РефератыИностранный языкThThe Theater Of Dionysus Essay Research Paper

The Theater Of Dionysus Essay Research Paper

The Theater Of Dionysus Essay, Research Paper


The Theater of Dionysus


The Theater of Dionysus was Europe’s first theater, and stood immediately below


the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. It was originally built in the late 5th


century B.C. The theater was an outdoor auditorium in the shape of a great


semicircle on the slope of the Acropolis, with rows of seats on which about


eighteen thousand spectators could comfortably seat. The front rows consisted of


marble chairs, and were the only seats in the theater that had a back support.


The priests of Dionysus and the chief magistrates of Athens reserved these rows.


Priests claimed 50 of the 67 front row seats, then came the officials, the


guests of honor, then finally the ordinary citizens of Athens. Beyond the front


row, stood a circular space called the orchestra where the Chorus would sing and


dance, and in the center of which stood the alter of Dionysus. The orchestra


level was around 3 meters higher than the shrine. Behind the orchestra, there


lied a heavy rectangular foundation known as the stage on which the actors would


perform their section of the play. The back of the stage had a building painted


to look like the front of a temple or a palace. Here, the actors would retire


when they were not needed on stage or would go to when they had to change their


costumes. Above lay the deep blue sky, behind it was the Acropolis, and seen in


the distance was the olive colored hills and lush green of the forests that


surround.


The theater was built as a result of the Athenian’s religious practice in honor


of the god, Dionysos, who personified both wine and fruitfulness. Long before


the theater itself was built, an annual ceremonial festival was held for


Dionysus in the same spot. This ancient ceremony was performed by choruses of


men who sang and danced in the god’s honor. Spectators would gather in a circle


to watch these dancers; that was the way that the theater took its circular


shape. When the theater was built, the performers only sang and danced about


the stories of Dionysus’s life, then later the stories of other gods and heroes.


The stories were told in the form of a song, chanted at first by all who took


place, then later by a chorus of about fifty performers. During the intervals


of a song, the leader would recite part of the story himself. As time passed,


these recitations became more and more important, as it eventually overtook the


chorus. They were now presented by two or three people, while the chorus


consisted of only fifteen performers. A maximum of three speakers were allowed


on stage at once, and only one story was told during one performance. The


chorus, although less important, still set the atmosphere for the play, and as


well gave the audience a time of relief from a tragedy.


The Festival of Dionysus was a great dramatic one that was held during


March and April inside the theater. Three poets were chosen every year, and


each wrote a series of three tragedies based on some well-known Greek legend.


Originally, admission to the theater was free, but as the crowds grew, the


leaders realized that a small entrance fee would be economically beneficial for


the theater. Several plays were given in one day, and a prize was awarded to


the best, so the audience was obligated to start at dawn

and would remain until


sunset. While watching the plays, the Athenian audience was very critical as


they would bluntly show their signs of approval or disapproval by their applause,


or lack thereof. The legends and traditions from which most of the Greek plays


took their plots were well known to the Athenians. They were stories honoring


some great event or explaining some religious observance. These legends were


chosen by the different dramatists, each of whom brought forth a different side


of the story to enforce some particular lesson he wished to teach the audience.


The plays were written in poetry which deeply stirred the emotions of the


audience. It gave the Athenians much to think about their eternal problems of


human life and conduct, and the proper relationship between humans and gods.


Each play followed certain guidelines which created the culture of the theater.


When the play began, only three actors were allowed on stage at once. They


would usually wear very elaborate costumes, and on their feet would be a strange


looking wooden sole called a buskin. This would add about six inches to their


height to make them look taller and more impressive to the audience. A facial


mask would also be worn to identify whom the character was, and the moods and


feelings that the character portrayed. The mask included a wide mouth to


project the voice of the actors so that everyone in the immense audience would


be able to hear what the actor had to say. The actors would change their masks


as they changed their characters. There were no curtains used, even though the


plays were not divided into different acts. When there was a pause in action,


the Chorus would fill up the time with their songs. When a tragedy was


performed, the final calamity would never be shown on stage, but a messenger


would appear to give the audience an account of what had happened.


The creation of drama and the theater was a very large stepping stone for the


Greeks, as it showed surrounding and future societies many things about the


Greek beliefs, lifestyles, and culture. The building of the theater itself


showed their degree of engineering and architectural ability that they used in


creating their structures. It also showed that they had a vague form of


understanding the way that acoustics work, as all the seats, no matter where


they were, could hear the sounds from the stage. The plays that were performed


gave an insight on Greek history and mythology. Naturally, they would not have


performed any plays which did not interest the audience. They would only


display what they believed to be important for civilians to know, such as their


heritage and religious beliefs. Finally, the innovation of the drama and the


theater undeniably confirmed their absolute belief in religion, as the theater


would never have come about if it weren’t for the worship of Dionysus by the


Athenians


Bibliography


1) Powell, Anton, Ancient Greece. Facts on File, Inc., 1989.


2) Onians, John, Art and Thought in the Hellenistic Age. Thames and Hudson


Ltd., 1979.


3) Mills, Dorothy, The Book of the Ancient Greeks. G.P Putnam’s Sons, 1977.


4) Skipp, Victor, Out of the Ancient World. Penguin Books, 1967.


5) Erim, Kenan, Aphrodisias, the City of Love. Facts on File Publications,


1986.

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