HIST 1001 Chapter : Greek Drama
Document Summary
Festivals to dionysus- people compose songs to honor dionysus dances. Skits competitions (win for best play/ best actor) Thespis- won best actor in 534 bc, term thespian comes from him. City dionysia- 6-day festival held in the spring, approximately 15 plays preformed. Lenaean festival- plays preformed in january, no idea what it was for. Rural dionysia- festival for cities outside of athens, plays could be performed another time (plays were usually only performed once) Chorus- usually 12 people, commented on things in the play by singing. Stage (greek theater)- only 3 actors on stage, 1 person can speak at a time, the three play all the parts and use masks. Aeschylus (525-456 bc: wrote about 80 plays, only have 7 complete, tragedies always dealt with current events. Oresteia triology- aeschylus points out that justice is not easy, and raises the question of what is justice? justice to the greeks is absolutely vital.
