. Dramas were only performed at religious festivals, which were competitions.
Unclear how present Dionysus was during these religious events, as in the surviving texts, only 2 (Bacchae and Frogs) feature him.
The religious festival was a civic event, and the polis was very important. People from the polis who were free-born men could take place in civic events.
3 important religious festivals:
The Lenaia
Held in late January.
Only for the polis as the seas were too rough to travel.
Both comedy and tragedy competitions, but comedy seemed to be more important.
The Rural Dionysia
Held in mid-winter.
Most like revivals of the 2 main city events in the rural Attican demes.
City Dionysia
Held in late March, for the reopening of the sea lane so other Greeks could see Athens showing off.
Also, for the growth of a new spring, as Dionysus was the god of growth.
The largest of the three events.
How City Dionysia Worked
Public businesses closed, law courts shut, and prisoners got a day release.
By the end of the 5th century, it ran for 5 days with processions, sacrifices, and choral competitions.
The preparations started the summer prior.
Tragic playwrights had to give 4 synopses, with 1 being a satyr play.
Comedic writers had to give 1 synopsis.
The eponymous archon selected 3 tragic playwrights and 5 comedic ones.
City Dionysia was organised by the eponymous archon.
He selected the choregos- financial banker to support play.
The choregos had to select the chorus, give them good, rehearsal spaces, and sometimes even accommodation/a professional trainer.
A successful play meant prestige for the chorego, as if they won, they could pay for a victory monument with an inscription of his name, the eponymous archons’, the main actors and the musicians.
It cost a day wage for an unskilled worker to gain entry.
In the 2nd ½ of the 5th century, The Theoric Fund was established (the Athenian state paid for the poor to go).
The front seats were for important officials like the priest of Dionysus.
By the late 4th century, the seating area allowed for the tribes to sit together, but it’s unclear if women could go.
The audience was pretty loud, thus there were rod-bearers to keep things under control.
Events of City Dionysia:
1 or 2 days before the festival: the proagon, held in the Odeion (converted concert hall next to the Theatre of Dionysus.
The evening before: wooden statue of Dionysus was brought from the shrine outside the city on the road to Eleutherae in a torchlight procession re-enacting his arrival to Athens from the deme of Eleutherae.
In the Theatre of Dionysus there’s a sacrifice and that’s where the statue stays.
In the latter half of the 5th century, lots were drawn to determine the order of the plays.
Day 1: the pompe (the grand procession)- started outside the city and went to the agora (open space for meeting), then to the Temple of Dionysus where a sacred bull and other animals were sacrificed.
In the afternoon there was a dithyramb with each of the tribes. Each chorus had it’s down choregos.
In the evening there was the komos (loosely organised revel throughout the streets with song and dance).
Day 2: grand opening ceremony in Theatre of Dionysus where priest sacrifices piglet to Dionysus in the acting area alter and the 10 generals pour libations to the Olympian gods.
There there’s The Parade of Tribute (in 5th century when Athens was an empire, March was when they collected their tributes from Athenian subject and allies. It was paraded around), The Proclamation of Honours (Harals announced the names of those who deserved a shout out and they got a crown), and The Parade of Orphans (boys whose dads dies in war were paraded around. The state paid for their education and at 18 they got a suit of armour and were declared an independent citizens).
All 5 comedies followed this.
Day 3: 3 tragedies, 1 satyr-play
Day 4: 3 tragedies, 1 satyr-play
Day 5: 3 tragedies, 1 satyr-play, and the judging. Pre-festival the Athenian council would draw up a list of names from each tribe and they were sealed in 10 urns on Acropolis (a fortified bit of the city).
On the 1st day the eponymous archon drew out the names and the men swore to be impartial.
5th day they wrote down best to worst and put them in an urn. Half of the tablets were chosen and whoever got the most votes won.
A couple days after: The review. The Athenian assembly met in the Theatre of Dionysus. Any citizen could make a complaint and if it was upheld the archon could be fined. If not, a vote to give the archon a crown could be made.
The Structure of the Theatre Space
Stone theatres were built in late 4th century, meaning before this everything was made of wood.
All surviving tragedies and most comedies come from the 5th century, and we don’t exactly know what the theatre space looked like.
The Theatron
This was the watching area, usually on a hillside so everyone could see (see the Theatre of Dionysus).
In a Lycurgan Theatre (mid/late 4th century) the theatron was in a semi-circle shape, as it had better acoustics.
There were horizontal aisles halfway up for access in and out.
They were in 13 wedges. Guesses have proposed 10 for the tribes and 3 for non-Athenian (women and slaves?).
The front how was called the prohedria and was for people of import, such as officials.
It’s less clear how seating was arranged in the 5th century. Capacity was 6,000+ and spectators were on wooden benches that most likely faced straight down.
Sources (like Frogs) suggest that there was a prohedia (seat in the middle for priest of Dionysus).
The Orchestra
Translates to the dancing area.
It was at the front of the theatron, with eisodos/parodos on each side so the chorus and spectators could get in and out.
This was where the chorus was, acting as a separation between the actors and the spectators.
It’s possible there’s an alter to Dionysus near here.
In Lycurgan Theatre it was a circle with seats wrapped around the front half, in the 5th century it was probably a rectangle or trapezoid, as small deme theatres dating to this time have been excavated with this shape.
THEATRE OF DIONYSUS
Location: Athens (it was the main theatre and on the south-east side of the Acropolis. This meant that it was protected from the harsh north winter winds. It was also between the religious heart of the city and the sanctuary of Dionysus).
Date: in use from the 2nd ½ of the 6th century BC. First built-in stone in the 320s (the 3rd century)
Architecture: When it was first built-in stone, it was done so under the supervision of the Athenian Lycurgus. Thus, theatres of this area are called Lycurgan theatre. It had a capacity of around 17,000. It continued to be remodelled over time, notably in the 1st and 3rd century AD, because that was when Greece was under Roman rule. The central seat was for the priest of Dionysus.
Fun Fact: Outside of the theatre was the Street of Tripods (the tripods were set up by the festival winners to celebrate) that led the theatre to the agora (marketplace). It shows the prestige.
THEATRE OF THORIKOS
Location: Thorikos! A deme on the south-east coast of Attica.
Date: late 6th/early 5th century BC (the early period of Athenian drama)
Architecture: A regional theatre of Attica which has a different lay out from the Theatre of Dionysus. It doesn’t have a circular acting area, but a capacity of 3,000+ (which was large for a deme theatre). The theatron is mostly straight facing, with curved seating to either end. The orchestra is rectangular, temple and alter are at either end of the performance area. Very good acoustics and no trace of a skene, despite it being a main feature of the Theatre of Dionysus in the 5th century.
The Skene
Behind the orchestra in the Theatre of Dionysus there was a wooden stage where main actors preformed, although it probably wasn’t there when the theatre was first built.
Behind that stage there was a building called a skene. In the early 5th century, it may have been a changing tent, but by the mid-century it was a large wooden hut with a double door to the stage (some also had 2 smaller side-doors).
It was a changing room with props and costumes stored there.
There was also a ladder to the trap door in the roof for acting- usually for a god to appear.
The front wall could have been painting/decorated to give more character to the setting, however seeing as the plays were back-to-back it might have been on portable patterns.
RED FIGURE VASE FRAGMENT: SINGLE ACTOR AND 2 AUDIENCE MEMBERS/JUDGES
Object: Attic red-figure chorus (wine-jug)
Artist: Unknown
Location: Vlastos Collection, Athens
Date: Around 420 BC
Significance: Only Attic vase where a stage is shown. Only Greek vase to show an audience.
Description:
There are reconstructed features as the vase was damaged and missing finer features.
The comic actor could be Perseus, as he seems to be wearing a sickle to kill Medusa with, whose head is in a bag over his left arm.
He’s either dancing or pretending to fly like he does in the myth.
The lines around his right wrist and feet show he’s wearing a body suit- so he’s not really naked.
No mask, but there is a costume phallus tied around his legs.
There’s no orchestra, but 2 audience members, possibly interested to represent the rest of them. Both are wreathed, 1 is old with a beard and the other is younger (with an unclear gender).
They’re sitting on klismoi (elegant wooden chairs with a curved back), and those seats were often used for seating in the prohedria in Lycurgan theatre.
They could be 2 judges, a priest of Dionysus and another priest, Dionysus and Ariade (his consort), or choregos and the playwright. It’s unclear.
The Wheel Platform and Crane
Greek theatre relied on daylight, acoustics and the suspension of disbelief. Oliver Taplin called it ‘the theatre of the mind.’ However, there were 2 devices. The ekkyklema (the wooden platform) and the mechane (the crane).
The ekkyklema was a wooden platform on wheels brought out onto the stage throughout the main doors to portray a scene which happened indoors. In tragedy it was for the body of a character which had died off stage.
The mechane was a machine behind the skene to hoist characters in the air about the roof.
RED-FIGURE CALYX KRATER DEPICTING MEDEA’S ESCAPE
Object: calyx krater (mixing bowl)
Artist: Policoro Painter
Location: Cleveland Museum of Art
Date: Around 400BC (Medea was first performed in 431BC)
Significance: The painted scene of Medea’s escape seems to portray the use of the crane and wheel platform.
Description:
Medea flies above the human scene of her 2 dead sons on a chariot drawn by dragons, circled by the sun.
On either side, winged women- possibly furies- look down.
In the corner there’s a nurse and tutor raising their hands in mourning.
Jason on the left is bare-chested like a hero (which is unlike tragedies) and is locking eyes with Medea.
The sons are slumped over the wheel platform that’s made to look like an altar and Medea is most likely help up by a crane.
Yet this differs greatly from Euripides play, as in it there were no furies or dragons. Medea also takes the boys with her so Jason can’t bury them.
This could be artist licence, or a different version of the play, but we shouldn’t assume painted scenes are fully accurate of the stage. There’s nothing in this to indicate it’s a performance.
The Representation of Athenian Theatre in Visual and Material Culture
Athenians made many vases in the late 6th century. Initially there were black figure (red- background), but by the 5th century they were red-figure (black-background) as it allowed for more detail and natural scenes.
During the hight of tragedy (500-406 BC) only 2 paintings exist to show a tragic performance.
From 400 BC there are a group of vases that show in costume actors off stage, giving the best evidence of what masks and costumes looked like- discuss on the Paronomous Vase.
From around 400 BC there was a decline in Athenian pottery. However, many exist that depict Greek theatre from the Greek cities of Southern Italy. This suggests that the works of Athenian playwrights were well known and reperformed, and they can give us significant details of comic performances (including staging and costumes.)
RED-FIGURE BELL KRATER- THE THESMOPHORIA VASE
Object: Red figure bell krater (mixing bowl)
Artist: Schiller Painter
Location: Martin von Wagner Museus, Wurzburg
Date: 380-370 BC (Thesmophoria was presented in 411 BC)
Significance: South Italian vase showing a scene from an Aristophanes’ comedy
Description:
Produced in Apulia, showing there was a knowledge of Athenian comedy is Italy. This means it must have been reperformed in at least one southern Italian theatre, meaning they knew Euripides too because he’s a character in the play!
It depicts Euripides relative snatching the ‘baby’ from one of the women, going to the alter and threating to kill it with a knife. The baby is a wineskin, so she rushes up with a bowl so there’s no spillage.
The costumes and small details match with the play. In the play there’s a dressing scene where he’s shaved and given a women’s headband. This headband is visible in the source. Most men in Southern American comic vase were bearded, and this guy is shaved! The mirror from the play is also suspended in the source above the centre of the scene.
We can’t say it’s completely accurate.
1.2- The Nature of Tragedy
The Origins of Tragedy
No one really knows, but there are vases from the late 7th century that do suggest drama. However, the oldest surviving dramatic text is from 472 (6th century).
One source says that 534 (6th century) was when the first tragedy was performed at the City Dionysia, though we know very little about the genre at that time or how it developed.
We have a lot of clues, but they’re just clues.
The most influence text on the development of tragedy that has survived is the treatise Poetics by Aristotle.
KEY INDIVIDUAL: ARISTOTLE
Date: 384-322 BC (he died at 62)
Significance:
Famous Greek writer and thinker.
He wrote lots of political, philosophical, and scientific treaties.
Poetics is our first surviving literary criticism, dates to 330 and focuses on epics and tragedies (the comedy one didn’t survive).
Though, Poetics touches on things that happened 2 centuries before, so its credibility is debateable. Some even think it’s just a series of lecture notes.
According to poetics, the birth of drama took place during the 2nd ½ of the 6th century. This was under the tyrant Peisistratus and his sons. This family is credited with multiple innovations, such as the City Dionysia. The festival was most likely first held in the middle of the century, after Athens took Eleutherae, which held a cult of Dionysus. This celebration of wine, revelry, and entertainment was a good way of the tyrant keeping the people’s support.
The Dithyramb- This was a choral dance central to the worship of Dionysus. Invented in Corinth in late 7th century by song-writer Arion for Dionysus.
Choral dances are often done at community moments, such as weddings, funerals, military parades ect. In the 6th century there were dithyrambic performances central to City Dionysia, and in the 5th, it turned into a competition of the tribes on day 1. There were 2 choruses for each tribe, one of 50 men and one of 50 boys. Each chorus had a chorego, and this is probably where drama evolved from, reportedly in the 2nd ½ of the 6th century.
KEY INDIVIDUAL: THESPIS
Dates: 6th century BC, specifics unknown
Significance:
The first actor, removing himself from the chorus.
He dressed in a mask and a costume whilst pretending to be different characters from the dithyramb’s subject matter. He dialogued with the chorus, and they stayed important throughout the 5th century.
However, ancients did like findings an inventor of something, so we should be suspicious of how involved/single-handed Thespis really was.
In the competition at City Dionysia in 534, Thespis won a goat for his ode. This is where we could get tragedy from as the song of the goat singer in tragodia. However, who knows what was in the 1st tragic play.
Satyr-plays: In 501 BC, satyr-plays were added into City Dionysia’s rota, after the 3 tragedies. Only one of these survive, but it was possible they existed to provide levity. However, they were still apart of the final judgement. Satyr-plays get their name from the fact that the chorus were playing satyr’s, who represented the basic human desire for food, drink, and sex. They were representing the release of Dionysus, and the god appeared frequently in these plays, with his worship at the centre.
Playwrights: They wrote and composed (some trained and choreographed the chorus, as well as acting). 5th Century Athens had a lot of tragic writers, we have to know 3 as their texts survived. We know very little about 6th century Athens in terms of playwrights.
KEY INDIVIDUAL: AESCHYLUS
Pronounced: ee·skuh·luhs
Dates: 525-456 BC (he lived until he was 69)
Significance:
Thought of as the Father of Tragedy.
Aristotle (who was not alive yet) believed Aeschylus was the one who introduced a second actor. Though this needed a public vote as it would have meant more funds, so maybe there wasn’t just one inventor.
6 (maybe 7, depends on who you ask) of his 90+ plays survive. Of all his plays that survive, they all date to his final 14 years as a writer.
He was a big fan of writing trilogies or tetralogies as they allowed for more complexities, despite no evidence of this this being common at the time. He was also a big fan of the chorus, using them a lot.
He lived through a period of great change. He saw Athens become an empire and fought at Marathon (a battle where Persia first invaded) and most likely fought in the Persian Wars (his easiest play was related to it). His epitaph mentioned him fighting in Marathon, but not him as a writer. He also died in Sicily where he moved to put on his plays, indicating Athenian tragedy was known in the Greek West by mid-5th century.
KEY INDIVUAL: SOPHOCLES
Dates: 496-406 BC (he lived till 90!)
Significance:
He’s credited with a lot of innovation to tragedy, such as introducing the 3rd actor, increasing the chorus from 12 to 15, and enhancing the skene.
He wrote over 100 plays, but only 7 survive- one being Oedipus the King, which is dated to 429 BC.
He preferred unconnected plays, didn’t put that much emphasis on the chorus, loved stagecraft (the exposition of Oedipus is subtle), and was hugely successful- winning at least 18 contests. He was also a very important political figure.
KEY INDIVUAL: EURIPIDES
Dates: 480-406 BC (till he was 74)
Significance:
Seems to be more popular in death, rather than in life. He won City Dionysia 5 times, with 1 being after his death. This one was Bacchae, dated to 405 BC. Though, he wrote over 100 plays, only 18 survive (19, depending on who you ask).
In Frogs he’s portrayed as someone who enjoys subversion, and he did innovate myths, however Euripides was still respected mainstream, evidenced in how he was continually selected for City Dionysia.
His style was very distinctive. His plays have the gods appear more, characters challenge the gods, and references to contemporary and philosophical debates.
With Aeschylus and Sophocles, we have a sample that ancient scholars chose for excellence, which is true for 10 of Euripides. However, the other 8/9 survived by chance, granting us a more varied look at tragedy. For example, some were ‘escape tragedies,’ and others were pro-Athenian propaganda, describing when they won the day.
Actors and the Chorus
The professionals were the actors, and the amateurs were the chorus members chosen from the citizen body. All men.
Actors
No more than 3 actors with speaking parts on stage at any one time, except for minor roles like children.
All roles had to be shared by 3 actors, and as most plays had 8-10 parts, 1 actor could play 4/5 roles. The skene would have been very useful for the rushed changing needed.
Actors also had to be good singers and perhaps even able to perform in a variety of character roles.
Playwrights most likely kept in mind the actors they wanted, and their particular