History as Collaboration

The investigation of the truth is in one way hard, in another easy. An indication of this is found in the fact that no one is able to attain the truth adequately, while, on the other hand, we do not collectively fail, but everyone says something true about the nature of things, and while individually we contribute little or nothing to the truth, by the union of all a considerable amount is amassed.– Aristotle – Metaphysic, I,i.

In the above quote, the Ancient Greek philosopher and theorist of drama, Aristotle, reminds us “the investigation of truth” is a collective effort: no individual or community has a monopoly on knowledge and all have the potential to contribute towards an understanding of the human condition. The study of history, and in this case theatre history, is part of that contribution. Theatre, no matter where it originates, and in what time or for what purpose, gives us insight into human motivations and the  consequences of our actions. In the theatre these actions generally tell the story of people or communities facing a crisis, where difficult choices must be made with a lasting impact on individual and community.  

The ancient Greeks used theatre to grapple with the crucial issues of their time, in particular in relationship to their experiment with democracy, and their plays are still relevant today as witnessed by how often they continue to be performed, or provide inspiration for contemporary playwrights to create new adaptations. These civic minded dramas, created to address political issues of the time have much to offer, especially as it concerns the use of power by the community and the individual.  Conflicts at the core of Ancient Greek theatre are familiar to us: the struggle between tyrannical and democratic forces;  between those who seek personal revenge and  those who defer to the court of justice; between those who hold to religious traditions versus those who put the demands of politics and government first; and those who assume the dominance of the patriarchy versus those who seek a voice for women. As we study theatre history it becomes apparent that Ancient Greek thought and the arts have influenced us throughout the ages and are still with us today in the theatre, whether we speak about playwrighting, performance, audience, dramaturgy, design, or architecture.

Encountering the Past through Fragments

This Greek text on papyrus, c 200 BC, Hermopolis, Egypt, recovered from a mummy funerary mask found at the end of the 19th century, is one of a small number of surviving Greek texts with musical notations. It contains verses 338–344 from the first chorus of Euripides’ Orestes, with vocal and instrumental symbols written above the lines of the lyrics. Papyrus Collection of the Austrian National Library.

Our understanding of ancient Greek theatre history relies on careful research by scholars piecing together fragmentary information in order to form a complete picture––very much like trying to complete a puzzle with many missing pieces––since most of the texts and most evidence of performance values such as masks, costumes and set, movement and music used in Ancient Greek theatre production have disappeared over time. With the papyri—or plant-based paper—upon which the texts were written having disintegrated with age and the ancient libraries that once housed the materials destroyed or neglected by subsequent cultures, only a small number of texts remain, preserved over the centuries by Roman, Arabic, Byzantine, and Medieval scholars, who copied the writings of the ancient Greeks, saving parts of this complex puzzle for us to contemplate. The written plays we do have are a few extant complete (or almost complete) texts of the playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander. This collection includes forty-five dramatic and comedic works—a significantly small number given the hundreds of plays believed to have been written between the 6th century and the 2nd century BCE in Greece. Fragments of other plays—authored by the above and other, lesser-known playwrights—have survived, but this can only give us a glimpse of the broader, vibrant culture of Greek theater during the classical period.

In addition to playtexts, there exists a collection of writings, albeit limited, by ancient Greek philosophers, politicians, and historians that offer commentary on and debate over the form and function of theatre in Greek culture. Some of the most notable of these include the philosopher Plato (c. 429-347 BCE); the philosopher-scientist Aristotle (384-322 BCE); biographer,  essayist, cultural historian Plutarch (c. 46-120 CE);  and Athenaeus (3rd century AD) who wrote extensive dialogues in which early Greek plays are discussed.   Of this group, Plato and Aristotle are arguably the most often referenced in existing western narratives of theater history because each man spoke directly to the role of the arts, including theatrical performance, and to how they impacted civic society and the education of future leaders.

Plato, a student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle, famously addressed the value of theatre in his work The Republic. While the text primarily focuses on the construction of an ideal state––in the form of a republic ruled by “philosopher kings,”––several books within the The Republic turn to Plato’s concern over the place of representational arts in the construction of a healthy state. His view of representation, specifically in relationship to the performing arts is, at worst, intensely anti-theatrical. By privileging only images of the morally good on the stage he questions the ethical value of dramatic representations that present immoral actions.  According to Plato, by dramatizing the “lust and anger and all the other affections, of desire and pain and pleasure, which are held to be inseparable from every action—in all of them poetry feeds and waters the passions instead of drying them up; she lets them rule, although they ought to be controlled, if mankind are ever to increase in happiness and virtue.” (The Republic , Book X)  In Plato’s view theatre incites the passions, which endanger the health of the state.

Aristotle, Plato’s student, challenged his teacher’s understanding of the place of dramatic representation in Greek culture. To begin with he observes that “the instinct of imitation is implanted in man since childhood,” and calls drama an “imitation of an action” suggesting that  drama is natural and appropriate to human endeavor.  He rates poetry, which includes dramatic writing as a “higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history the
particular,” suggesting the importance of the art of drama to our understanding of human behavior in general. As to the issue of presenting the passions on stage, Aristotle sees that as

beneficial in that drama “through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation [katharsis] of these emotions,” leads to a healthful release of those emotions  that cause us distress. In his famous work, The Poetics, Aristotle offers a detailed dramaturgical analysis of the fifth century tragedies he and many of his contemporaries so admired. His discussion of the structure of the tragic form in the classical plays has served, whether he intended it or not, as an essential template for many forms of western dramatic storytelling, since the early modern period, from the Renaissance onwards.

Of course, we cannot limit our investigation into the Ancient Greek theatre through written texts
alone. Much can be learned from the material objects that have been unearthed through archaelogical excavations including the terra cotta miniature statues of actors found in an Attic tomb  1 (link to image of statues in the Design submodule) msof the 4th century,  or  the 5th century Pronomos vase 2(link to image of vase in Design submodule)––depicting the actors, musicians, and winning playwright of a comedy––found in a tomb at Ruvo di Puglia in 1835.  Unfortunately,  few remains of the many pieces of vase paintings that have survived from ancient times portray what seem to be actual theatrical events, which could give us some idea of costumes and staging, as the Ancient Greeks almost always focused on depicting deities and myths on their vases rather than providing pictorial representations of cultural events. There are written recordings, etched into stone, that have come down to us, listing theatre festival participants and winners.  As well, the ruins of ancient Greek theatres provide concrete evidence of the space in which ancient Greek performances took place.

In reconstructing Ancient Greek Theatre History it is incumbent on us to seek out reliable sources, as it would be for any history. This is one of the great challenges when constructing a viable narrative about a culture that existed 2000 years ago, where there can be large gaps in our knowledge of that time and we must rely on the available evidence. One of the questions we ask ourselves is: What do the experts say?  By experts––which can include scholars, archaeologists, theatre makers and others––we mean those who have studied the matter in depth, and through research, critical examination of the artifacts, and work with the plays can make educated conclusions. These experts don’t always agree among themselves on the conclusions, in particular when they have to rely on a limited amount of evidence from the past, but even in their divergent perspectives we can begin to understand the value of a critical analysis based on a close examination of the material. Theatre makers who have created landmark productions of ancient Greek plays interpret the plays in a myriad of ways, based on their deeper understanding. As historians, and as theatre makers, whatever level we practice at, we want to make sure that we are consulting material that has been well researched and well documented, and productions that have been thoughtfully conceived, in order to understand the value and purpose of ancient Greek theatre and how it can inform our own interpretations today.

In considering all the materials referenced above, we necessarily bring our own experiences and expectations to the discussion of Ancient Greek performance. Part of our work in studying this period is understanding how our perspectives are challenged by those of the artists, thinkers, and participants we are encountering from the past. We are asked to consider: What were the important issues for the Ancient Greeks and what are they for our times?  How did their vision of the world differ from ours today? What did they choose to preserve and what did they choose to neglect, which we might consider important today?  How will this impact our own interpretations
of their work should we stage an ancient Greek play today? How can we create a dialogue between the concerns of Ancient Greece and the concerns of our own time? And how can we appreciate the different questions and perspectives of our fellow colleagues and students as we bring our diverse experiences to the study of the material.

IMPULSE: Make a list of qualities that determine a reliable source. Think of a question that you have about Ancient Greek theatre and research its answer based on reliable sources. Discuss how the discoveries you have made in your research relate to your own time.

Myth, Religion, and Chronicling the Past

Zeus coming between warring Athena and Ares while Cygnos, in the chariot on the far right, flees from Herakles. Attic black-figured volute-krater (used for mixing water with wine), ca. 540–510 BCE, signed by the Nikosthenes Potter, illustrating a scene from Hesiod’s epic poem Shield of Heracles. British Museum, photo by Jastrow, Creative Commons. In Greek mythology Athena and Ares were traditional rivals. They were also patrons of two city-states that were often in conflict:  Sparta chose Ares as their patron  god and Athens chose Athena.

How the early  ancient Greeks of the Archaic period (8th to 6th century BCE ) engaged their past differs significantly from our present approaches to history. Today we expect verified empirical knowledge and a rigorous methodology that investigates the accuracy of reported events. The ancient Greeks understood their past through myths, including stories of Greek deities, royal families, and great warriors, which formed the basis of a shared cultural memory. These stories were often transmitted first in the form of oral traditions, such as poetic recitations or song.  Women passed on  these myths to entertain and educate their young children and to provide entertainment at home while spinning and weaving. In school young aristocratic boys learned these stories by heart, which they would then recite into adulthood, often through song, at various social occasions such as symposia, and through participation at choral performances of epic poetry presented at festivals. These myths were ultimately written down and became the source for the plays performed at the Great Dionysia in honor of the god Dionysos.

The great chroniclers of ancient Greek myths and traditions, were the 8th century BCE writers Hesiod, a farmer,  and Homer, a bard, both of whom mixed history, myth and poetry in their narratives, so that stories of warriors and political conflicts, some likely  to have been based in historical events, took place along with the deeds of gods and demi-gods. These stories, expressed through poetry, contained vivid dramatic passages of Greek warriors, gods, and goddesses engaged in battles and various adventures with mythical creatures. As epic poems, these myths lent themselves to memorization and every Greek was familiar with them. Much of what we know about the Greek myths comes from texts attributed to Hesiod and Homer. Hesiod’s (c. 750-650 BCE) Theogeny, an epic poem and hymn in honor of Zeus describes the family tree or cosmological and genealogical story of the Greek pantheon of gods starting with the god Chaos, and the bitter power struggles taking place across generations, ending with the triumph of the Olympians under the leadership of Zeus. The gods in Theogeny tend to be jealous, violent, and Zeus is a prolific procreator, having many children. Another work of Hesiod,  Works and Days, reflects the diversity of Hesiod’s interests as he speaks to moral issues, the primacy of Zeus as giver of the law, and mixes in advice on farming and economics.  In it he tells the story of Prometheus stealing fire from the gods for mankind and describes the Five Stages of Man. Shield of Heracles is another epic poem that narrates the combat between the god Ares and the demi-god Heracles.

The poet Homer (c.800 BCE) provides his own account of Greek myth in his two epic works the Iliad and the Odyssey,  in which the gods and demi-gods actively participate in the destiny of mortals. While the details of Homer’s poetic practice and how his works were ultimately written down is not fully know the tradition is that Homer was a blind bard who sang these epics at the courts of kings. Historians conjecture that Homer is a representation of various bards who told these stories and that, over time, their words were put to stylus. Homer’s Iliad tells the story of a few weeks in the last year of the ten-year Trojan war   : Slide show on Iliad and Odyssey. It examines the power struggles within the Greek army, the interference of the gods who favor different sides in the war, and the battles to the death of heroes on both sides. The Odyssey takes place after the Trojan war has ended. It covers the warrior-king  Odysseus’ ten-year journey home from the war, forced off-course by the wrath of the god Poseiden, whom he has antagonized, and confronted with various trials and adventures.

Greek myths, with their focus on the divine, provided the  foundation for Ancient Greek culture, the arts, and civic life, and an examination of the role of religion is fundamental  to understanding Ancient Greek life, thought, and the foundation of their theatre.  Religion in Ancient Greece was not institutionalized in the way we often experience religion today nor was there a unique religious text. Being a polytheisticreligion, it included many diverse goddesses and gods. The Greeks looked to the epic poetry of Hesiod and Homer, as well as local traditions, for their knowledge of these gods. There were diverse local religious festivals and temples of worship with special days honoring specific deities throughout the city-states and villages of Ancient Greece. Civic, personal, and religious life were not separate. A Greek could practice their religion in the privacy of their home, or at a temple, or sacred grove at any time, and could hold their own ritual celebrations if they had the resources to provide a sacrifice. Sacrifice was  usually made with a bull, goat, or pig. Priesthood was a calling rather than a profession. Individuals could choose to serve as priests for specific deities, and it was a function open to both genders, and of particular importance to women as it was the one civic function within which they could exercise a prominent role. The responsibilities of a priestess were reserved for women past child bearing age, or without children, as they left family duties behind.

A Pantheon of Gods

Twelve Greek Gods and Goddesses

Ancient Greek religion was an intrinsic part of Greek Drama as it was of Ancient Greek daily life, politics, and culture: there was no separation of religion and state. The yearly theatre festival in Athens, the City Dionysia, was a religious, civic and theatre festival, all in one, held in honor of the god of wine, Dionysos . Wine was a major part of Greek economic and agricultural life.  The City Dionysia included a competition of Dithyrambs in celebration of Dionysos and of Rhapsodes––stories of Greek heroes––all sung and danced by choruses of adult males and choruses of young men.  Over time, the performers of Dithyrambs and Rhapsodes innovated new forms, adding dialogues between characters, which eventually grew into what we now know as Classical Greek theatre. The plays, based on traditional myths, often had gods and goddesses make an appearance. Deities were immortal, powerful, and anthropomorphic, sharing human form and qualities. They could change their form as Zeus often did, transforming himself into various animals in order to enter into human lives, often in disguise so as to remain unnoticed by his wife Hera who took issue with his infidelities. Each deity had its domain such as Athena , goddess of wisdom, Poseidon Link to Poseiden in The Twelve Greek Gods and Goddesses page, god of the sea, Apollo Link to Apollo in The Twelve Greek Gods and Goddesses page, god of music, poetry and prophesy, Hera, goddess of marriage and women, and Zeus, god of law and fate and ruler of the pantheon of gods. Their home was Mt. Olympus, Greece’s highest mountain, located in the north.  The gods were much invested in human activities, often coming down off the mountain in order to guide or discourage human efforts, often battling each other in order to gain control over human agendas. The Greeks felt a direct kinship with their gods, each City-State had a special relationship with a particular deity: Athens with both Athenaand Poseidon, Corinth with Poseidon, Sparta with Artemis and Apollo, and Thebes with Dionysus. 

The Transition from Myth to Plot, Character, and History

The vibrancy of ancient Greek culture and theatre was in part a result of a society at a crossroads between Archaic (8th century BCE to 510 BCE) and Classical Greece (510 to 323 BCE). The myths, as told through song and dance, were the legacy of Archaic Greece, while Classical Greece used these myths to stage conflicts that reflected the political and social issues of the time. The development of a democratic system resulted in a new form, the drama.  Classical Greek Drama  can be described as a debate between Greece’s cultural past, present, and future, in particular as it relates to the city-state of Athens. The Classical Era of ancient Greece signified the lessening of the dominance of the warrior-king class, who had taken center stage in Homer’s epic poems, as they were forced to share their power with an emerging middle class.  In Athens, a middle class of merchants and skilled crafts persons arose, who were focused on manufacture and trade, even as they took part as soldiers whenever Athens was at war. Their work required business

skills: a certain level of literacy so that contracts could be established; peace, laws and regulations so that free trade could be maintained between territories; and a cosmopolitan sensibility tha comfortably engaged in commerce with members of different city-states and empires. As the middle class gained in strength they demanded a say in Athenian politics, which  up till then was exclusively in the hands of aristocratic landowners and powerful military men. This lead to democratic reform, opening up governmental roles to all Athenian male citizens, still a small portion of the Athenian population (10-20 percent) as women and the large slave population (25-30 percent of the population), were excluded.

Democracy in Athens

A prime player in the decisive defeats of the invading Persian army and navy in both 490 and 480 BCE, Athens became a major imperial power in the ancient Greek world during the Classical era, while at the same time spearheading the evolution of a democratic form of government. A major step towards democratization began the century before.  In 594 BCE, the aristocrat Solon was called upon to settle a serious crisis between the aristocrats and the rest of the population who felt exploited and abused by the ruling class. Faced with the possibility of violent revolution, Solon instituted laws to protect the disenfranchised and offered them a say in the government, including membership in the Assembly for Athenian male citizens.

Though Solon’s efforts helped put Athens on the road to democracy, various aristocratic interests fought the new measures. The people of Athens resorted to tyrannical rule in response. In archaic Greece tyrants who seized power by force were often welcomed initially as an alternative to aristocratic rule, since they were seen to bring stability and be more willing to concern themselves with the welfare of the people and promoted themselves as such.  In Athens, Peisistratus, a member of the same aristocratic clan as Solon, made several efforts to take over Athens. Though Solon warned the Athenians against succumbing to tyranny, in 546 BCE, Peisistratus finally achieved a permanent victory over the various factions. The rule of Peisistratus was later called the Golden Age of Athens, by such notables as Aristotle,  as he furthered economic growth and cultural excellence.  Peisistratus built aqueducts to enhance the city’s access to water,  provided loans for farmers to cultivate cash crops such as olives, built up various religious shrines, reinforcing the goddess Athena’s role as the city’s prominent deity, and furthered the cultural life of Athens including establishing the City Dionysia (c.534 BCE). Peisistratus efforts helped to build a new cohesion among Athenians giving them a sense of shared cultural identity beyond their families, clans, and affiliation with local religious shrines. 

Peisistratus was succeeded by his sons Hippias and Hipparchus. Hipparchus was assassinated due to a love interest gone wrong. Hippias, the brother, as remaining leader, became fearful of any opposition and resorted to oppressive policies to the point where the Athenians called on the Spartans to help oust him. Two Athenian were part of the coup against Hippias: Isagoras, a conservative aristocrat who was favored by the  Spartans, and Cleisthenes, an aristocrat who favored Solon’s reforms and was forced into exile by the anti-democracy Spartans. However, Athenians soon rebelled (Robert A. Wallace, “Revolution and a New order in Solonian Athens and Archaic Greece,” in Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece p.92)  against Isagoras’ reactionary rule, and mustered a large enough group  to chase him out along with the Spartans. They recalled Cleisthenes in 508 BCE who radically reformed Attican society, dismantling the four aristocrat -dominated clans that were the political driving force in Attica,––the territory surrounding and including Athens––and creating ten clearly defined political tribes that were based on location rather than blood relations. Citizenship, reserved for male Atticans,  was now made dependent on and guaranteed by a man’s association with his regional tribe whose identity was linked to the names of local Greek heroes rather than family, which encouraged a more general cultural-patriotic identification. Members of the tribes sat together when in attendance at the City Dionysia. This new identity with the city-state of Athens rather than familial clans was reinforced when the Athenians were pivotal in the defeat the Persians in 490 and 480 BCE, greatly enhancing their prestige among the various city-states of Greece. The break-up of kinship clans has been an important factor in the history of many societies as they developed city-state or national identities, which we shall see in discussions of various cultures throughout the text.

Under the rule of the pro-democratic leader Pericles (449-429 BCE), Athens used its increased status and wealth––through tribute received from other city-states seeking their military protection––to establish itself as a cultural center with a major building effort. The Acropolis, built on a hill overlooking the city, included impressive temples to Athena and Poseidon, and below it a large theatre dedicated to Dionysus,  one of the main venues for showcasing the civic and cultural engagement of its citizens.  Thucydides, the Greek historian, reports on Pericles’ oration delivered in 431 BCE in honor of those who had died fighting for Athens in the war against Sparta and its allies, which provides a vivid picture of the concepts regarding democracy that were active in Ancient Athens. As we only have Thucydides’ account, we cannot be absolutely sure that the following words are directly from Pericles or a mix of Thucydides’ and Pericles’ ideas.:

…Our constitution does not out of envy imitate the laws of our neighbors; rather than copy others, we provide a paradigm for them. In name, indeed, it is styled democracy because we handle our affairs not for the advantage of the few but for the many. Even so, by law everyone has an opportunity to participate in private disputes; for public office a man is preferred according to his worth, as each distinguishes himself in something, not by the luck of the draw more than as a result of his excellence. If, on the other hand, a man is poor but has some service to offer the city, he is not prevented by the obscurity of his reputation. We conduct public business openly, and, as to the natural suspicion that men have of others’ pastimes, we do not get angry at our neighbor if he acts according to his own inclination nor cast at him ugly looks, harmless, but causing resentment. We are completely at ease in our private affairs and are most law-abiding in our public dealings because of fear, paying obedience to those in office and to the laws, especially those that help the wronged and those unwritten ones that, when violated, bring universal shame… (Tracy, Stephen V.. Pericles : A Sourcebook and Reader, University of California Press, 2009. P. 97.)

Pericles articulates the core principles of political participation and justice for all citizens in his description of democracy above and we can well deduce from the histories of ancient Athens and its dramatic literature  that come down to us that it was a constant struggle to achieve these principles.

Ascendancy of the Drama

The new democracy put an emphasis on rhetoric and  a new generation of Greek youths learned the fine art of arguing for their political platforms. Debate, the privileging of language, and the increasing interest in strength of character and rhetorical abilities in politicians, impacted the evolution of Greek theatre. Plot and individual characters became a focus as the audience developed a greater interest in how men and women handled crisis, not just through physical strength and fighting skills, but through argument and political manipulation.  Whereas Gods, tales of warrior heroes, and the presence of the community through the manifestation of the chorus were the focus of early Classical drama,  over time the conflict between characters,  the protagonist and antagonist took on greater importance.  Playwrights, competing to present their works at the City Dionysia, relied on traditional myths to wrestle with contemporary issues and questions of the future. Performing these plays as the center piece of important civic-religious festivals, often attended by audiences in the thousands, catalyzed a collective confrontation between past mythologies and present political realities.

Case Study 1: The Oresteia And Justice Through The Jury System Case Study 2: Antigone, State Vs Religion

Critical Thinking and the New Greek Drama in Ancient Greece

While political forms were changing, philosophers lead the way towards change through promoting critical thinking,  Some philosophersbegan to view traditional myths as stories that might be part of their culture but did not necessarily answer questions about natural  phenomena and human behavior. Scientific inquiry was born and philosophy, mathematics, physics, economics, rhetoric, political innovations, and critical thought along with it. The new Greek drama emerging at the same time offered the citizen a process of critical self-reflection. Drama replaced myth as the new pedagogy as it explored the emergence of the individual character in action. What were the challenges that individuals faced? What was the right action in the face of those challenges?  What made for a good leader? Why did humankind  fall short of its goals? What was the role of the gods in all this? By invoking the story lines of the past myths of Archaic Greece and the gods, classical Greek playwrights spoke to a collective tradition that sustained the ancient Greeks, while their emphasis on human  character and action increasingly forced the gods and  religion to cede the stage to mortals and a  new more in depth portrayal of human character.

Historical Narrative and the Ancient Greek Drama

Whereas Hesiod and Homer created history as myth, history as practiced today was born in the Classical Greek era (510-323 BCE). The works of the classical Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides provide the earliest evidence of texts aimed at recording events based on experiences, observations, and real-life accounts. Herodotus (c. 484 BCE-425 BCE) wrote about the war between the Ancient Greeks and Persians. Herodotus was a storyteller, and still blended myth with history but, just as there were various versions of Greek myths, he offered multiple versions of history based on the accounts of several witnesses to historical events––leaving it up to the reader to determine what was factual and what was myth. Herodotus’ work was a transitional form of writing, a bridge between Archaic Greek myth and the fact-based work of the historian Thucydides (460–400 BCE), as he acknowledged the relative truth of myths and tried to collect as much eye witness reporting as he could.Thucydides, on the other hand, made a concentrated effort to focus on a single factual narrative in his recounting of the Peloponnesian war, which he witnessed himself.  This war between Athens, in alliance with the Delian league, against Sparta and the Peloponnesian league lasted quite a few years, waged on and off between 431 and 404 BCE, with Athens ultimately defeated. Thucydides used descriptions of battles and other crucial events, the speeches of men in power, and eye witness reports to tell the story, and offered commentary and analysis as to why certain events took place. Thucydides, created a model of history as a chronicle of the deeds of men and their motivations, including in-depth commentary on strategies in war. Though certainly more evidence-based than previous writings, Thucydides’ work still reflected strong political biases––­­he was particularly pro-Pericles––yet his work represented a significant shift in how Greeks narrated their own past, and is still read today for its insights.

The transition from discussing the past in the form of myths to recording events as fact was reflected in Classical Greek Theatre.  Though using myths for its source, the theatre rendered them into a form in which the deeds of mortal men and women were enacted as if they were happening before us, much like Thucydides’ efforts to bring contemporary history to life.  However, Ancient Greek theatre avoided using current events that might be politically and socially difficult for the audience to confront, particularly in the tragic form. Playwrights used the ancient myths as a way of metaphorically dealing with the controversial themes and issues of their times

Phrynicus mini case study

Playwrights working in the genre of comedy in Ancient Greece had more flexibility in addressing contemporary socio-political questions at play, often directly criticizing contemporary politicians and other Athenians of note, at least until 415 BCE, when that was outlawed. Aristophanes, writing between 425 and 386 BCE, used humor in the form of absurd situations to offer satirical critiques of the existing political order and social hierarchy.  In his play Lysistrata, Aristophanes condemns the ongoing war with Sparta by having the women of Greece, normally limited to domestic and religious duties, take over the treasury at the Acropolis and deny their men sexual favors until they cease their wars. The men quickly capitulate and peace is signed.  The satirical nature of Ancient Greek comedy, as we will see in subsequent discussions, changed dramatically during the Hellenistic era (323 – 31 BCE) when a new form of comedy developed. This new form (referred to by historians as New Greek Comedy) arose as Athens was forced to abandon its experiment in democracy, as it came under the rule of external powers, the Macedonians and then the Romans, losing their political agency while still retaining their cultural and mercantile status.  Democracy as a theatrical issue was diminished and Athenians turned away from civic themes in favor of domestic stories involving family matters, love, marriage, money, and courtesans, which proved highly popular throughout the Hellenistic world.

Summation

In summary, Ancient Greek theatre is founded on the myths and stories of the Archaic Greek chroniclers Hesiod and Homer.  Their collected works provided  the Greeks with a unified understanding of their early history, through a mixture of real events imbued with fantastical stories of the adventures of heroes, and the origins and deeds of gods an goddesses. Ancient Greek society brought together civic, cultural, and religious traditions in singular events such as

Athens’ City Dionysia, which celebrated the god of wine, Dionysos.  Precursors of the drama were performed at the City Dionysia, including Dithyrambs, songs and dances in honor of Dionysos, and Rhapsodes, stories of heroes in the Homeric tradition.  As Athens, grew from a traditional agrarian warrior dominated society into an urban middle class of merchants and craftspeople,  Athenian male citizens demanded political representation, leading to the institution of democratic reforms in 510 BCE. Debate over political issues became an important aspect of the democratic process in Athens and a new generation of Greek youths was taught the skills of rhetoric, privileging the power of words.  A new drama was born in which characters confronted each other on the stage through argument over issues that were of importance to the Athenian citizen, specifically power conflicts between advocates of rule by strong men versus those favoring democratic rule; those supporting the development of new laws versus those preferring to take the law into their own hands; traditional beliefs versus the new critical thinking that cast doubt on established practices; and patriarchy versus women who chose to assert their will. Athenian philosophers began to value empirical thought leading to scientific methods of investigation and new approaches to recording history  in which factual reporting became preferred.

IMPULSE: What is contemporary popular myth and how does it reflect our current history? Take a contemporary historical event and retell it in the form of a mythological story?

Main Points:

  • The history of Ancient Greek Theatre is in effect a collaboration of various scholars bringing together  the materials that have withstood time including:
    • Approximately forty-four extant plays by three tragedians and two comic writers out of hundreds of plays by other playwrights whose works were lost over time.
    • Extant writings on the theatre of the times, particularly by Aristotle and Plato.
    • Artifacts in the form of vase paintings, sculpture, mosaics, and inscriptions that reflect theatrical practices.
    • Writings of the time that elucidate the cultural, political, philosophical thoughts and values of the era.
    • Writings of a historical and theoretical nature written over time, up to the present, that analyze the resources from the actual era.
    • The knowledge and understanding that the researcher and reader bring to the material.
  • Ancient Greek history in the Archaic period was based on myths that included stories of the deeds of heroes and the presence and influence of deities as recounted by Homer and Hesiod.
  • In the Ancient Greek Classical Era Herodotus and Thucydides contributed to the innovation of historical writing.
    • Herodotus incorporated myth but increasingly added eye witness reports.
    • Thucydides relied on eye witness reports and his own observations, providing socio-political and economic analysis.
  • Ancient Greek Theatre merged traditional myth with a study of human character in action.
    • In tragedies the myths often stood in for contemporary events that were too controversial to deal with directly and could be more effectively engaged with metaphorically.
    • In comedies current events were dealt with directly but through humor and satire by exaggerating the absurdity of these events.

Questions:

  • What are our sources on ancient Greek theatre? How do we apply these resources in our telling of the history of ancient Greek theatre?
  • How did the Ancient Greeks approach the writing of history? How did that change over time?
  • How did ancient Greek theatre reflect these changes?