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the Greek theater in 5th century BC

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today we see theater as entertainment, something like television or movies

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in 5th century Athens, theater, particularly tragic theater, was central to cultural, political, civic life

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early history is hard to define

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but always connected to ritual

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always connected to the god Dionysus

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god of wine, shape changing, masks

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seems to have evolved from choric contests

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men singing for honorific prizes

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by the 5th century, tragedy involved the entire community

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two great festivals for drama

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1. Lenaia [Λήναια]

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primarily for comedy

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took place in winter

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2. City Dionysia

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tragedies

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took place in spring

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was central in the city

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south slope of the Acropolis

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a natural bowl in the geography

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wooden benches

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some kind of stage

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probably rebuilt in Rome

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parts of a theater

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building behind the playing area that was originally a hut for the changing of masks and costumes

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orchestra

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where the chorus sang and danced

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choruses remained important throughout Greek tragedy

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seating area

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where the word theater comes from

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theater in Epidaurus

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in the Peloponnese

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very well preserved outdoor theater

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Theater of Dionysus in Athens

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seated around 15,000

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a good proportion of the population who could vote

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intended audience was the free, adult male

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based on various historical evidence, it is likely that at least some women, slaves, and foreigners in attendance

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relatively few actors

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three in developed tragedy

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all male

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all masked

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when you are that far back in the theater, subtle face gestures couldn't be noticed, but what you had were beautiful acoustics

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masks could be a identified easily

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this is why you have cues in the tragedies, e.g. "I see that you are weeping"

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today these kinds of cues are not necessary

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in the Greek theater it was essential to know what was happening

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all chorus members male

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each year, three poets would compete in the tragic festival

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found three wealthy citizens to defray the expenses

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10 citizen judges, one from each tribe

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began with a processes

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statue of Dionysus was brought in and put in prominent position

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priest of Dionysus would sit next to him

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then judges and major officials

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by the mid 5th century this procession also included procession of young men whose fathers had died in war the year before

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they were celebrated and promised the support of the city

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all 10 generals would convene, e.g. Pericles, reelected 17 years in a row

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from 454 BC on, the actual treasure was carried across in the form of bars of precious medal

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the poets were celebrated, being public figures

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we only have a small fragment of all plays produced

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complete plays by only three playwrights

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the function of the poems were to serve as an instructive resource for the citizens of the city

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the poets took their themes from myth

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1. especially Homer

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2. also the myth cycle that centered on the city of Thebes

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the doomed house of Oedipus

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the house of Cadmus and his offspring which included Dionysus (Semele was Camdmus' daughter and Dionysus mother, mated with Zeus to have Dionysus)

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why in Athens at this time that this art form of tragedy developed so fully

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The Tragic Moment

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democracy was still very young, 50 years old

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strains among the different factions

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one-man-one-vote ideology

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was coming in the tension with the old values represented in the myths

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the playwrights exploited these tensions as they used their plays to consider issues

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these are not like political cartoons

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investigate and give us ways to think about some of the large issues in Athenian culture

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Antigone by Sophocles

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first play on the theme of the House of Oedipus

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one of the most revived plays in the Greek canon

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Oedipus the great problem solver

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solved the riddle of the Sphinx: what walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening

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was not only the great problem solver but the great problem

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committed two of the greatest crimes Greek could imagine: incest and paracide

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exiled from Thebes

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cursed his sons in a battle against each other in which both are killed

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Antigone begins on the day after that battle

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the regent Creon, the loyal brother be Eteocles [Ἐτεοκλῆς] be buried, but the attacking brother Polynices [Πολυνείκης] be unburied

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Polynices' sister gives permission to give her brother burial

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question the play posed

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how does one connect to one's community

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Antigone is loyal to a fault to her dead brother

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Creon, the new king, identifies himself with the community

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it is not just that Antigone is right and Creon is wrong, no play is that simple-minded, nor is this some sort of morality play about individual vs. state, female vs. male, powerless vs. powerful, these are only subordinate elements as the Greek tragedians were far too sophisticated and far to skilled to write anything that mechanical.

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instead, Sophocles has presented us with a dilemma which has to be resolved and a variety of approaches to it

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it does end up with Antigone being proven right, but at what cost?

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the Sophoclean hero, again and again, is a character, in this case a woman, who takes a position and sticks to it no matter what cost to herself

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by the end of the play Creon, the new king, is left utterly alone, Antigone is dead, his own son Haemon is dead, his wife has killed herself, and what Creon has at the end is this lonely status of somebody who has come to wisdom through suffering

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famous chorus line from Antigone: "Many are the things that are wonderful and scary, but none so wonderful and scary as man." which is followed by a catalog of human achievements

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but they also remind the audience and those who are reading it two millennia later that there are things we don't have control over

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in this way Sophocles was instructing his audience at a time when they were riding high, at a time of enormous prosperity in Athens

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one of the morals we can take from the Antigone is that there are, after all, limits on all of us