The Origins of Roman Theater: Greece

As mentioned earlier, the focus of Latin IV will be poetry. Poetry is one of the oldest written forms of communication and nearly every known culture in human history has used poetry in some form or another.

Image note: in the image to the right, Antigone pours out a libation to her deceased brother, Polynices, in an act of defiance. The king, Creon, had forbidden anyone from performing funeral rites for Polynices. The title of the painting is Antigone Gives Token Burial to the Body of Her Brother Polynices by Jules-Eugène Lenepveu. The multimedia artwork (watercolor, black ink, and chalk) was completed sometime between 1835 and 1898. The scene comes from the play Antigone by Sophocles.

The Origins of Western Drama

Drama is a form of poetry, so to explore its origin, we need to quickly examine poetry's role in ancient Greco-Roman society.

The earliest poetry that we know about in Western civilization was used to tell stories. Famously, the Greek poet Homer wrote down the epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey which were a detailed look at the Trojan War (a war between the Greek city-states and Troy) and its aftermath. These epic poems were a form of sharing historical accounts.

Notice we said "wrote down" - before Homer, these poems were shared widely through what's known as an oral tradition. Poets would recite these long and detailed tales of ancient events (remember: poem = carmina = song) to audiences and had done so for generations. Homer was just the first person to actually write down what these poets had been singing for all that time.

Transitioning to the Stage

As we have uncovered, poetry was a form of both education and entertainment. Poets would recount the amazing feats of ancient heroes and share details about the structures and functions of the universe and the gods. For the most part, these poets would perform for small groups of people at private parties (the host would hire the poet to entertain the guests).

There was another kind of poet, though - a type that focused on singing songs for Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and merriment. These songs were likely the first where people decided to act out what the song was saying: to make a play of it. It makes sense, then, that at some point, these poets turned their attention to a more public display of their talent.

What we see happen is the following: a group of people are singing dithyrambs (songs of praise to Dionysus). This group is called a chorus. Eventually, one person steps out from the chorus and acts out what the characters in the songs are doing. This single actor eventually resorts to using masks to distinguish the various characters being portrayed. Eventually, a few other actors join the original actor and we have something that can be recognized as theater. This is a very basic description of the evolution of theater, but it will do for our purposes.

These dramatic performances became so popular in ancient cities like Athens that their performance became a celebration - an annual contest for poets to create the best plays they could. Famous playwrights, like Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, would win prizes for their work and it is often these plays that we still have access to.

Comedy and Tragedy

Over time, two major categories of drama emerged: comedy and tragedy.

Comedic plays didn't have to be funny (that's a more modern understanding of the word comedy), but instead simply referred to a play that had a happy ending. These plays tended to focus on daily life and some of the lighter aspects of being human. Archetypes evolved to represent regular people: the old man, the clever slave, the hapless love-sick young man, etc. Examples of Greek comedy include: The Frogs, Clouds, and Lysistrata.

Tragic plays focused on a hero with a fatal flaw, such as hubris or obstinance. This flaw would ultimately cause the hero's downfall, with numerous terrible consequences as a result. These plays tended to include a message about morality and human suffering. The ending almost always included the death of one or more characters. Tragic plays were often presented in three parts called cycles. Examples of Greek tragedy include: The Oedipus Cycle (Sophocles: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone), The Oresteia (Aeschylus: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides).

So, in the most basic terms: comedy = happy ending, tragedy = sad ending.

For the Athenian contest, a playwright would write a tetralogy, which is a set of four works. The first three parts would be a connected set of tragedies (like The Oresteia) and the fourth play would be a satyr play (a type of lewd comedy).

Video Lesson

Watch the following for more details about the early Greek theater. Following the video is a short practice quiz - complete it to check your understanding of the origins of drama.

Video source: This video is provided through Crash Course, a division of PBS.
Content warning: adult themes, the use of alcohol, and violence are discussed in this video.

Practice Activity

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