Theatre of ancient Greece facts for kids

A vibrant theatre culture thrived in ancient Greece starting around 700 BC. The city of Athens was a major center for culture, politics, and religion during this time. Theatre became a big part of a special celebration called the Dionysia, which honored the god Dionysus. Three main types of plays appeared there: tragedy (late 500 BC), comedy (490 BC), and the satyr play. Athens shared these festivals with its many colonies. Much of today's Western theatre comes from ancient Greece. We still use many of their theatre words, play types, stories, and characters.

Bronze statue of a Greek actor from 150–100 BC. The half-mask shows he is an actor. He wears a man's hat but women's clothes, as men played female roles.

What Does "Tragedy" Mean?

The word "tragedy" comes from the Greek word τραγῳδία, tragodia. This word is made of two parts: τράγος, tragos, meaning "goat," and ᾠδή, ode, meaning "song."

This word's history suggests a connection to old Dionysus cults. However, we don't know exactly how these ancient rituals became the basis for tragedy and comedy.

How Did Greek Theatre Begin?

A view of the ancient theatre at Epidaurus. Many people think it is the best theatre in Greece.

The ancient Greeks really valued spoken words. It was their main way to share stories and communicate. They believed spoken words were alive, much better than written symbols. Because of this, oral storytelling was very popular in Greece.

Greek tragedy as we know it started in Athens around 532 BC. Thespis was the first actor we know about. He won the first theatre contest in Athens. He led the dithyrambs (choral hymns) performed in the area, especially at the Rural Dionysia. By Thespis's time, the dithyramb had changed a lot from its religious roots. It became more like a story or ballad.

Thespis is often called the "Inventor of Tragedy." But some people question how important he really was. His name lives on in English as "thespian," a common word for an actor.

Theatre Competitions in Athens

Dramatic performances were very important to the Athenians. This is clear because they created a tragedy competition and festival. It was part of the City Dionysia (or Great Dionysia). This festival might have been started around 508 BC to build loyalty among the tribes of Attica. We don't have any play texts from the 500s BC. But we know the names of three other competitors besides Thespis: Choerilus, Pratinas, and Phrynichus. Each of them made new changes to theatre.

We know some things about Phrynichus. He won his first competition between 511 BC and 508 BC. He wrote tragedies about themes that became popular later, like the Danaids and Phoenician Women. He was the first poet we know of to use a real historical event in a play. His play The Fall of Miletus, from 493–2 BC, told the story of Miletus after the Persians conquered it. People say that when this play was performed, the whole theatre cried. The Athenians fined Phrynichus a thousand drachmas for reminding them of such a sad event. They also banned the play forever. Phrynichus is also thought to be the first to use female characters, though men still played them.

Until the Hellenistic period, all tragedies were new plays written for Dionysus. They were performed only once. The plays we have today are mostly those that were remembered well enough to be repeated later.

New Ideas in the Golden Age of Greek Drama

The Theatre of Dionysus

After Athens was destroyed by the Achaemenids in 480 BC, the city was rebuilt. Theatre became more formal and an even bigger part of Athenian culture. This century is known as the Golden Age of Greek drama. The main event of the yearly Dionysia was a competition. It took place once in winter and once in spring. Three tragic playwrights competed at the Theatre of Dionysus. Each writer submitted three tragedies and a satyr play. A satyr play was a funny, silly version of a mythological story. Starting in 486 BC, each playwright also submitted a comedy.

Aristotle said that Aeschylus added the second actor (the deuteragonist). He also said that Sophocles brought in the third actor (the tritagonist). Greek playwrights never used more than three actors on stage at one time.

Greek tragedy and comedy were seen as completely different types of plays. No play ever mixed parts of both. Satyr plays used the same mythological stories as tragedies, but they told them in a funny way.

Theatre After Athens' Decline

A Roman relief from the 1st century BC to early 1st century AD. It shows a seated poet (Menander) with masks from New Comedy.

Athens lost its power after being defeated by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. After this, theatres started performing old tragedies again. Even though its theatre traditions seemed to lose some energy, Greek theatre continued into the Hellenistic period. This period followed Alexander the Great's conquests in the 300s BC.

The main type of play in the Hellenistic period was not tragedy. It was New Comedy. These were funny stories about the lives of everyday people. The only playwright from this time whose works still exist is Menander. New Comedy was very important because it influenced Roman comedy. You can see this influence in the plays of Plautus and Terence.

How Greek Theatres Were Built

The Theatre of Pergamon is one of the steepest theatres in the world. It can hold 10,000 people and was built in the 3rd century BC.

Most ancient Greek cities were built on or near hills. So, seating for theatres was usually built into the side of a hill. This created a natural viewing area called the theatron, which means "seeing place." In cities without good hills, they would pile up earth to make banks for seating.

At the bottom of the hill was a flat, usually circular, performance area. It was about 78 feet across and called the orchestra, meaning "dancing place." A chorus of 12 to 15 people performed plays in verse there, with music. There were often tall, arched entrances called parodoi or eisodoi. Actors and chorus members used these to enter and exit the orchestra. In some theatres, behind the orchestra, there was a backdrop or scenic wall called the skené.

The word theatre eventually came to mean the whole area. This included the theatron, orchestra, and skené.

The Seating Area: Theatron

Ancient Greek theatre in Delos.

The theatron was the seating area. It was built into a hill to make a natural space for watching. At first, people just sat on the ground or on wooden seats. But around 499 BC, they started putting stone blocks into the hillside. This made permanent, stable seating. The best seats were called the prohedria. These were saved for priests and important citizens. A walkway called the diazoma separated the upper and lower seating areas.

The Stage Building: Skené

After 465 BC, playwrights began using a backdrop or scenic wall. It was called the skené. This is where our word scene comes from. The skené hung or stood behind the orchestra. It was also a place where actors could change costumes. After 425 BC, a stone scene wall, called a paraskenia, became common. The paraskenia was a long wall with parts sticking out. It might have had doorways for entrances and exits. Just in front of the paraskenia was the proskenion. This is like a modern proscenium. The upper level was called the episkenion. Some theatres also had a raised speaking place on the orchestra called the logeion. By the end of the 400s BC, the skené was two stories high.

If a character died, it was always heard happening behind the skené. Scholars believe that deaths in Greek tragedy were shown off stage for dramatic reasons, not because the audience was too sensitive.

A temple nearby, often on the right side of the scene, was almost always part of the Greek theatre.

The Performance Area: Orchestra

The Ancient Theatre of Delphi.

The orchestra was a circular area at the bottom of the theatron. This is where the chorus and actors performed. The word means "dancing space," because the chorus also danced in early plays. At first, it was not raised. Later, Greek theatres added a raised stage for easier viewing. This became common after "New Comedy" started, which focused on individual characters. The coryphaeus was the leader of the chorus. This person could join the story as a character and talk with the play's main characters. Plays often started in the morning and lasted until evening.

Amazing Sound in Greek Theatres

Greek theatres were built very large. They could hold many performers and up to fourteen thousand audience members. Physics and math were very important in building these theatres. Designers had to make sure actors' voices could be heard throughout the entire theatre, even in the very top rows. The Greeks' understanding of sound was very advanced, even compared to today's knowledge.

Special Stage Tools

Several special tools were often used in Greek theatre:

• mechane: A crane that made an actor look like they were flying. This is where the phrase deus ex machina (god from the machine) comes from.
• ekkyklêma: A wheeled platform often used to show dead characters to the audience.
• pinakes: Pictures hung up to create scenery.
• thyromata: More complex pictures built into the second level of the stage.

Masks in Greek Theatre

Tragic Comic Masks from Hadrian's Villa mosaic.

The ancient Greek word for a mask is prosopon, meaning "face." Masks were a very important part of worshipping Dionysus in Athens. They were probably used in religious ceremonies and celebrations. Masks were also important for religion, as many honored the gods. Most of what we know comes from a few vase paintings from the 400s BC. For example, one shows a mask of Dionysus hanging from a tree. Another, the Pronomos vase, shows actors getting ready for a satyr play.

We don't have any real masks left today. This is because they were made of natural materials and were not meant to last forever. After performances, they were given to the altar of Dionysus. Still, we know masks were used since the time of Aeschylus. They are seen as a classic part of ancient Greek theatre.

Masks were also made for the members of the chorus. The chorus played a part in the action and commented on the events. Even though there were 12 or 15 members in the tragic chorus, they all wore the same mask. This is because they were seen as representing one character.

What Greek Masks Looked Like

A mask from the 4th/3rd century BC, found at the Stoa of Attalos.

Pictures of theatre masks from the 400s BC show masks that looked like helmets. They covered the whole face and head. They had holes for the eyes and a small opening for the mouth. They also had a wig attached. These paintings never show actors wearing the masks during a performance. They are usually shown holding the masks before or after a play. This suggests that the mask was meant to "melt" into the actor's face. It helped the actor disappear into the role. The mask changed the actor as much as learning the lines did. So, in ancient Greece, the masked actor was not seen as separate from the character they played.

The people who made masks were called skeuopoios, meaning "maker of the props." This suggests they had many duties. Masks were likely made from light, natural materials. These included stiffened linen, leather, wood, or cork. The wigs were made of human or animal hair. Because the masks limited vision, actors needed to hear well to know where they were. So, it's thought that their ears were covered by a lot of hair, not by the mask itself. The mouth opening was quite small. This kept the actor's mouth from being seen during performances. Some experts believe this small size means the mask was not used as a megaphone. However, Greek mask-maker Thanos Vovolis thinks the mask acted as a sound box for the head. This would make the voice louder and change its quality. This helped the actor fully transform into their character.

Why Masks Were Used

In a large outdoor theatre, like the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens, classical masks could create a feeling of fear in the audience. They had very strong, exaggerated facial features and expressions. Masks allowed an actor to play several different roles. This kept the audience from connecting the actor to just one character. Different masks helped the audience tell the character's gender, age, and social status. They also showed changes in a character's appearance, like Oedipus after he blinded himself. Special masks were also made for specific characters and events in a play. Examples include the Furies in Aeschylus' Eumenides and Pentheus and Cadmus in Euripides' The Bacchae.

When worn by the chorus, masks created a feeling of unity. They made the chorus seem like one multi-voiced person or a single group. This also encouraged the group members to work together. Only 2 to 3 actors were allowed on stage at one time. Masks allowed quick changes from one character to another. Only male actors performed, but masks let them play female characters.

The modern way of playing a role by switching between a few simple characters comes from changing masks in ancient Greek theatre.

Other Costume Details

The soccus.

Actors in tragic roles wore special boots called cothurnus (buskin). These made them taller than other actors. Actors in comedic roles wore thin-soled shoes called a soccus or sock. Because of this, dramatic art is sometimes called "sock and buskin."

Male actors playing female roles would wear wooden structures on their chests (posterneda) and stomachs (progastreda). These made them look softer and more feminine. They also wore white body stockings under their costumes to make their skin look fairer.

Most costume details come from pottery paintings from that time. Costumes and masks were made from materials that didn't last. So, there are almost no remains of any costumes from that period. The most important source of information is the Pronomos Vase. It shows actors at a show's after-party.

Costumes helped show a character's gender, age, social status, and class. For example, higher-class characters wore nicer clothing, though everyone was dressed quite well. They did not just wear rags and sandals; they wanted to impress the audience. Some Greek theatre costumes included long robes called chiton that reached the floor for actors playing gods, heroes, and old men. Actors playing goddesses and powerful women wore purple and gold. Actors playing queens and princesses wore long cloaks that dragged on the ground. These were decorated with gold stars and other jewels. Warriors wore various types of armor and helmets with plumes. Costumes were meant to be colorful and easy to see from every seat in the audience.

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