The Impact Of Ancient Greek Theater And Tragedy

The ancient Greeks have influenced the way nations run their people, the way people view knowledge and their lives, and the way people feel about their home and native country. All of these contributions that the ancient Greeks made are still prevalent not just in American culture, but in society as a whole. The ancient Greeks made several contributions to Western civilization such as the idea of democracy, philosophy, and value of patriotism and national pride. The idea of having a democratic government, which comes from the ancient Greeks, has influenced several nations around the world to govern their people with some form of democracy.

Theater in ancient Greece was considered the climax of the days long cultural festival of The City Dionysia. At the festival, various types of plays were shown but one of the most popular was tragedy. These tragedies show the main character, usually a god or person of myth, going through human suffering and the terrible sequence of events that followed; and were produced in 472- 401 BCE. In order for a play to be performed at The City Dionysia festival; tragic playwrights would first have to appeal to the state official that was organizing the festival by submitting ideas to him and his committee. The ideas submitted were outlines of main themes and points of interest to be performed in the play. If a playwright was selected by the state official and his committee, then they received a financial backer and a chance to compete in the drama competition of the festival. The state official, or his committee, was likely pushing their own agenda and choose playwrights that matched their ideals. This is just one example of how theater in ancient Greece was used to influence the morality of Greek culture by using the stories of tragedies, like those of Euripides.

Theatre became important to Greek cultures when it became a part of the festival honoring the god Dionysus (The god of wine and fertility).”( Greek Mythology in Theater by Bruce Tucker October 27, 2016) The theater festival was founded to bring unity among the Attican tribes.( Greek Mythology in Theater by Bruce Tucker October 27, 2016) Athens was the main center of these traditions. Everyone came to sing and dance in hope for a good harvest. At one point, a Greek named Thespis began to sing praises to the god, with others responding, which led to the actor and chorus. During the festival everyone would dance and sing in a circle, in the middle of which was the altar to Dionysus. Over time the festivals started giving thanks to other themes, and eventually had nothing to do with Dionysus or any god, but began to turn into classical Greek plays. (First Ancient History, Oxford University Press 2000 pg.166)

Ancient Greek culture had major influences on today’s culture; some of these influences include mathematics, government, art and architecture; they even did research in the field of medicine. Many cultures and religions have adapted their ideas from the ancient Greeks. Without the influences of the ancient Greeks our society wouldn’t be the way it is today. The Greek culture lasted from around 776 BCE to 146 BCE (though it is argued to have begun around 1000 BCE), during this time they invented many technologies and refined old technologies. These things are what caused the ancient Greek culture to be such a powerful influence on western society today.

Theatre flourished in Greece, particularly in Athens, between c. 550 BC and c. 220 BC. During its beginnings theatrical performances were part of Dionysia, a festival held in honour of the god Dionysus. The plot of the plays was always inspired by Greek mythology, a theme that is still common today. Many modern plays and movies have been directly based on or incorporated elements of Greek mythology or simply mythology in general. Every play had a chorus, though the size and importance of it varied. The

The Greek civilization contributed greatly to the development of modern Western culture. Three of the most important contribution that are the foundations of our society are Language, Philosophy, and Government.

Ancient Greek made many advances during their time in many subjects still used today. The ancient Greeks advances in these subjects, influenced and contributed to the Western civilization. The Western civilization’s culture and outlook on life was shaped by ancient Greek. Many things the ancient Greeks created were the basis for what we use today, including, architecture, art, dramas, math, science, and philosophy.

The Western world was highly influenced by the ancient Greeks. The Greeks changed the way the world looks at art, math, architecture, philosophy, sports, and drama. Without the ancient Greeks, the modern world would not be the same. Men such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle changed the way we look at philosophy. The Athenians created the first known democracy, setting the stage for future governments. The Euclidian Theorem and the Pythagorean Theorem among others made mathematics easier and more developed. Even current architecture can be traced back to the Parthenon and other pieces of Greek architecture. The Olympics even started in ancient Greece, creating one of the finest traditions the world has ever known. Without the ancient

In ancient Greece festivals were mainly held at the Great Dionysia. This was the oldest theatre in Greece and many plays were performed here for example the first performance of Antigone. The patron of the theatre was the God

Classical Greek culture had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire, which carried a version of it to many parts of the Mediterranean region and Europe. Greek culture influenced the development of Roman civilization because at first Rome absorbed ideas from Greek colonists in southern Italy, and they continued to borrow from Greek culture after they conquered Greece. Ancient Greece has had an enormous amount of impact on culture in the western world. For this reason, Classical Greece is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of Western civilization. Rome conquered the Greek empire and its civilization, but Greek culture conquered imperial Rome. Furthermore, the Romans willingly

One of the earliest Greek records of satire can be traced to around 500 B.C. Early Greek satires ("Satyrs" or "Satyric dramas") were in essence comedy plays, usually fairly bawdy, and often involved men dressed as Satyrs (clearly the root of the word Satyric). Satyrs were mythological creatures with the upper half of a man and the bottom half of a goat or horse. "Satyr" was one of three forms of Athenian drama, nestling comfortably as a new genre alongside tragedy and comedy. Satyr was quickly developed between the writers Pratinas, Aristeas, and Aeschylus. These new "Satyrs" did not begin life as fully developed features - they were instead used as interval pieces to relieve the seriousness of tragic plays. These comic pieces, counterpointing and parodying the tragedy, became extremely popular devices and led to the extension of the form.

Though both genres of theatre are closely tied to religion, Greek theatre and medieval drama have different religious motivations that impact the ways in which the theatrical event is utilized. In Greece, theatre was used to entertain or please the Gods, more specifically the God Dionysus, during the most important of the four Athenian festivals: the Great Dionysia. The first known Greek playwrights, such as Thespis and Euripides, were chosen to compete in the festival and submit three tragedies and one satyr play to be performed in front of approximately 15,000 spectators. In classical Greece, theatre was the center of citizenship and society; religious ideologies towards Dionysus were not only realized by performances, but strongly encouraged by the state. For example, if a citizen could not afford to attend the

Tragedy as a form works differently than modern drama when compared to the ancient Greeks. When it comes to modern drama, the main character is usually an ordinary person, someone who is middle class. Where as with Greek tragedy, the main character is someone important and noble, such as a king or queen. Modern drama revolves around everyday problems such as social, economical, or personal conflicts. Greek Tragedies seem to be very linear. It’s mostly about the hero making a bad decision from the beginning of the play, which leads to his or her downfall in the end. Although, they were of higher ranking, ancient Greek’s beliefs made the main character powerless to avoid their fate, which was controlled by the gods. As far as conventions go, Greek Tragedies are very unified. The tragedy of the royal protagonist will go through only one time span, a day or less, one setting, and one story. In a modern tragedy, however, the ordinary protagonist’s story goes through multiple realistic settings and a realistic time line. Also, the story would contain multiple plots, which may contain flashbacks.

Ancient Greek literature is seen in our modern day. Epics were created in ancient Greece, and today many movie and books are made in that form. Also, fables like “The Tortoise and the Hare”, are still told today. Today, comedians make fun of social issues, politics, and public figures, just like in ancient Greece. Plays written in the form of dramas and tragedies are modeled like in the ancient Greece. Finally, many historians today model after Thucydides work. Ancient Greek writers created so many works that have changed the world and out

In Ancient Greece religion and theater went hand in hand. The Greeks developed religion that was based on worship of many Gods. In honor of the Gods there were festivals with dancing, music, and theatrical performances. During the festivals the whole city would come to a complete stand still. All businesses were closed, politics were put on the back burner, and wars were halted. All social classes were welcome to come to the festival, and they all did. One of the most famous religious festivals is the City Dionysia, a festival in honor of the god Dionysus, god of wine, revelry, and fertility. The festival was held in ancient Athens, in March for five days, featuring dramatic competitions. These dramatic competitions consisted of dithyrambs, tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. The tragedy competition was four plays per playwright, three tragedies and one satyr play. There were two processions; the first was carrying the statue of Dionysus from the temple to the theater of Dionysus at the foot of the Acropolis. The second were the patrons parading through the