Ancient greek theatre:

Introduction:
Ancient Greek theatre origins remained to the ancient festival Dionysia during the period of the
6th century BC in Athens, during the tyranny of Peisistratus, . The Dionysia consisted of a
religious tribute to the God of the wine, fertility, and later theater, Dionysus. This is mainly
because before the institutionalization of theater, as a place of art, democratic expression and
entertainment; the original dances, masks, and chorus were entirely based on the drinking rituals
from the myth/history of the first worshippers of Dionysus. These were known as Maenads; the
female followers of Dionysus.

(Illustration of a Maenad. They lived in the wilderness together, in order to coexist with nature

In the second imagine they are performing what it calls, the Dithyramb) .

“. -The word “maenads”  literally mean "raving ones", because the maenads were known for
dancing erotically and ravenously in a wine-induced intoxication. The purpose of these rituals
for the maenads was to have a religious experience, obtain the state of a trance, and get closer
to divinity. -“. Comunale, Joseph. “Maenads, Greek Mythology: Dionysus Followers”.
study.com (https://study.com/learn/lesson/what-is-a-maenad-greek-mythology.html)

By then, these religious rituals were assimilated by later cults of Dionysus. They created in those
rituals, the “Dithyramb”. Originally, Dithyramb was known as early as the 7th century BC in
Greece it consisted of a choral song, in honor of the God of fertility. They were entirely
improvised by banqueters, by order of the cult’s leader, in a drunken state. They recited Poems in

an improvised way, or sing about ancient Greek myths and stories (most of them were related to
Dionysus). They would also use certain masks in order to impersonate a deity. The dancing
moves were based on the “ravenously” dances of the first Maenads. Instruments would also have
been incorporated. The most commonly used was the “Aulos”.

As we can see, Dithyramb was strongly rooted by religious traditions. But it did not happen
much until in the same period, (600 BC) that the traditional ritual - “began to achieve literary
distinction about 600  BC, when, according to the Greek historian Herodotus, the poet
Arion composed works of this type, named the genre, and formally presented them at Corinth”-.

Though literary distinction, Dithyramb manage to emancipated from any religious connotation
and gave birth a movement of poetic scholars, who intended to transform the tradition into an art
called, “Drama”. “-According to Greek tradition, the actor and playwright Thespis invented the
drama when he augmented the chorus of the dithyramb with a single actor who wore masks to
portray several different characters. With the possibility of dialogue between the actor and the
chorus, more complex themes and modes of storytelling could be developed”-.
- “The entire cosmos was depicted in the drama, represented on a vertical set: above was the
seat of the gods, below was the place of exile and punishment, and in the middle was the flat
circle of the Earth, represented by the circular orchestra, where the chorus performed. -“

The creator of drama genre, it is very discussed between scholar of ancient Greek history. Some
would agree that was Thespis, because of his contributions in drama and the changes in some
aspects of the structure of drama –

[CHANGE PARAGRAPH AND DECIDE: EXPAND IT OR ERASE IT]

One of the most influential playwrights of Drama, was Aeschylus. Thanks to his plays, he
encouraged the exploration of more complex topics, such as politics, moral discussions,
Philosophy and perspectives of human life. That is how between all this process of exploration,
Tragedy came to birth. Sometime later, other next two plays, among Tragedy would be created:
Comedy and Satyr. The three of them had their most important representatives, but first we need
to talk about the festivals made, not only to make an obeisance, but to decide which play would
surpass among others.

“The Dionysia”:

The Dionysia, also called “Great Dionysia” or “City Dionysia”, was a massive festival that was
created in the 6th Century BC, for paying tributes to the God of Fertility Dionysus. It happened
every March of the year; and it encouraged the democratic thought by the form of Tragedy,
Comedy and Satyr plays. Besides the tributes; the main event was the competition between
playwrights, whose plays would be qualified by a selected Jury, and the one succeeds, would
embrace the recognition and transcendence of the playwright and the play itself by inscribing
their names in a wall of stone of the theater.

*Note: During the Tyranny of