Our interest in the theater connects us intimately with the ancient Greeks and Romans. Nearly every Greek and Roman city of note had an open-air theater, the seats arranged in tiers with a lovely view of the surrounding landscape. Here the Greeks sat and watched the plays first of Aeschylus, Sophokles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, and of Menander and the later playwrights.
The Greek theater consisted essentially of the orchestra, the flat dancing floor of the chorus, and the theatron, the actual structure of the theater building. Since theaters in antiquity were frequently modified and rebuilt, the surviving remains offer little clear evidence of the nature of the theatrical space available to the Classical dramatists in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. There is no physical evidence for a circular orchestra earlier than that of the great theater at Epidauros dated to around 330 B.C. Most likely, the audience in fifth-century B.C. Athens was seated close to the stage in a rectilinear arrangement, such as appears at the well-preserved theater at Thorikos in Attica. During this early period in Greek drama, the stage and most probably the skene (stage building) were made of wood. Vase paintings depicting Greek comedy from the late fifth and early fourth centuries B.C. suggest that the stage stood about a meter high with a flight of steps in the center. The actors entered from either side and from a central door in the skene, which also housed the ekkyklema, a wheeled platform with sets of scenes. A mechane, or crane, located at the right end of the stage, was used to hoist gods and heroes through the air onto the stage. Greek dramatists surely made the most of the extreme contrasts between the gods up high and the actors on stage, and between the dark interior of the stage building and the bright daylight.
Little is known about the origins of Greek tragedy before Aeschylus (ca. 525-ca. 455 B.C.), the most innovative of the Greek dramatists. His earliest surviving work is Persians, which was produced in 472 B.C. The roots of Greek tragedy, however, most likely are embedded in the Athenian spring festival of Dionysos Eleuthereios, which included processions, sacrifices in the theater, parades, and competitions between tragedians. Of the few surviving Greek tragedies, all but Aeschylus’ Persians draw from heroic myths. The protagonist and the chorus portrayed the heroes who were the object of cult in Attica in the fifth century B.C. Often, the dialogue between the actor and chorus served a didactic function, linking it as a form of public discourse with debates in the assembly. To this day, drama in all its forms still functions as a powerful medium of communication of ideas.
Unlike the Greek tragedy, the comic performances produced in Athens during the fifth century B.C., the so-called Old Comedy, ridiculed mythology and prominent members of Athenian society. There seems to have been no limit to speech or action in the comic exploitation of sex and other bodily functions. Terracotta figurines and vase paintings dated around and after the time of Aristophanes (450–ca. 387 B.C.) show comic actors wearing grotesque masks and tights with padding on the rump and belly, as well as a leather phallus.
In the second half of the fourth century B.C., the so-called New Comedy of Menander (343–291 B.C.) and his contemporaries gave fresh interpretations to familiar material. In many ways comedy became simpler and tamer, with very little obscenity. The grotesque padding and phallus of Old Comedy were abandoned in favor of more naturalistic costumes that reflected the playwrights’ new style. Subtle differentiation of masks worn by the actors paralleled the finer delineation of character in the texts of New Comedy, which dealt with private and family life, social tensions, and the triumph of love in a variety of contexts.
Citation
Hemingway, Colette. “Theater in Ancient Greece.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/thtr/hd_thtr.htm (October 2004)
Further Reading
Greece and Rome. Introduction by Joan Mertens. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. See on MetPublications
Bieber, Margarete. The History of the Greek and Roman Theater. 2d ed., rev. and enl. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961.
Bothmer, Dietrich von. Greek Vase Painting: An Introduction. MMA Bulletin 31. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972. See on MetPublications
Green, J. R. Theatre in Ancient Greek Society. London: Routledge, 1994.
Green, J. R., and Eric Handley. Images of the Greek Theatre. London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1995.
Hornblower, Simon, and Antony Spawforth, eds. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3d ed., rev. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Trendall, A. D. Phlyax Vases. 2d ed., rev. and enl. London: University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, 1967.
Trendall, A. D., and T. B. L. Webster. Illustrations of Greek Drama. London: Phaidon, 1971.
Additional Essays by Colette Hemingway
- Hemingway, Colette. “Art of the Hellenistic Age and the Hellenistic Tradition.” (April 2007)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Greek Hydriai (Water Jars) and Their Artistic Decoration.” (July 2007)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Hellenistic Jewelry.” (April 2007)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Intellectual Pursuits of the Hellenistic Age.” (April 2007)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Mycenaean Civilization.” (October 2003)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Retrospective Styles in Greek and Roman Sculpture.” (July 2007)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Africans in Ancient Greek Art.” (January 2008)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Ancient Greek Colonization and Trade and their Influence on Greek Art.” (July 2007)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Architecture in Ancient Greece.” (October 2003)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Greek Gods and Religious Practices.” (October 2003)
- Hemingway, Colette. “The Art of Classical Greece (ca. 480–323 B.C.).” (January 2008)
- Hemingway, Colette. “The Labors of Herakles.” (January 2008)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Athletics in Ancient Greece.” (October 2002)
- Hemingway, Colette. “The Rise of Macedon and the Conquests of Alexander the Great.” (October 2004)
- Hemingway, Colette. “The Technique of Bronze Statuary in Ancient Greece.” (October 2003)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Women in Classical Greece.” (October 2004)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Cyprus—Island of Copper.” (October 2004)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Music in Ancient Greece.” (October 2001)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) and Art.” (October 2004)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Etruscan Art.” (October 2004)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Prehistoric Cypriot Art and Culture.” (October 2004)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Sardis.” (October 2004)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Medicine in Classical Antiquity.” (October 2004)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Southern Italian Vase Painting.” (October 2004)
- Hemingway, Colette. “The Kithara in Ancient Greece.” (October 2002)
- Hemingway, Colette. “Minoan Crete.” (October 2002)
