Ancient Greece

Lesson 7: Greek Drama

The Festival of Dionysus

Dramatic performances in Classical Athens were very different from what we see today.

For one thing, the theatre was a popular and not an elite form of entertainment.

In our modern society, only a minority of the population attend theatrical performances on a regular basis. In fact, unless one lives in a major city like London or New York, it is very difficult to have access to good quality theatrical performances in the first place. Many people never even attend major theatrical performances.

In Classical Athens the picture was somewhat different. Dramatic performances were not held on a regular basis and when they were it was usually on a festival day. Most people would do their best to attend, as they would probably not have to work on such a day.

The most important of the theatrical festivals was the Festival of Dionysus.

Dionysus, the god of wine and ecstasy, was intimately associated with the theatre. In fact, he was even worshipped in the form of a mask!! The main theatre in Athens was also called the Theatre of Dionysus.

The Festival itself was actually a religious event dedicated to Dionysus. It usually ran over a few days.

On each day, the audience would watch three tragedies, a satyr play and a comedy, quite a heavy schedule for even the most enthusiastic theatre-goer! (Greek plays, however, were a lot shorter than our modern or even Shakespearian plays)

These dramatic festivals were highly competitive events. The different playwrights were all competing agaisnt one another to win the first prize.

Competition was an integral part of Greek culture. Greek society has been described as one in which "zero-sum" competitiveness played an important part. This was roughly equivalent with what we would mean by the phrase "winner takes all".

The classical Greek word for a competition was 'agon', from which we get our English word 'agony'!

There was usually a first prize for tragedy and another for comedy.

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