The Origins of Tragedy - (correct Answer) - > first survival text is 'Persae' by Aeschylus - 472 bc, 534 first
performed at city dionysia
> birth of drama in Athens = second half of C6th
> happened after Athens included Eleutherae into Attica - home to a cult of Dionysus
The Dithyramb - (correct Answer) - > choral dance to Dionysus
> historian Herodotus stated it was invented in Corinth in C7th by Arion
singing and dancing by song writer arion
> they became central to the City Dionysia
> in C5th there were dithyrambic competitions at which each of the 10 tribes entered a chorus of 50
men and 50 boys
> In the second half of the C5th - Thespis set himself apart from the chorus in mask and costume, giving
dialogues with the chorus on the subject matter
Satyr-plays - (correct Answer) - a play in which parodied tragedy and was presented along with three
tragedies by a playwright
> only one surviving is Cyclops by euripides \
chorus of these plays actors dresses as satyrs- half human, halfanimals followers of dionysys
satyrs thought to represenr the rele`se dionysus gives through pleasure - unlike tragedies closely related
to dionysus
The Contributions of Aeschylus - (correct Answer) - 525 - 456 BC
> Aristotle tells us he added a second actor onto the stage - allowed dialogue
- might not be true
> wrote about 80 plays - only 6 survive, all dating to the last 14 years of his life
> 458 = the Oresteia, most famous work
, > he used trilogies and tetralogies - not known if this was uncommon or not
> he makes greater use of the chorus than the other 2 (55% of the lines in 'Suppliant Women' compared
to 17% in Sophocles and 15% in Euripides)
> Aristophanes in Frogs mocks him for tedious and verbose writing
> He fought at Marathon in 490 BC
The Contributions of Sophocles - (correct Answer) - 496-406 BC
> introduced the third actor
> increased chorus from 12 to 15
> reduced role of chorus
> added scenery
> only 7/120 of his plays survive
> He was a prominent political figure - was general alongside Pericles in 441
> conveys the information subtly through his structure
The Contributions of Euripides - (correct Answer) - 480-406 BC
> 19/92 plays survive
> In Frogs he is presented as unconventional who liked to shock audiences
> enjoyed innovating the myths - eg. Medea
> he wrote very diversely in the genre of tragedy - pro-Athenian / romanic / mistaken identity / reunions
> more self-conscious in his writing style
> uses the gods as characters much more
> his characters challenge their behaviour
> reference to contemporary and philosophical themes
Use of Actors - (correct Answer) - > no more than 3 actors with speaking parts were allowed on stage at
any one time
> plays usually had 8-10 parts, so the actors would have to play 4-5 characters
- eg. in Oedipus the same actor plays: priest / Jocasta / Shepherd / Messenger
> had to be good singers too
Use of the Chorus - (correct Answer) - > *actor* - could be part of the action (Oed. = citizens / Bacchae =