The Nature of Tragedy
These are notes from the OCR textbook about Greek theatre.
Please make sure that you don’t sell this/pass this on to other people! I spent way to long on this.
The Origins of Tragedy
The origins of tragedy are shrouded in mystery.
From the late seventh century, there were several vase paintings which are suggestive of links to
drama, but we have no surviving dramatic text before Aeschylus’ Persians of 472.
One source gives 534 as the date when tragedy was first performed at the City Dionysia, though
we have very little information about the genre or how it developed throughout the decades.
There are limitations which mean that the sources we have, including:
the texts themselves
, The Nature of Tragedy
the comments and analysis of Greek writers
inscriptions relating to dramatic performances
the physical remains of the theatres
the depiction of theatrical scenes
Can only give us clues rather than a certain picture.
The most influential ancient text on the development of drama is a treatise, Poetics, by the
philosopher Aristotle. This dates to about 330 and is the first surviving work of literary criticism. It
focuses on analysing the genres of epic and tragedy. This may be unreliable as Aristotle’s work is
a source for events that happened up to two centuries earlier. Scholars are unsure if the poetics
was even meant to be published or rather a set of lecture notes.
It was likely that by Aristotle’s day, the Athenians may have created their own understanding of the
history of drama, and so his treatise should be seen as part of this understanding.
According to ancient sources, the birth od drama at Athens took place during the second half of
the sixth century.
The city was ruled by the tyrant Peisistratus and his sons, who were credited with instigating
several artistic, architectural and engineering innovations, one of which was the City Dionysia.
The city Dionysia was held in the middle of the century, soon after Athens had incorporated
Eleutherae. Eleutherae was the home of a cult of Dionysus, and Peistratus chose the moment to
turn a rural festival into a grand civic event based in the city of Athens itself.
The Dithyramb
The choral dance central to the worship of Dionysus was called the Dithyramb. The historian
Herodotus reports that it was invented in Corinth in the late seventh century by the song-writer
Arion, and it was done in honour of Dionysus.
The choral dance was an event where people sang and danced at the same time.
In sixth century, Athens, dithyrambic performances became a central feature of the new City
Dionysia, and during the fifth century, there were dithyrambic competitions at which each of the
city’s ten tribes entered two choruses: of fifty men, and one of fifty boys. Each chorus had a
choregos.
It appears drama had developed out of the dithyramb, ancient sources report that in the sixth
century, the Athenian Thespis set himself apart from a chorus. He was dressed in a mask and
costume; he impersonated different characters from the dithyrambs’ subject matter and took part
in dialogues with the chorus. Thespis moved away from singing about mythological stories, and
instead acted them out.
But the story of Thespis can be unreliable as it may not have been a single individual who
invented tragedy. But whatever the process by which actors were introduced, it was an essential
step in differentiating tragedy from choral sing.
According to the sources, this new genre of drama had its own competition at the City Dionysia,
with the first recorded contest was in 534 – where Thespis was its winner. Records state that he
was awarded a goat, either as a prize or as a sacrifice in honour of Dionysus. The Greek word
These are notes from the OCR textbook about Greek theatre.
Please make sure that you don’t sell this/pass this on to other people! I spent way to long on this.
The Origins of Tragedy
The origins of tragedy are shrouded in mystery.
From the late seventh century, there were several vase paintings which are suggestive of links to
drama, but we have no surviving dramatic text before Aeschylus’ Persians of 472.
One source gives 534 as the date when tragedy was first performed at the City Dionysia, though
we have very little information about the genre or how it developed throughout the decades.
There are limitations which mean that the sources we have, including:
the texts themselves
, The Nature of Tragedy
the comments and analysis of Greek writers
inscriptions relating to dramatic performances
the physical remains of the theatres
the depiction of theatrical scenes
Can only give us clues rather than a certain picture.
The most influential ancient text on the development of drama is a treatise, Poetics, by the
philosopher Aristotle. This dates to about 330 and is the first surviving work of literary criticism. It
focuses on analysing the genres of epic and tragedy. This may be unreliable as Aristotle’s work is
a source for events that happened up to two centuries earlier. Scholars are unsure if the poetics
was even meant to be published or rather a set of lecture notes.
It was likely that by Aristotle’s day, the Athenians may have created their own understanding of the
history of drama, and so his treatise should be seen as part of this understanding.
According to ancient sources, the birth od drama at Athens took place during the second half of
the sixth century.
The city was ruled by the tyrant Peisistratus and his sons, who were credited with instigating
several artistic, architectural and engineering innovations, one of which was the City Dionysia.
The city Dionysia was held in the middle of the century, soon after Athens had incorporated
Eleutherae. Eleutherae was the home of a cult of Dionysus, and Peistratus chose the moment to
turn a rural festival into a grand civic event based in the city of Athens itself.
The Dithyramb
The choral dance central to the worship of Dionysus was called the Dithyramb. The historian
Herodotus reports that it was invented in Corinth in the late seventh century by the song-writer
Arion, and it was done in honour of Dionysus.
The choral dance was an event where people sang and danced at the same time.
In sixth century, Athens, dithyrambic performances became a central feature of the new City
Dionysia, and during the fifth century, there were dithyrambic competitions at which each of the
city’s ten tribes entered two choruses: of fifty men, and one of fifty boys. Each chorus had a
choregos.
It appears drama had developed out of the dithyramb, ancient sources report that in the sixth
century, the Athenian Thespis set himself apart from a chorus. He was dressed in a mask and
costume; he impersonated different characters from the dithyrambs’ subject matter and took part
in dialogues with the chorus. Thespis moved away from singing about mythological stories, and
instead acted them out.
But the story of Thespis can be unreliable as it may not have been a single individual who
invented tragedy. But whatever the process by which actors were introduced, it was an essential
step in differentiating tragedy from choral sing.
According to the sources, this new genre of drama had its own competition at the City Dionysia,
with the first recorded contest was in 534 – where Thespis was its winner. Records state that he
was awarded a goat, either as a prize or as a sacrifice in honour of Dionysus. The Greek word
