context Flashcards
fate and free will in Oedipus
- Herodotus says even the gods could not escape the fates and so feared them
- Success of Athens over Persia may have seemed a victory over fate
Hubris in Oedipus
- written 430BC, at the start of the Pelopennesian war, a war against a powerful enemy. Play could be a warning.
- Sophists proposing scientific explanations for natural phenomena
Reason and logic in Oedipus
anaxagoras suggests the sun was a ball of fire and the moon was rock
when did stone theatres start to be built?
late fourth century (wooden ones until then)
who was the centeral seat of the prohedira/klismoi reserved for?
the priest of Dionysus
When was the orchestra a trapezoid?
5th century
when did the skene come about?
probably didn’t exist in ealry tragedy. By middle of 5th cnetury was a large wooden hut with a double door entering on the the stage
what was the wheel platform called?
ekkyklema
what was the crane called?
mechane
when did black figure vases shift to red figure vases?
around the 5th century BC
When did Athens stop making vases?
was a maajor centre of production in the 6th century BC
around 400 BC, decline in Athenian pottery, but vases have survived from southern Italy
how many chrous memebers were there in tragedy?
15
how many Athenians per year would be in a chorus
over 1000 (dithyrmabic contests)
what would the choregos do?
-select the members of the chrous for the play he was financing
what would the auletes do?
acompany the chorus with an aulos (a double reed instrument)
what were the roles of the chrous?
- part of the action
- create mood
- offerred commentary or moral opinion
- break between scenes
- symbolise time passing
How many members would be in the chorus for comedy?
24
what is a monody?
a solo song, often at a moment of great distress
what is a kommos?
a formal song at a moment of hightened emotion involving dialogue between the actor and the chrous
what did the masks of each genre look like?
Tragedy = solemn comedy = build farce. Often paradoied appearance of political figures
how were the masks helpful?
would allow actor to play multiple roles and make it easier for the audience to recognise the characters
what was a chiton?
an ornately decorated full length robe
what was a himation?
cloak reaching the knees
describe tragic costumes
- closesly fitted
- ornate and colourful
- reflecting the grand and heroic characters of the genre
what were Kothornoi?
soft leather boots that reached up to the thigh
Describe comic costumes
short tunic and tights
thick padding around midriff
oversized leather phallus
describe a satyr play
- chorus members are stayrs (contrast the serious main characters)
- maintain the characters and structure of a greek tragedy
- happy atmostphere and rural background
what was the moral issue with tragedy?
no violence allowed on stage due to moral subject matter
no direct political comment allowed
when did tragedy begin?
from late 6th century BC
what other ideas did tragedy orignate from?
- lyrical perfomances of epic poetry
- masks worn in riutal worship of Bacchus
- music and dance in Dionysiac ritual
how many actrs were orignailly on stage?
only one
what did Aeschylus contribute to tragedy?
- wrote the persians (only surviving greek tragedy concerned with contemporary events)
- added a second actor
- first to present plays as trilogies
What did Sophocles contribute to tragedy?
- added a third actor and painted scenary
- wrote more than 100 plays but only 7 survive
what did Euripides contribute to tragedy?
- sympathy towards victims of society e.g. women
- thought provoking and unsettling
- realism and clever dialogue
what happened to cmedy in the 4th century BC?
chrous became less imoporatnt
play became less political
when was the first comedy perfomed?
487BC
what does the word ‘comedy’ stem from?
Greek words for revel and song
who would judge the 5 comic playwrights?
10 ordinary citizens
were slaves in the audience?
Athens was democratic, but was a slave economy, so probably not
were women in the audinece
perhaps, but were not the target audience
who WOULD be in the audeince
anyone with a vote. Theoric fund. seen as civic duty to attend
what best describes greek theatre?
a multi-media event
how did Aristophanes approach theatre?
- he reuses tragedies plot, characters and language
- rivals trageides impiortant messages with his own
- offers aspects of escape and fantasy
- politically pertinent
- blends satire and theatricality
how did people respond to Aristophanes?
- unpopular with the state for his criticism of leadership
- given awards for is political message to unify athens
what often gave Aristophanes’ plays their names?
His animal choruses
the birds
the wasps
smut in aristophanes
shocking to our modern sensibilites
- comedy grew out of abuse and obscene language used at Dionysiac rituals
- allowed grotesque themes not accpetable in daily life
- touch on taboos
- sexual morality has chnaged so much!
does Aristophnaes reflect Athens?
- in order to flourish in a competeive enviornemtn, he must reflect a world and values that his audience understand
- he was on the more conservative side of the radical divide
- portrays ideas of a more moneyed background. Sympathy for sparta. Questions ideas of citizen rights
who was Cleon?
- powerful and popular political leader
- grew up in same deme as Aristophanes and was often lampooned with persoanl venom that made plays more exciting
How was socrates protrayed?
as a deluded buffoon. Extreme satire e.g. the clouds
what were Aristophanes’ [political messages in the frogs?
- impotrance of poets (homer and warfare, Hesoid and agriculture)
- ideas of citizenship (mocks that cleophon does not deserve his citizenship)
How did artistophanes portray women?
- 411C, explosion of women on aristophanes’ satge
- -> Lysistrata
- contrats his early career
- asks questions about power (like Antigone had)
what was the role of wmen in society?
- huige role in religion
- ideals are presented by male sources
- prespcriptive not descriptive (Pericles)
- high priestess of Athens probs in audeince
what can be said about women at the Thesmaphoria?
- housewives on stage is a strong comic stereotype
- no invisble - part of the athenian fabric
- paranoia about athenian citizenship
- -> Pericles’ citizenship law
how was the city Dionysia political?
- front rows reserved for important indidviduals
- theatre seats divided by tirbes
- cost two obols a day (theoric dund)
- public businesses ceased, law courts were lcosed and prisoners got day release
- the review
- judging (randomised to avoid bribery)
- parade of tribute and proclomation of honours (day two)
- eponymous archon was a leadingh politician
How was the city Dionysia Theatric?
- loud and opionated audience (ord-bearers)
- choregos trained a theatric chorus
- proagon
- in latter part of 5th century, day two is when comic plays were performed
- days 3-5 were for tragic plays
- eponymous archon drew lots for winner
- day one dithyrmabic competitions
How was the city Dionysia religious?
- torchlight procession the evening before
- komos and pompe on day one
- grand opening by priest of Dionysus
HWat happened to theatre in the late fourth century?
- spread through the Greek speaking world
- actors could reach star status and be rich
- famous old plays were revived and some were even adopted by the Latin pseaking wrold (Seneca)
What were the Eleusinian mysteries?
- yearly initiations for the cult of Persephone and Demeter
- kept a secret
- involved visions and conjuring of an afterlife, so scholars suggest Psychedelic drugs
Role of the gods in the Frogs
- Dionysus is cowardly, comic and mocked
- Hercales is mocked
- underowlrd is Athenian
What happened at Arginusae?
- 406BC
- Athenaisn won buyt did not go back for drowining and dead due to a storm
- assmebly voted to execute the generals
How is the Polis presented in the Frogs?
- aristocrat and slave both represnented
- Democracy collsapses a year after the play is released
- class tensions
- explosion of creativity had died
what is interesting about the portrayal of Aeschylus and Euripides in the frogs?
each exhibits the persona their tragic hero would
what key dates relate to Oedipus the king?
- 431: start of Peloppenisian war
- 430Bc: Athenian plague
- 430BC: play written
How does Pericles’ funeral speech relate to Oedipus the king?
- describes Athens
- pattern to others
- ideas of freedom and democracy are valued
what is a sophist?
a philosophy teacher
critical of gods
use rhetoric to get their way
what is a tyrnat?
a single person holding all the power
How does Thucydide’s descirbe the 430BC Athenian plague?
-utter hopelessness
when was The Bacchae written?
-406BC (Euripides’ last play)
why is the prologue in Bacchae interesting?
- Euripides often opened with a god expalinign what was happening, but tey did not usually sustain such a major role
- His mask wears a serene smile, nbut he has come to punish
What is an Oreibasia?
mountain dancing
outisder would respond with revulsion fear and suspicion
What is the role of Tiresias in the Bacchae?
- usually linked to objtecive truth
- gives ingenious arguments instead of knowledge n this play
What is the role of Cadmus in the Bacchae?
- strikingly human, despite mythic status
- -> heightens our emotional response
What is the role of Pentheus in the Bacchae?
- enclosed and stubborn
- contrasts solidarity of the Maenads
- Tyrannous, isolated and killed
- initaite reisiting inititaion
What is the role of the chours in the Bacchae?
- unusual
- foreign
- take sides with vengence
- women
- citizens of Thebes not represented
what were expectations of a Kyria?
-marry as young as 13, stay in domestic sphere
describe Cadmus’ family
married Harmony
had two daughters: Semele and Agave
Semele had an affair with Zeus
what is a dithyramb?
- prossesional song to accompany a god in to a city
- themes the audeiencew would be familiar with e.g. birth of a god
- early themes of Tragedy were Dionysus based –> opening scene of Baccahe re-enacts genisis of the whole genre
what is the relevance of cross-dressing in the Bacchae?
- Pentheus becomes docile when dressed a a woman
- in mystery cult the boundaries were dissolved
- mirrors
what is the significance of mystery cult to Baccahe?
- emotional and political significance
- “Dionysus created a light”
what is the significance of the polis to Baccahe?
- cult of Dionysus suspends and reverses the norms of the Polis
- -> scandalous as it challnges the patriarchy
- rituals imporant for well being of Polis
- Greece rejecting tyranny while tragedy was emerging
