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Classics > Greek Theatre > Flashcards

Greek Theatre Flashcards

1
Q

What is an agon?

A

A formal debate in which the playwright can showcase opposing arguments

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2
Q

What was an auletes?

A

An aulos player, each chorus was accompanied by one

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3
Q

What was an aulos?

A

a double reed musical instrument similar to an oboe

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4
Q

Who were the Bacchants?

A

female followers of Dionysus

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5
Q

What was Bacchism?

A

The cult worship of Dionysus

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6
Q

What was a Catharsis?

A

A word meaning ‘cleansing’ or ‘purification’

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7
Q

What was a chiton?

A

A full length robe- ornately decorated

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8
Q

What were the choral odes?

A

songs performed by the chorus

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9
Q

Who was the choregos?

A

the financial backer attached to a playwright to support the production of the plays

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10
Q

what was the crane?

A

A device which raised an actor above the level of the skene building

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11
Q

what was a deme?

A

A village or district of Attica

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12
Q

What was the dithyramb?

A

A choral song sung in honour of Dionysus

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13
Q

What was the parados?

A

the entry way into the orchestra from each side of the theatre

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14
Q

What were the Eleusinian Mysteries

A

An important religious cult in honour of Demeter and her daughter Persephone. Anyone who wished could be initiated into the cult

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15
Q

What was the eponymous archon?

A

A leading politician of Athens who was responsible for running the City Dionysia.

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16
Q

What was the exodus?

A

The final section of a play

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17
Q

What was a hamartia?

A

A word which meant ‘mistake’ in a tragedy- such a mistake would lead to a disastrous outcome

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18
Q

What was hubris?

A

A range of behaviours from outrageous or excessive behaviour through to physical or sexual assault

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19
Q

What were the iambus?

A

The spoken sections of the play (Iambics)

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20
Q

What was a kommos

A

A formal song sung in moments of heightened emotion involving dialogue between an actor and the chorus

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21
Q

what was a komos?

A

a loosely organised revel through the streets with song and dance

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22
Q

What were kothornoi?

A

Soft leather boots which reached up to the thigh

23
Q

What was the Lenaea?

A

A drama festival held in Athens in late January

24
Q

What was a lyric?

A

The sung sections of a play. Choral odes are always composed in lyric, and accompanied by dancing , but the characters sometimes also sing in lyric at particularly emotional times

25
Q

Who were the maenads?

A

An alternative name for the Bacchants

26
Q

What is a monody?

A

A solo song by an actor, often sung at moments of great distress

27
Q

what does ‘oikos’ mean?

A

literally ‘house’ this term is used to describe a household or family unit

28
Q

what is the orchestra?

A

the ‘dancing area’ below the theatron where the chorus performed

29
Q

what is the parabasis?

A

A section of comedy in which the chorus addresses the audience directly, speaking in the voice of the playwright

30
Q

what is the parodos?

A

the first ode which the chorus perform while coming into the theatre

31
Q

What was the peripeteia?

A

A terrible reversal of fortune in tragedy

32
Q

What does ‘physis’ mean?

A

Personal nature, something you are born with and cannot be changed by circumstances

33
Q

what does ‘pietas’ mean?

A

duty to the family, to the state and to the gods

34
Q

What does ‘polis’ mean?

A

the word for a Greek city state

35
Q

What was a pompe

A

A grand religious procession

36
Q

What was the proagon

A

An event which acted as a preview and introduction to the festival

37
Q

What was the prohedria?

A

the front row seating in the theatron reserved for VIPs

38
Q

What is a prologue?

A

the opening of the play which sets the scene

39
Q

What was the Rural Dionysia

A

a drama festival held in the rural demes of Attica in mid-winter

40
Q

What was a satyr?

A

A mythological creature who was a follower of Dionysus. Half human and half animal

41
Q

What was a satyr-play?

A

A play which parodied tragedy and was presented along with three tragedies by the same playwright

42
Q

What was the ‘simpulum’

A

A ritual ladle used for pouring libations and sacrificesw

43
Q

What was the skene

A

A wooden hut used as a backdrop and for actors to change

44
Q

What was a sophist?

A

A group of influential philosophers in fifth century Athens, whose interests included religion, ethics, rhetoric and science

45
Q

What was a ‘stasimon’

A

The name for a choral ode after the parados

46
Q

What is a stichomythia

A

A dialogue in which two characters speak alternate lines of verse. This makes exchanges punchy, and is particularly appropriate for the agon.

47
Q

What was the theatron?

A

The seating area in a Greek Theatre

48
Q

What was the Theoric Fund

A

A fund provided by the Athenian state which ensured that poorer citizens could afford to attend the City Dionysia

49
Q

What was a thyrsus?

A

A ritual staff made of a fennel stalk carried by the followers of Dionysus

50
Q

What is tragic irony?

A

where the playwright contrasts the characters limited knowledge with the audience’s wider understanding

51
Q

what was a tribe?

A

A political division in Athens. there were 10 of them

52
Q

What was ‘tyrannos’

A

A tyrant or king (not necessarily a negative meaning)

53
Q

What is the wheel platform

A

A wooden platform on wheels brought on stage which showed a scene from off stage

Classics (2 decks)

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