Introduction to Greek Drama

Greek Landscape and Society: The City-State

Greek City-States

Greek Theater Theater at Epidaurus Built at about mid 4 th century B.C. (after the golden age of Athens), it is thought to be typical of Hellenistic theater architecture. This is one of the very few theaters that retains its original circular "Orchestra“. During Roman occupation of Greece, most theater "Orchestras" were changed from a circle to a semicircle.

Greek Theater.

Historical Context Thalia: the Muse of comedy (the laughing face) Melpomene: the Muse of tragedy (the weeping face)  Drama probably has its origins in the chorus, which is Greek for “dance.”  Thespis reputedly first introduced an actor, separate from the chorus.  Aeschylus introduced a second actor in the early 5 th century BC, and soon Sophocles added a third. There were never more than three actors onstage in a Greek play.

The Dionysia The earliest dramatists wrote plays for the Athenian Dionysia, a multi-day spring festival in honor of Dionysus. The Dionysia featured three types of plays: tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play. Dramatists competed to win a prize for the best tragedy. Reportedly, the prize was originally a goat; the term “tragedy”—in Greek, tragoidia—means “goat- song.” A magistrate called the archon chose three tragic playwrights to compete each year. For the contest, each playwright would compose three tragedies and one satyr play (a short play of a lighter tone), all of which would have been performed one after another. Beginning around 486 BC, comic plays were officially included in the festival— comedic playwrights offered one play each, which were presented after the three days of tragedies.

Who were the dramatists? Tragedy: Aeschylus ( B.C.) --The Oresteia (Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides) Sophocles ( B.C.) --The Theban Plays (Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus) --Wrote 127 plays, but only 7 survive in complete form --Won 24 of the 30 Dionysiae he entered Euripides ( B.C.) --Medea --The Bacchae Comedy: Old Comedy—Aristophanes ( B.C.) New Comedy—Menander ( B.C.)

Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC ) Biographical Information   Born at Stagira in 384 BC   Studied for 20 years in Athens at the Plato’s Academy, and left when Plato died in 347 BC.   Studied almost every field of knowledge available to ancient Greeks   Tutored Alexander the Great   Established Lyceum (his school and research institute) The Text   Difficult text because it is most probably a series of lectures.   We cannot specifically date The Poetics, but it does appear to be a later work because it draws on several of his earlier published works, such as Ethics, the Politics, and Rhetoric.   Aristotle wrote the Poetics about seventy-five years AFTER the last of the great fifth century tragedies had been written.   His chief aim = to give advice on writing tragedy to contemporary poets.

The Poetics  Aristotle's Poetics is the earliest work of dramatic theory and marks the beginning of literary criticism in Western Civilization.  It sets up principles of poetical and dramatic analysis  Provides a treatment of poetry like any other discipline and examines its form and structure with scientific detachment and an objective to understand how poetry operates and how it achieves its effects.  The Poetics is in part a response to Plato’s objections to poetry. Plato had argued that: 1) Poetry is an inspired, and therefore irrational, activity 2) The poet has no knowledge and produces imitations removed from the reality of Forms 3) Poetry, especially tragedy, is morally harmful; it stimulates emotions we should suppress. Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome)

Reception Modern scholars have criticized Aristotle’s neglect of the gods in his treatment of poetry, as well as his neglect of the social and political implications of drama, tragedy specifically. However, the Poetics significantly influenced the development of literary criticism: It was only in the Renaissance, when rediscovered by Italian humanists, that it became a canonical text. Renaissance critics tended to read the treatise as a set of rules for composition. Many theories have been ascribed to Aristotle that are not actually in the text (i.e. the law of the three unities of action, time and place). From 16 th to the 18 th centuries Aristotle’s Poetics dominated literary theory in Europe, however, with the rise of Romanticism, its influence waned.

Chapter 4: The Origins & Development of Poetry “The creation of poetry generally is due to two causes, both rooted in human nature. The instinct for imitation is inherent in human beings… Also inborn in all of us is the instinct to enjoy works of imitation.” (Poetics 60) “The reason for this is that learning is a very great pleasure, not only for philosophers, but for other people as well, though their capacity for it may be limited. They enjoy seeing images because they learn as they look at them, and reason out what each thing is…” (Poetics 60)

Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy “Tragedy, then, is a representation of an action that is serious, complete, and of some magnitude; in language that is pleasurably embellished, the different forms of embellishment occurring in separate parts; presented in the form of action, not narration; by means of pity and fear bringing about the catharsis of such emotions.” (Poetics, Chapter 6)

Aristotle, Tragedy, & Comedy Take 7-10 minutes to speak to your neighbor about the elements of drama which Aristotle discusses in the Poetics. 1) How does comedy differ from tragedy? 2) List several qualities of good tragedy, along with Chapter references. 3) What do Aristotle’s Poetics and Horace’s Ars Poetica have in common?