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Thanks for the article. I just wanted to mention that I think that the quality of the photo "Panoramic view of the Hellenic theatre at Epidaurus." is poor. It appears to contain very strong digitisation artefacts and is certainly not what I would expect from a 2000 x 600 pixel jpeg, 350k in size. Compare for example with http://news.softpedia.com/images/news2/The-Mystery-of-Modern-Acoustic-in-Ancient-Greek-Theatre-Solved-2.jpg which itself is not really of profesional quality (perhaps out of focus at distance). I do not have a better one but I hope that someone might be prompted to come up with one by this message. [[User:Threebs|Threebs]] ([[User talk:Threebs|talk]]) 22:33, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
Thanks for the article. I just wanted to mention that I think that the quality of the photo "Panoramic view of the Hellenic theatre at Epidaurus." is poor. It appears to contain very strong digitisation artefacts and is certainly not what I would expect from a 2000 x 600 pixel jpeg, 350k in size. Compare for example with http://news.softpedia.com/images/news2/The-Mystery-of-Modern-Acoustic-in-Ancient-Greek-Theatre-Solved-2.jpg which itself is not really of profesional quality (perhaps out of focus at distance). I do not have a better one but I hope that someone might be prompted to come up with one by this message. [[User:Threebs|Threebs]] ([[User talk:Threebs|talk]]) 22:33, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
:As you say, it hasn't got that much higher a resolution. Either one's fine.--[[User:Flammingo|Flammingo]]<sup>[[User talk:Flammingo|Hey]]</sup> 09:36, 4 October 2009 (UTC)
:As you say, it hasn't got that much higher a resolution. Either one's fine.--[[User:Flammingo|Flammingo]]<sup>[[User talk:Flammingo|Hey]]</sup> 09:36, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

==Isn't this vandalism==

"hjhjdfvhshfjksdgh hudhfudfuehf " is in the second paragraph. Isn't this vandalism? I changed it but it was reverted. Why?

Revision as of 23:55, 2 December 2009

Name Change

I would like to suggest that this article be renamed "Ancient Greek theatre" or perhaps "Theatre of Ancient Greece" as it only covers that subject. In addition, an article should be created that covers modern Greek Theatre, called "Theatre of Greece." What say you, loyal Wikipedians? Ganymead 05:24, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Confusion of Aristotle's Poetic with the classical unities

I cut this paragraph because it is incorrect in every respect:

Aristotle described Greek theatre as adhering to "Three Unities:" unity of time, unity of place, and unity of action. Greek plays normally took place in a single day, happened at a single location, and had one plot line without any subplots. Aristotle meant his Three Unities to be a description of the norm, not a prescription of an ideal. Not all Greek plays adhere rigidly to the Unities, but most come close.

See the classical unities article for a discussion of what Aristotle actually wrote and how it related to what Greek playwrights did. Gdr 15:21, 11 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]


Women actors

Did women act in ancient Greek theatre?

Sure!!! The Singing Badger 18:34, 21 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

However, there is a case that extras may have, occasionally, been goats

Later slavewomen were brought in to play minor female characters. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Erik the Red 2 (talk • contribs) 14:25, 21 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Questions about Greek Theatre

Who went to go see these Greek theatre plays? What type of people were they? Did women also go to see these plays? Also, what's the difference between Greek theatre and the other types of theatre? I was also wondering just what was going on in the world, like...events...what events were happening in the world when Greek Theatre came to be? Any information would help. Thank you.

Phallus

OK, here's a challenge for you. Which participants in Greek drama wore the Phallus? Some sources say the actors (13th ed EB, I think), some say it was the chorus. Some sources, such as this one, appear to not mention it. If all those portraying male characters all did wear one doesn't that put all of ancient Greek drama in at least a slightly different light? Isn't that a good question to ask the literature teacher?

Wearing of a phallus was restricted to comedy and was worn by actors and, perhaps, choral members, no pun intended. In the "Acharnians," for instance, (someone help me here. I can't find my Aristophanes right now and my memory is failing) the major character (in the modern sense) says something like this to the young woman, "here grab this--there's till a bit of life left in this old rope yet!" clearly referring to the phallus he wore. Female characters wore appropriate padding as well. Though many deny this feature to the chorus, banter between the two choruses in Lysistrata could be used to argue that some choreutae did wear the phallus, though admittedly this is conjecture only. My bias would direct your question to a theater historian, not to a literature teacher.

Lost Works

The is a Lost works article that I am sure someone more up on this topic would be able to contribute to. It only has one greek play listed and I know there be plenty more (sadly) in that category. John 01:10, 30 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Let me direct you to some older scholars--Haigh, Norwood, Pickard-Cambridge--if you want to see most of the names of lost plays. Remembering the small number the "surviving" plays is particularly instructive. Of the "greats" Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, we possess less than 15% of their total output! Furthermore, these four poets an even smaller percentage of those who had to have competed. Frequently, poets treated the same stories, so it's not always possible to identify accurately a fragmentary reference at all. One example: The Libation Bearers of Aeschylus and the Electra's of Sophocles and Euripides treat the Orestes' return and revenge on Clytemnestra and Aegisthos.


open air - considerations

What were the implications of the open air theatre?

It was part of the whole natural ambience, especially in deference to the wishes of the gods to affect fate and weather. I think the only time they postponed the play in vivo, was when it really started pouring rain. Roland Barthes writes that there is a singularity of the open-air performance. Also, p.120 of Wiles shows that the ancient Greek theatre was a sacred space, since it all started out as part of the temple complex as a religious ritual. Confer: Greek Theatre Performance: an Introduction by David Wiles (2000) http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=052164027X and http://www.rhul.ac.uk/Drama/staff/wiles_david. Confer also, Theatre of the Greeks by P.W. Buckham, (1827) -- (Bob) Wikiklrsc 08:05, 11 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

help

i would really like to see the blue prints of a greek theater specially the one shown in the picture in the article about greek theaters.i would really aprreciate if anyone would give a link to me with the prints

would really appreciate it

Masks

is it just me, or does this article make no mention of the masks used in the ancient greek theatre? i may have missed it somewhere, i suppose, but it doesn't seem to. those masks were a key element in the performance of greek comedy and tragedy. 69.168.108.191 02:59, 9 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Expansion options

I was really disappointed by the length of this article, so I added the expansion tag. I think that links to articles about important plays, a blueprint of a Greek stage, more discussion about performance styles, a section about the period's impact on later theatre, and some cleanup for coherence are in order. I would contribute, but I simply don't have the knowledge of the subject matter.--Cassmus 17:14, 30 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I think i have what you need (blueprint). Also, the "important plays" is started. There is something on performance styles, and it was the first theater ever. And of course, it will always be able to be improved ;-) --FlammingoParliament 16:55, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

copyvio?

If you were the one that recently updated Theatre of Ancient Greece, would you please take a look at WP:COPYVIO as Wikipedia can only accept public domain material or material that has been specifically released to the public domain (please see the referenced page for specifics). It looks like what was added is from http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/arts/Architec/AncientArchitectural/GreekArchitecture/GreekBuilding/Theater.htm John (Jwy) 16:29, 2 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]


More cowbell!

The opening paragraph says "Greeks also used an early form of the cowbell in many satyrs. Often times the cowbell represented insanity, or hyperactivity in the scene." - I would use the "Fact" tag here, but somehow this doesn't seem footnote-worthy. If someone could point me to the source of this (Google was no help), I'd appreciate it. Stev0 02:21, 11 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Revise and protect

I'm going to revise this article to include more references and clean it up. I'm also going to sprotect it, as I have seen an lot of vandalism reverted (and reverted a bunch myself). I guess since a lot of high school students do research on this topic, it's a prime target. Roscius 01:41, 21 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. This needs to be protected asap. Also, the First heading was lost during some of the reverts (not by me, someone else) GavinTing 17:49, 23 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Oh please, yes, sp it! sp --FlammingoHey 19:03, 23 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I believe that the statement "It's in ancient Greece that the origin of western theatre is to be found." is partially incorrect as the Greek Theatre has its roots in Asian Theatre and I suggest the editing of the sentence so that it states: "It is in ancient Greece that the origin of western theatre is to be found, however, the Greek theatre began as an European practice of the Asian theatres that developed earlier." Feel free to reword it, that's just the basic idea I want to add. --Atommy 90 (talk) 20:43, 29 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Comedy additions

The new additions on March 21st were not properly referenced and didn't belong in the section where they were put. The facts are relevant, but they need to be cited and integrated into the article as a whole. I have reverted them for now, but if we can find some sources and restructure the article, we can put the info back in. Roscius 22:50, 22 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Vandals

Does anybody know why it is article that attracts so many vandals? Hartmut Haberland 13:15, 23 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

omg thanks a break from vandals

I do not know why people come to this article, from all there are, to mess around, but now we all have a week to relax, it is semi-protected for a week. Maybe we may use the time to check for errors due to vandals (ie also edits lost in all the reverting), and maybe [question:] someone knows how to sp this indefinitivly, that is convince admins to do so? --FlammingoHey 00:16, 3 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What types of characters are in the plays? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.46.141.14 (talk) 22:09, 1 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

gnaw?

The comment on "gnaw" as somehow being related to "tragos" seems misplaced. Even if this is true, why mention it? Definitely, I want to remove the link to gnaw, since that article is utterly irrelevant to this one. Unless someone wants to offer a defense, I plan on changing this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.135.200.21 (talk) 06:49, 13 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

done, thanks!--FlammingoHey 20:40, 13 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Table

In this version http://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=Theatre_of_ancient_Greece&oldid=203319010 there was a helpful timeline written down without layout; if someone is interested they might want to put it somewhere else like Dramas of ancient Greece.--FlammingoHey 10:06, 6 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Etymology of "tragedy"

Although the article confidently asserts that the word "tragedy" is from τράγος + ῳδή, the OED says that that etymology is disputed: "As to the reason of the name many theories have been offered, some even disputing the connexion with ‘goat’. See L. H. Gray in Classical Quarterly VI. 60, and references there given.]" (OED s.v. tragedy). I might make that statement less definite.

And I agree with the above anonymous commentator: I'm not sure what the connection between τράγος and "gnaw" is. Neither the OED nor the LSJ cite a common IE root, although I suppose it's possible.

I'd also like a cite on that "very rare archaic translation as 'goat-men sacrifice song.'" I've never heard of such a translation, and if indeed some ancient made that connection I suspect it's very late (maybe in the Suda), and certainly not archaic. Dd42 (talk) 21:47, 7 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Development of the ancient Greek theatre in India

The following section seems to be taken from a paper for university, which I don't really mind, except that it is way too long for a short article. A paragraph should be the most, if there is someone wishing the idea in the article. Comments? --FlammingoHey 15:54, 19 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

After a second closer reading I do think this would, if at all, be best written in a five-line paragraph. But imho readers won't learn something new about ancient Greek theatre from this.--FlammingoHey 15:58, 19 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Onesource|date=August 2008 unbalanced}} importance-sect}} Much of what we know about Ancient Greek theatre is speculation, because very little literature from that time actually survived. In contrast, the documents in Sanskrit from the first century B.C.E in India are numerous and well preserved. By looking at the relationship between ancient Indian drama and ancient Greek drama, it is possible to gain a greater insight into how Greek drama might actually have been performed.

Between the years of 180 and 30 B.C.E., a Greek kingdom (the Bactrian Kingdom established by Alexander the Great) flourished in Northern India, where it was by that time changing into a Indo-Greek Kingdom. This kingdom established a Greek society, including cities based on the Greek polis, on the Indian subcontinent. No polis would be complete without a venue for drama, and so it was very likely that Greek drama was performed in Northern India during these years (this hypothesis is also supported by the discovery of a shard of a pot found in the Bactrian kingdom region depicting a scene from Sophocles' Antigone).

A series of invasions in Northern India in the years following 30 B.C.E. destroyed the Indo-Greek Kingdom of Bactria and dispersed many Greeks throughout the rest of India, where the Greek population grew thanks to the increasing trade and the establishment of Greek and Roman trading colonies along the Silk Roads. There is no direct evidence that Greek theatre was performed in India, but as Greek theatre troupes travelled as far as Armenia and Spain, it is probable that some amount of Greek theatre made its way to India.

Bactrian Greeks adopted many aspects of the Indian culture, many converting to Buddhism and Hinduism. The cultural exchange between the Greeks and the Indians may also have included theatrical practices. Some aspects of Sanskrit Drama thought to have come from the Greeks are the 5-act form of a drama, and the use of the curtain as a dramatic device. But maybe there was much independent development in Sanskrit drama, because Indian plays had changes of time and setting between acts, while Greek plays did not. However, the discovery of a play from an Alexandrian Jew, in which both time and setting changed between acts, refutes this argument. The evidence that the use of the curtain was a consequence of exchange with Greek theater is that the Sanskrit term for curtain, Yavanika, means "something Greek," though the translation of "something" is debated. The curtain was used as a theatrical device in a fashion very similar to how they were used in Greek mime plays, that is it did not fall from above, but was a construction that could be hoisted from below the stage.

The relationship between Sanskrit drama and Greek mime in all likelihood involved a giving and receiving on both sides. There are parallels between the Indian sutradhara and sutradhari and the Greek archimimus and archimima. Evidence for the mutual influence as opposed to a receiving role of Sanskrit theater is that women, who were excluded all other forms of Greek drama but were performing in India well before any interaction with the Greeks, were allowed to perform in Greek mime.

Kutiyattam of Kerala is a form of Indian theatre that has survived intact from ancient times. Kutiyattam retains many performance aspects from ancient Sanskrit drama and potentially from Greek drama as well. Kutyattam and Greek drama very likely had much interaction given how closely they resemble each other in certain ways: both types of performance take place in temples; both do a mixture of dance, drama, and music (Indian nritha, nataka, and gana, and Greek mousikê); both use the same types of instruments (wind, cymbals, drums); and neither uses realistic scenery, but rather uses representations.

Insight into Greek actors' performances can perhaps be found through study of Kutiyattam. It is well known that correct and clear pronunciation was highly valued in Greek drama. The same is true of Kutiyattam. In Kutiyattam, diction must be slow so that the accompanying hand gestures, mudras, could be understood. The Greeks, too, had these hand gestures: cheironomia. Every word was associated with different hand gesture in both forms of drama, and as each word was required to be accompanied by its gesture, the performance of a Greek drama was certainly not quick. Performances may not have been as lengthy as Kutiyattam, which took days to weeks to complete, but it makes sense that it took - and in the dionysia festival is known to have taken - a complete day to do five fifteen-hundred line plays.[1]

The picture

The caption says 3rd century BC but the info with the photo on its image theatre says its a Roman theatre. I tend to believe the photo page: I don't believe the 3rd century Greeks had the imposing structure behind the playing area. Anyone have a more appropriate photo/drawing. (John User:Jwy talk) 00:05, 24 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, hadn't noticed that caption. The skene is a temporary wooden building during the 5th century BCE. I've moved the theatre at Epidaurus up instead, although that's later too. The trouble with getting an appropriate image is that most are drawings by scholars, so still in copyright. Unless someone can find a reconstruction drawing in a Victorian textbook somewhere. DionysosProteus (talk) 13:54, 24 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think I agree... there seem to be two many actors (five+child), and the stage before the thyromata seems to be split in orchestra and some "upper orchestra", plus the elevated stage, maybe in 1891 they didnt think what historians think today. And the blueprint is a better illustration where it is now.--FlammingoHey 11:08, 25 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"see also" section must not be too long

This section was too long. Some of these entries are already linked within the text and MUST NOT be in "see also" again, others may be added within the text. But really not as a long list, I know you must have spent some time with this, but it's tough to use that list in any way without comments. And there are of course many words that should be linked from here.

--FlammingoHey 19:08, 18 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As a general principle, I agree, yet I'm going to restore the list, and organise with some columns, since this particular topic involves a high number of unusual and technical terminology, which ought to be easily accessible from the article. Once the article has been improved to cover all of them (no doubt I will contribute in time, but my attention is fixed on the high number of visitors to the piss-poor drama article at present), then I think it's fine and desirable to trim the list. DionysosProteus (talk) 23:58, 18 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Shouldn't this article be split?

One for tragedy and one for comedy? They have different conventions in terms of content, presentation, etc. Ifnkovhg (talk) 23:33, 27 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Those already exist; I disagree, there is not even the warning by the wikipedia software yet.--FlammingoHey 09:33, 4 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Poor photo

Thanks for the article. I just wanted to mention that I think that the quality of the photo "Panoramic view of the Hellenic theatre at Epidaurus." is poor. It appears to contain very strong digitisation artefacts and is certainly not what I would expect from a 2000 x 600 pixel jpeg, 350k in size. Compare for example with http://news.softpedia.com/images/news2/The-Mystery-of-Modern-Acoustic-in-Ancient-Greek-Theatre-Solved-2.jpg which itself is not really of profesional quality (perhaps out of focus at distance). I do not have a better one but I hope that someone might be prompted to come up with one by this message. Threebs (talk) 22:33, 7 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As you say, it hasn't got that much higher a resolution. Either one's fine.--FlammingoHey 09:36, 4 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Isn't this vandalism

"hjhjdfvhshfjksdgh hudhfudfuehf " is in the second paragraph. Isn't this vandalism? I changed it but it was reverted. Why?

  1. ^ Free, Katherine B., Greek Drama and the Kutiyattam, Theatre Journal, Vol. 33, No. 1. (Mar., 1981), pp. 80-89.
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