Scribd
Upload
25 views1 page

GGTTT

Classical Greek drama originated in Athens, producing three main genres: tragedy, comedy, and satyr plays, which were institutionalized by the 5th century BC in competitions for the god Dionysus. Key figures include Thespis, credited with introducing the actor, and notable dramatists like Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander, though only a small fraction of their works survive today. The evolution of comedy is categorized into old, middle, and new comedy, with official recognition of comedic competitions beginning in the late 5th century BC.

Uploaded by

Matt Demon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
25 views1 page

GGTTT

Classical Greek drama originated in Athens, producing three main genres: tragedy, comedy, and satyr plays, which were institutionalized by the 5th century BC in competitions for the god Dionysus. Key figures include Thespis, credited with introducing the actor, and notable dramatists like Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander, though only a small fraction of their works survive today. The evolution of comedy is categorized into old, middle, and new comedy, with official recognition of comedic competitions beginning in the late 5th century BC.

Uploaded by

Matt Demon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

hhhhh lassical Greek drama[edit]

Main article: Theatre of ancient Greece

Relief of a seated poet (Menander) with masks of New Comedy, 1st century BC – early 1st century
AD, Princeton University Art Museum

Western drama originates in classical Greece.[10] The theatrical culture of the city-
state of Athens produced three genres of drama: tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play. Their origins
remain obscure, though by the 5th century BC they were institutionalised in competitions held as
part of festivities celebrating the god Dionysus.[11] Historians know the names of many ancient Greek
dramatists, not least Thespis, who is credited with the innovation of an actor ("hypokrites") who
speaks (rather than sings) and impersonates a character (rather than speaking in his own person),
while interacting with the chorus and its leader ("coryphaeus"), who were a traditional part of the
performance of non-dramatic poetry (dithyrambic, lyric and epic).[12]
Only a small fraction of the work of five dramatists, however, has survived to this day: we have a
small number of complete texts by the tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and the
comic writers Aristophanes and, from the late 4th century, Menander.[13] Aeschylus' historical
tragedy The Persians is the oldest surviving drama, although when it won first prize at the City
Dionysia competition in 472 BC, he had been writing plays for more than 25 years.[14] The
competition ("agon") for tragedies may have begun as early as 534 BC; official records ("didaskaliai")
begin from 501 BC when the satyr play was introduced.[15] Tragic dramatists were required to present
a tetralogyof plays (though the individual works were not necessarily connected by story or theme),
which usually consisted of three tragedies and one satyr play (though exceptions were made, as
with Euripides' Alcestis in 438 BC). Comedywas officially recognized with a prize in the competition
from 487 to 486 BC.
Five comic dramatists competed at the City Dionysia (though during the Peloponnesian War this
may have been reduced to three), each offering a single comedy.[16] Ancient Greek comedy is
traditionally divided between "old comedy" (5th century BC), "middle comedy" (4th century BC) and
"new comedy" (late 4th century to 2nd BC).[17]

You might also like