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english drama > background to greek drama > Flashcards

background to greek drama Flashcards

1
Q

what is the traditional way of indicating years?

A

B.C. (before christ, before year 0) - write after the year
A.D. (anno domini - in the year of the lord, after year 0) - written before the year

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2
Q

what is the new way of indicating years?

A

B.C.E. (before the common era, before birth of christ(0)) - written after year
C.E. (common era, after birth of christ (0)) - written after year

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3
Q

what is city-state in greek?

A

polis (singular), poleis (plural)

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4
Q

what words in the english language still use the greek word for city-state?

A
  • metropolis (mother city) - common noun
  • Annapolis (city of queen Anne) - proper noun
  • Minneapolis (city of Minnesota) - proper noun
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5
Q

what are the years of the golden age of Athens?

A

480-404 B.C.

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6
Q

what happened in 480 B.C to mark the beggining of the golden age of Athens?

A

Battle of Salamis, Second Greco-Persian War and Battle of Thermopylae (first major engagement in Second Greco-Persian War

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7
Q

what happened in 404 B.C to mark the end of the golden age of Athens?

A

End of Peloponnesian war

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8
Q

what happened during the battle of Salamis?

A
  • greeks lured Persian fleet into narrow waters between Island of Salamis and mainland
  • greeks turned on them and sank many many ships
  • Xerxes (Persian tyrant) had to postpone his planned land offensives until next year
  • delay gave the greek city-states time to turn against him
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9
Q

how did the peloponnesian war end?

A
  • Spartan city-states against Athens and its allies
  • Athens exhausted ressources in the war and lost many allies
  • they had to capitulate in 404 B.C. due to their lack of resources and a famine
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10
Q

how was the festival of Dionysia organized?

A
  • reserved for citizens (no women, children, slaves)
  • Archon: city magistrate who chose playwrights who would compete and assigned the choregos
  • choregos: sponsor (wealthy citizens) who gave financial, material and organizational support, such as providing masks and money.
  • playwright: responsible for writing plays, directing them and sometimes act
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11
Q

how was the dionysia scheduled?

A
  • 6 days long (days 4,5,6 for dramatic competitions)
  • day 4-5: 2 different playwrights present their tetralogy (3 tragedies and 1 satyrplay) on each respective day
  • days 4-5: during war, comic playwright presents 1 comedy. during peace, comic playwright presents 2 comedies
  • day 6: 3rd playwright presents tetralogy and a comic playwright only presents 1 comedy (always)
  • tragedy: 1.5h
  • satyrplay: 1h
  • comedy: 2h
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12
Q

how was the dionysia judged?

A
  • 1 judge from each tribe (10 to 15 tribes)
  • rank tragic playwrights from 1-3 and comic playwrights from 1-3/5
  • in fifth century B.C. , no prize for the winner, only prestige in Athens for playwright and choregos
  • from 534 to 500 B.C., prize was a goat
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13
Q

how did Aeschylus contribute to the evolution of tragedy?

A
  • added a second actor to the dramatic performances
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13
Q

where does the word tragedy come from?

A
  • from when they used to give a goat to the winner of the Dionysia
  • tragedy meant “goat-song” : a song someone sings to win a goat
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14
Q

how did sophocles contribute to the evolution of tragedy?

A
  • added 3rd actor in dramatic performances (was then done by other playwrights)
  • enlarged the size of the chorus from 12 to 15 men
  • introduced painted sceneries for when the action does not take place in front of a palace or temple (ex: Philoctetes)
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15
Q

Orestia

A
  • Aeschylus
  • tragedy - trilogy
  • Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and Eumenides
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16
Q

Orestia in detail

A
  • Agamemnon: during the Trojan war, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to get favorable winds for the Greek fleet. After the war is done, he goes back to his wife Clytemnestra with Cassandra (stolen Trojan princess) and they both die in the castle
  • The Libation Bearers: Orestes (Agememnon’s son) returns to Argos to avenge his father Agamemnon under Apollo’s command. He meets at the grave his sister Electra, who was sent by their mother to pour libations on the grave to get pardonned. They get together to kill their mother and start getting haunted by furies.
  • Eumenides: Orestes is being haunted by furies after killing his mother, so he goes to see Apollo. He promises to protect him and orders him to go to Athens to see Athena so she can do his trial. The ghost of Clytemnestra orders the furies to go after him. Athena puts the trial into the citizens’ hands and the vote is equal. Orestes is acquitted but the furies are promised a permanent home and honor from Athena.
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17
Q

Theban Plays

A
  • Sophocles
  • Oedipus Rex (The King) - 431 B.C.
  • Oedipus at Colonus - shortly before 406 B.C.
  • Antigone - 441 B.C
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18
Q

Euripides’ last play

A
  • Iphigenia at Aulis
  • The Bacchae
  • Alcmaeon at Corinth (lost)
  • written in Macedonia and brought to Athens by his son
19
Q

Lysistrata

A
  • Aristophanes
  • comedy
  • 411 B.C
  • follows a disastrous phase of the war for Athens (Athens is vulnerable to attack by Sparta)
  • explores the premise that the women of Greece could unite to oppose the war
  • led by Athenian Lysistrata (means “disband of the army”), women barricade themselves in Acropolis, withholding sex from the men until peace is declared.
20
Q

how did Thespis create the play and give birth to drama as an art form?

A
  • started with the dithyramb : a hymn sung and danced in honor of Dionysus (stories about his beneficence, power and glory)
  • added an actor to the dithyramb : played the role of a character (Dionysus or someone involved in the stories)
  • chorus then becomes “actors too”
  • dialogue now possible between actor and chorus
21
Q

in what year was the first Dionysia?

A

534 B.C.

22
Q

what are the parts of a Greek tragedy in order?

A
  1. prologos
  2. parados
  3. epeisodion
  4. stasimon
  5. exodus
23
Q

which parts of the greek tragedy appear many times and alternate?

A
  • epeisodion and stasimon alternate
  • epeisodion: scene of dialogue between actors and chorus (after parados (choral entrance))
  • after first epeisodion comes the first stasimon (all choral odes after choral entrance) - dance + sing
24
Q

what is a strophic structure?

A
  • in choral ode (parados or stasimon)
  • one or more strophic pairs + sometimes an epode
  • strophe = chorus members in three lines dance in one direction (turn)
  • antistrophe = dance back in opposite direction (counterturn)
  • strophe and antistrophe are identical, except from the direction of the dance
  • epode = “after-song” - can dance in any direction
  • when many strophic pairs, they move to face different parts of the audience during each
25
Q

describe the earlier type of eccyclema.

A
  • stage machinery used to display interior scene
  • rotating plateform in shape of a half-circle with a panel of wood rising perpendicularly from the straight side of the half-circle
  • could be rotated into or out of skene
  • when inside, an actor can get on a plateform and would then be rotated outside
26
Q

use Agamemnon to illustrate how the eccyclema is used.

A
  • Agamemnon arrives at Clytemnestra’s palace with Cassandra (skene)
  • they enter the palace and die in it (we hear Agamemnon’s cries)
  • the interior of the palace is revealed (eccyclema rotates)
  • the bodies and Clytemnestra are on the platform: indicating this scene is happening inside the palace
27
Q

what is the family tree of atreus and aerope?

A

Agamemnon (son of atreus and aerope, Sparta) - Clytemnestra (Argos): Iphigenia, Electra, Orestes
Menelaus (son of atreus and aerope, Sparta) - Helen (Troy)

28
Q

How did the Trojan War start?

A
  • Paris goes to Sparta and he and Helen fall in love and elope in Troy
  • Menelaus is mad and creates an army with other greek cities to start war against Troy to get Helen back
29
Q

why did Agamemnon sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia?

A
  • Agamemnon killed one of Artemis’ (goddess of the hunt) stags, so she sends the Greeks unfavorable winds during the war.
  • she says he needs to sacrifice Iphigenia in order for her to sens favorable winds to the Greek fleet
30
Q

who is Cassandra?

A
  • Trojan princess: sister of Paris
  • was given the gift of prophecy from Apollo, but the curse that no one would ever believe what she said when giving a prophecy (since she rejected him)
31
Q

what happens in Eumenides?

A
  • the furies are the chorus
  • after the trial, they have beneficient powers and change name: eumenides
32
Q

which unities does Hippolytus have?

A

action, time, place

33
Q

what is the action in Hippolytus?

A

Aphrodite uses Phaedra as a means to punish Hippolytus for refusing to worship her.

34
Q

what is the time in Hippolytus?

A

the day on which Aphrodite will bring about Hippolytus’ death through Phaedra’s treacherous strategem

35
Q

what is the place in Hippolytus?

A

in front of the royal palace at Trozen from beggining to end.

36
Q

what unities does Agamemnon have?

A

action and place

37
Q

what is the action in Agamemnon?

A

Clytemnestra avenges her daughter Iphigenia who was sacrificed by Agamemnon by killing him.

38
Q

what is the place in Agamemnon?

A

in front of the palace in Argos

39
Q

why isn’t there a time unity in Agamemnon?

A

there is a big time gap after the fall of Troy and before the message gets to the city by the messenger

40
Q

what unities are in Eumenides?

A

action

41
Q

what is the action in Eumenides?

A

Orestes is being prosecuted by furies since he killed his mom after she killed his dad.

42
Q

what unities are present in The Libation Bearers?

A

action, time, place

43
Q

what is the action in The Libation Bearers

A

Orestes comes back to Argos to avenge his father since he was killed by his mother

44
Q

what is the place in the Libation Bearers?

A

in front of the palace at Argos (Agamemnon’s grave)

45
Q

why aren’t there the unities of time and place in Eumenides?

A
  • big jumps in time since travel from city to city
  • 3 different places where the scene takes place
46
Q

what happened during the Battle of Thermopylae?

A
  • King of Sparta held the entire Persian army in their tracks at Thermopylae mountain pass
  • they fought until the last man
  • Persians were helped by a Greek traitor after 3 days of battle
  • hollow victory for Persians, since they lost many men

english drama (1 decks)

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