Twenty-five hundred years ago, Western theatre was born in Athens, Greece. Between 600 and 200 BC, the ancient Athenians created a theatre culture that has influenced theatre through history. They created plays that are still considered among the greatest works of world drama. Their achievement ...

By 1600, international trade routes, which had been centered around the Mediterranean Sea for centuries, were almost entirely based around Northern Atlantic countries like Spain, France, and England. The economic explosion and widespread circulation of money that came with this were accompanied by ...

COSTUMES AND MASKS IN GREEK DRAMA Greek Drama originated at the beginning of the 5th Century. It began as religious festivals and continued on to purposes such as entertainment and dealing with political, social, moral or ethical issues of the time. There were many famous Greek Playwrights such ...

Dramatist of Greek Tragedy There were many dramatists in the years of B.C. There were three of them that were known more than any other. Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles. These three guys are much alike but they also have their differences. The "Father of Tragedy," Aeschylus was bor...

Contributions of Aeschylus and Sophocles to Drama The most prestigious of the drama festivals held in Athens was the City Dionysia, held of a six-day period. Hundreds of visitors, dignitaries, and rural citizens crowded the city to see the spectacle. Aeschylus (524-456 B.C.) and Sophocles (496-40...

Theatre is a form of art created to express the ideals or feelings of various groups of people. Widely held beliefs state that it began as a ritual, and through the performers' repetition of a certain event in front of an audience, the ritual became a performance and theatre was born. In anci...

Tragedy was performed in Athens at the annual festival of Dionysus, the Great, or the City, Dionysia in late March. Competition was held on three successive mornings of the festival. Three tragic poets, who had been selected earlier in the year, each presented a tetralogy, consisting of three traged...

Aeschylus was born in 525 B.C. in the city of Eleusis. He has been referred to as the "Father of Tragedy." Early on in his life he was immersed in the rites of the city and in the worship of the mother and earth goddess Demeter. He was once sent to watch grapes ripen in the count...

Aristotle's key principles as found in Oedipus the King Drama was an important way to transmit culture, education, morality and religion during the Golden Age of Greek theatre, which lasted from about 500bc to 400bc. There were three main tragedians in Greece at this time. Aeschylus, also k...

Born in 495 B.C. about a mile northwest of Athens, Sophocles was to become one of the great playwrights of the golden age. The son of s wealthy merchant, he would enjoy all the comforts of thriving Greek empire. He studied all of the arts. At the age of twenty-eight, his studies complete, he was ...

To fully explain the conditions governing Classical Greek Theatre it is first necessary to go back in history to understand its origins. Greek Theatre began over 2,500 years ago – 2,000 years before Shakespeare – in its earliest form it took the form of religious rites, involving songs and danc...

The major role in Oedipus of the Chorus as previously outlined is that of commentary. The chorus clarifies the situation to the audience in a way that enables the audience to fully comprehend the nature and general ebb and flow of the plot. For example when at the end of the play, when Creon's final...

Four thousand years ago the humanities were introduced by the Ancient Greeks. The men began to record their feelings and ideas in the form of architecture, sculpture, plays, and paintings which make up the humanities. These numerous artists, writers, and politicians set the foundation for the whole...

How many times have you heard after a disaster the phrase othing will be the same again Since Biblical times, disasters have been experienced as key defining moments. Biblical events such as Noah's flood were interpreted in a similar way. Indeed, tragedies and disasters do have huge impacts on the...

The plays in ancient Greece were made up of several genres. One of these genres was comedy. Comedy came from two main factors, the major one being known as the "Choral Element" which has ceremonies to encourage fertility at the Festival of Dionysus. The second influence was from Sicilia...

Greek Theatre There have been many artistic achievements that have had a substantial role in shaping outlooks and tastes for cultures and generations for 1000's of years. Of all the different kinds of productions the Greeks have established, the tragedy is the most extraordinary of t...

The theatre in the City Dionysia was a great semi-circle on the slope of the Acropolis, with rows of stone seats. The front row consisted of marble chairs; these were reserved for the priests of Dionysus and the chief magistrates. Beyond the front row was a circular space called the orchestra, where...

Imagine this following scene: You are sitting in a dark, fairly crowded large room. There are hundreds of other people, in hundreds of other seats surrounding you. In front of you, there is a large stage, with people acting out a play. Lights, music, and different sound effects set the mood of t...

Aristotle could be considered the first popular literary critic. Unlike Plato, who all but condemned written verse, Aristotle breaks it down and analyses it so as to separate the good from the bad. He studies in great detail what components make a decent epic or tragedy. The main sections he com...

"ANTIGONE" ANALYZED The play "Antigone" by Sophocles can be admired an analyzed by many different critics. This interesting ancient Greek play can be studied from many different angles. Some critics look into Antigone's incest motives, Creon's behaviorism, Ismene as a victim, multiple purposes of...

Upon the setting sun I, Hecubus, fondly recall the days of pride and honor I felt in my tribe, as a member of a dramatic, dithyrambic chorus. Acting was not simply my occupation, but a lifestyle highly revered and respected by my fellow Athenian citizens. We entertained, taught moral lessons of th...

Defining a Tragedy Defining, a Tragedy Greek philosopher Aristotle proposes components of an ideal tragedy in his work, Tragedy and the Emotions of Pity and Fear. According to Aristotle, there are six components of a great tragedy: plot, character, thought, verbal expression, song, and visual adornm...

Acc to modern critics, Sanskrit drama, has a religious origin, as the Vedas are considered as the eternal source of all sublime and fine arts. Some critics also give credit to a semi-religious, secular or popular origin. All the same, there is no conclusive evidence to prove the same. There have be...

To whom this may concern: An accomplished cast and crew have been formed to recreate the distinguished play entitled "Medea." The cast has already been formed; the director and producer, as well as most other positions are held. The remaining positions needing of an owner are the techni...

In southeastern Europe, along the Mediterranean Sea is the mountainous peninsula called Greece. It is a small country (only about 50,000 squares miles in area) and almost the size of New York. Greece is a very beautiful land. The long coast line is so broken that the deep blue sea seems to be every...