Greek Theatre

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Greek Theatre

• Overview
• Greek Gods
• Antigone
• Medea

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Drama

• is one of the earliest literary forms
• of remembering great triumphs, deep fears, or
  religious rites.
• It is the doing or acting quality that makes
  drama unique!

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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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Theatre of Herodes AtticusThe Acropolis in
Athens, Greece built in A.D. 161Seats 5,000
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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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Theatrical Details

• Outdoor
• Seats rose away in a semicircle
• Limited number of characters
• Used masks
• No curtains
• No violence or irreverence

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Dionysos, God of Wine

• He was the god of fertility and wine, later
  considered a patron of the arts. He invented wine
  and spread the art of tending grapes. He has a
  dual nature. On the one hand bringing joy and
  divine ecstasy. On the other bringing brutal,
  unthinking, rage. Thus, reflecting both sides of
  wines nature.

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Greek Theatre and The Tragedy

• Tragedies centered on suffering and ends in
  disaster
• Linked with religious rites and performance
• Poetic language/song
• Hubrisor excessive pride leading to a downfall

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Major Greek Dramatists
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Aeschylus

• Born to aristocratic family
• Oldest of the three playwrights
• Famed as a soldier against the Persians
• 1st prize for tragedy at age of 40
• Wrote 90 plays, 7 have survived to date

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Sophocles

• Defeated Aeschylus in playwrights contest
• Served in military
• Good looks and musical talent
• Priest of Asclepius, the Greek god of healing
• Socially and religiously conservative in writing
• Write the Oedipus trilogy

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Sophocles Antigone

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

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Copy Only The Boxed Portion!
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Sophocles The Oedipus Myth

• Most famous trilogy dealing with Oedipus and his
  family
• Oedipus Rex
• Oedipus at Colonus
• Antigone
• Three plays written over a course of forty years!

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Oedipus, Abandoned at Birth

• Parents were Theban King Laios and mother,
  Iocaste
• Curse that infant would kill father and marry his
  mother
• Sent servant with child to mountain and left to
  die
• Servant gave child away instead

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Oedipus and the Famous Riddle

• As an adult, traveled to Thebes and killed a man
  (his father)
• Confronted the Sphinx and answered the riddle
• Treated royally after the demise of the Sphinx

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Oedipus Royal Marriage

• Married widow, Iocaste
• Raised four children and lived happily until a
  plague with a curse
• Learns of his royal birth
• Iocaste committed suicide because of her sin
• Oedipus blinded himself and sent into exile by
  King Creon

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A Daughter Mourns

• Antigone, Oedipus daughter has permission to
  lead her father into exile
• Antigone and sister, Ismene and brothers Eteocles
  and Polyneices haunted by this curse

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Order Restored

• Creon restores some order to Thebes
• Eteocles and Polyneices kill each other in combat
• Eteocles buried with honor (served Creon)
• Polyneices body rots in the streets
• Play begins with Antigones struggle with whether
  or not to bury her brother against the kings
  orders

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Euripedes

• Youngest playwright of the three
• Held modern attitudes
• Characters were more human and used simple
  language and colloquialisms
• Wrote of women who are driven to acts of violence
  by wrongs they suffer in a male-dominated world
• Shocked audiences
• Later became noted as the most powerful of the
  Greek dramatists

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Euripides Medea

• Medea is a princess
• Medea marries Jason, who is 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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Myths played a key rolein Greek drama
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The Myths Why they were written

• Explained the unexplainable
• Justified religious practices
• Gave credibility to leaders
• Gave hope
• Polytheistic (more than one god)
• 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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To give credibility to leaders

• The Romans 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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The Oracle at Delphi
Most famous oracle in Greek mythology.
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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 Olympiads
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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 End