Greek Theater: Legacy of the Golden Age

1. Western Civilization • Greek Theater

2. The Greek Theater 5th Century B. C. Golden Age of Greek Drama Dramatic festivals were popular People witnessed tragic and comic plays

3. Overview of Greek Theatre • The myths • The land • The stage

4. 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)

5. TheLand Located in Europe in the Aegean Sea

7. The Land

8. Overview of Greek Theatre • The land • The myths • The stage

9. The Stage

10. 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

11. The Stage

12. 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 competitions—even prisoners were temporarily released to see the plays • Tragedy means “goat song” (relates to Dionysian rituals)

13. The Stage

14. 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.

15. Masks of Greek Theater

16. The masks were worn for many reason including: • 1. Visibility • 2. Acoustic Assistance • 3. Few Actors, Many Roles • 4. Characterization

17. Some general categories of masks 1. OLD MEN Smooth-Faced, White, Grizzled, Black-Haired, Flaxen and More Flaxen 2. YOUNG MEN Common, Curled, More Curled, Graceful, Horrid, Pale and Less Pale 3. SLAVES Leathern, Peaked-Beard, Flat Nose 4. WOMEN Freed Old Woman, Old Domestic, Middle Aged, Leathern, Pale-Disheveled, Pale Middle Aged, Whorish-Disheveled,Virgin, Girl 5. SPECIALIST MASKS Some made for specific characters, others for: Mourning, Blindness, Deceit, Drunkenness...etc. (The comic masks, those especially of old comedy, were as like as possible to true persons they represented, or made to appear more ridiculous)

19. Masks of Greek Theater

21. Masks of Greek Theater

22. Modern-day replicas Hero-King Comedy (Servant or Herald ) Tragedy (Weeping Chorus)

23. Theater at Epidaurus

24. Theater at Epidaurus

25. Major Greek Dramatists

26. Sophocles’Antigone • Set in Thebes (a city in ancient Greece) • Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta • Antigone’s brothers, Eteokles and Polyneces, took opposite sides in a war • Eteokles and Polyneces killed each other in battle • Antigone’s uncle, Kreon, became king of Thebes

27. Sophocles

29. Greek Comedy and Aristophanes

31. Euripides’Medea • Medea is a princess from Colchis • Medea marries Jason, who is in Colchis 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 Corinth’s daughter

32. Jason’s Voyage on the Argo Jason and Medea meet Corinth: Where Jason and Medea settle down

33. The land Overview of Greek Theatre • The myths • The stage

34. Myths played a key rolein Greek drama

35. 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)

36. 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! Explained the Unexplainable

37. Dionysian cults in ancient Greece were founded to worship Dionysus, god of grapes, vegetation, and wine. To justify religious practices

38. Roots in Worship of Dionysus • God of wine and revelry

39. Theater of Dionysus Dionysia was an annual festival in honor of the god Dionysus Theater of Dionysus was an open-air Theater with room for fifteen thousand spectators

40. Theater of Dionysus carved out of a stone hillside looked like a semicircle with steeply rising tiers of seats

41. Theater of Dionysus

42. Theater of Dionysus At the bottom was the rounded orchestra or performance area where the chorus sang and danced

43. Dionysus Theater in Athens

44. Theater of Dionysus Behind the orchestra was an open, almost bare, stage where actors spoke their lines from behind huge masks

45. Dionysus Theater in Athens

46. Dionysus Theater in Athens

47. Theater of Dionysus Male actors performed all the roles Actors switched masks to play a number of roles – both female and male

48. Dionysus and Satyrs

49. 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. To give credibility to leaders

50. 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. To give hope Where DID hope come from? After unleashing suffering, famine, disease, and many other evils, the last thing Pandora let out was HOPE.