greek theater the land greece has a rich culture and history
TRANSCRIPT
Greek TheaterGreek Theater
The LandThe Land
•Greece has a rich culture and history
The LandThe Land
•Democracy was founded
in Greece
The LandThe Land
•Patriarchal (male dominated)
society
The LandThe Land
•Philosophy, as a practice, began in Greece (Socrates,
Plato, Aristotle)
The LandThe LandLocated in Europe in the Aegean
Sea
The LandThe Land
The LandThe Land
Overview of Greek TheaterOverview of Greek Theater• The land
• Antigone
• The Theater
The TheaterThe Theater
The TheaterThe TheaterMain Portions of Greek Theater:
Theatron – Seating
for audience
The TheaterThe TheaterMain Portions of Greek Theater:
Orchestra – “Dancing
Place” where
chorus sang to the
audience
The TheaterThe TheaterMain Portions of Greek Theater:
Skene – wooden scene
building used as a dressing room.
The TheaterThe Theater Main Portions of Greek Theater:
Parados – entrance
to the theater used by
the Chorus
DionysusDionysus
•God of Wine and
fertility
The TheaterThe Theater
• Greek plays were performed during religious ceremonies held in honor of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and
fertility
The TheaterThe Theater
• Business would shut down for days, people would travel from all around to see the
drama competitions—even prisoners were temporarily released to see the plays
The TheaterThe Theater
Major Greek DramatistsMajor Greek Dramatists
Dramatist Born Wrote
Aeschylus 524 B.C. Seven Against Thebes
Sophocles 496 B.C. Antigone
Oedipus
Euripides 480 B.C. Medea
How were the dramas developed?How were the dramas developed?
• Thespis was the first playwright to tell a story. He had one chorus member step away from the others to play the part of a hero or god.
How were the dramas developed?How were the dramas developed?
Aeschylus added a second individual
actor to the performance, thus
creating the possibility of
conflict.
How were the dramas developed?How were the dramas developed?
•Sophocles adds a third actor; now
we have full-blown drama.
Overview of Greek TheatreOverview of Greek Theatre• The land
• Antigone
• The stage
The Chorus: A Group of Elderly The Chorus: A Group of Elderly MenMen
• The chorus was very dominant
• Represented society
• often served as the “ideal spectator” by providing advice, opinions, questions to the audience and actors.
The Chorus: A Group of Elderly The Chorus: A Group of Elderly MenMen
• singing and chanting
• summing up the action after every scene
• saying out loud what the audience should be thinking
Key Points Key Points
• Athenian playwrights often used the traditional stories to make points about their own era, and they often used mythological conflicts to portray contemporary ones to an audience.
• In Antigone, Sophocles focuses on the possible conflicts between one’s religion and one’s politics.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
•Is based on the myth of Oedipus
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
• Oedipus is given away by his parents, Laios and Jocasta
when they learn from an oracle that their son would kill his father and marry his
mother.
• The ancient citizens of Greece would sacrifice and
pray to an ORACLE.
• An oracle was a priest or priestess who would send a message from the gods
to mortals who brought their requests.
The Oracle at DelphiThe Oracle at Delphi
Most famous oracle in Greek mythology.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
• Oedipus learns of the oracle and believing the king and queen of Corinth are his
parents, he leaves to avoid the oracle.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone• Oedipus travels to Thebes, killing Laios on the way. He saves the city
from a terrible monster, the
Sphinx.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
•Thebes reward him by making him king and giving him the
queen to marry.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
• A plague hits the city and the oracle warns that it won’t go away until the killer of King Laios is
punished.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
•Oedipus investigates and finds out he killed
his father and married his mother.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
•Oedipus blinds
himself and Jocasta kills
herself.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
•Set in Thebes (a city in ancient
Greece)
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
•Antigone is the daughter of
Oedipus and Jocasta.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
•Antigone’s brothers, Eteokles and
Polyneices, were to rule in alternate years.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
•Eteokles refused to give up the throne
for Polyneices at the end of his year.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
•Polyneices went to Argos and raised an army to gain
the throne.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
•Eteokles and Polyneices killed
each other in battle.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
•Antigone’s uncle, Creon, became king of Thebes.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
• Antigone’s uncle, Creon, gives Eteokles, his ally, a hero’s burial and issues a decree against burying
Polyneices.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
•Antigone believes that he is wrong and that both of her brothers
should be buried with honor.
Sophocles’ Sophocles’ AntigoneAntigone
•The conflict between Antigone and Creon is the basis for the
play, Antigone .
The EndThe End