Athenian Supremacy & Greek Tragedy: 5th Century BCE

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Athenian Rule in the 5th Century BCE

  • 490 BCE: Athens defeats Persians at Marathon
  • 404 BCE: Athens is defeated by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War
  • Between these two events, Athens enjoys cultural and political supremacy.

Dramatic Festivals

  • In honor of Dionysus, son of Zeus and Semele.
  • Dionysus was reared by satyrs, killed, dismembered, and resurrected.
  • In Attica, four annual festivals were held: Rural Dionysia, Lenaia, Anthesteria, and City Dionysia.

Origins of Tragedy

  • Various hypotheses for the meaning of TRAGOIDIA or “goat song”.
  • Aristotle’s Poetics: from improvisations by leaders of the DITHYRAMBS.
  • Other hypotheses: recited stories, sung poetry, and narrative dance.
  • First recorded author of tragedies: THESPIS.
  • Thespis started dialogue between himself and the chorus.

Structure of Greek Tragedy

  • [Prologue]: Information on previous events.
  • PARODOS (plural PARODOI): Entrance of the chorus.
  • EPISODES (3 to 6): Develop the main action.
  • STASIMON (plural: STASIMA): Choral dance songs.
  • EXODOS: Exit of the chorus.

Aeschylus (c. 523-456)

  • The Persians (472): The only one based on history.
  • Seven Against Thebes (467)
  • The Oresteia, the only extant trilogy: Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, and Eumenides (458).
  • The Suppliants
  • Prometheus Bound (probably after 468)
  • Major innovation: introduction of the second actor.

Sophocles (c. 496-406)

  • Thought to have written more than 120 plays, but only seven have survived:
    • Ajax (between 450 and 440)
    • Antigone (c. 441)
    • Oedipus the King (c. 430-425)
    • Electra (c. 418-410)
    • Trachiniae (c. 413)
    • Philoctetes (409)
    • Oedipus at Colonus (406)
  • Credited with the introduction of the third actor.
  • Fixed the size of the chorus at fifteen members.
  • First use of scene painting.
  • Mastery of dramatic structure: Oedipus the King is often called the most perfect of Greek tragedies.

Euripides (c. 480-406)

  • Wrote about 90 plays, of which 18 have survived. Among these:
    • Medea
    • Heracles
    • The Trojan Women
    • Electra
    • Iphigenia in Tauris
    • The Phoenician Women
    • Orestes
    • The Bacchae
    • Iphigenia in Aulis
  • Cyclops, a satyr play.
  • Famous for his outrageous themes, plots, and emphasis on spectacle.

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