Transcript Slides

Greek Tragedy
Background Information
The Career of Æschylus
The House of Atreus
Development of Greek Tragedy
– Dithyramb and Satyrika
• Strophic choral poetry
• Associated c. Dionysiac worship
• Originated in Corinth ca. 600 B.C.
– Thespis
• Probably NOT the creator of tragedy
• Perhaps introduced the prologue and speech
– Æschylus: introduced the 2nd actor
– Sophocles introduced the 3rd actor
Greek Tragedy in the 5th Century
– Location
• Theater of Dionysus in Athens
• Syracuse
– Setting
• Festivals in Attica
– City Dionysia
– Rural Dionysia
– Lenæa
• Competition
Athenian Acropolis and Environs
Theater of Dionysus
Theatre at Syracuse
Theatre Plan
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1. Orchestra
2. Eisodoi
3. Skene
4. Skene building
5. Cavea
The Tragic Machinery
• Chorus
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12-15 Members
Masked
Dancing
Strophic Songs (c.
antistrophes)
– Characters
– Stasimon vs. Parodos
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Actors (also masked)
Skene
Mechane
Ekkyklema
Skene, Mechane, and Ekkyklema
Masks
The Greater Dionysia
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3 Tragedians
12 Plays
Satyr Plays
Choregia/Choregos (liturgies)
Comedy
Ritual
Æschylus’ Career
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Ca. 525: Born in Eleusis
499: First Tragic Production
490: Marathon
484: First Victory
480: Salamis
472: Persians (Pericles is choregos)
467: Seven against Thebes
???: Suppliants
458: Oresteia
ca. 457: Goes to Sicily
456?: Prometheus Bound
456/5: Dies
The House of Atreus
• 1st Generation
– Names
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Pelops
Hippodameia
Oinomaos
Myrtilos
– Events
• The Race
• 2nd Generation
– Names
• Atreus
• Aërope
• Thyestes
– Events
• The Seduction
• The Ram
• The Feast
The House of Atreus
3rd Generation
– Agamemnon
– Menelaos
– Clytemnestra
• Orestes
• Electra
• Iphigeneia
– Ægisthos
• Events Important to
Agamemnon
– The Feast of Thyestes
– The Blood Curse
– The Sacrifice of
Iphigeneia at Aulis
– The Trojan War