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A. Ancient contexts and principles From the very establishment (probably 535–531 BC) of Greek T. as a constituent element in the City Dionysia (the festival founded by Peisistratus in honour of the god Dionysus and central to life in democratic 5th-cent. Athens), T. as a literary genre was to the utmost degree determined by processes of reception and intertextual references. The reasons for this are to be found on various levels. As a choral genre [45], it developed out of choral lyrical forms (accor…

[German Version] (497/496, Athens – 406 bce), Athenian tragedian, who had his debut in 470. Seven of his plays (out of probably 113) have survived: Ajax and the Trachinian Women, written in the 450s, Antigone (c. 440), Oedipus the King (436–433), Electra (a late work), Philoctetes (409), and Oedipus at Colonus (performed posthumously in 401). His tragedies present individuals in extreme situations, whose behavior can overstep the limits of hubris. The protagonists are contrasted with figures representing the average person (Chrysothemis, Ismene…

[German Version] Derived from the Greek adjective τραγικός/ tragikós, tragic originally suggested nothing more than association with the art of tragedy. According to Aristotle ( Poet. 13, 1453 a 30), Euripides was the “most tragic” playwright, since his plays reflect most closely the purpose of trag…

[German Version] At the Great Dionysia (Dionysus), the most important festival of Athens, each of the final three days was marked by the performance of three tragedies followed by a satyr play as a burlesque conclusion. In the case of Aeschylus, the satyr play shared subject matter with the trilogy, but this does not seem to have been the case with Sophocles and especially Euripides, who sometimes substituted a tragedy for the satyr play ( Alcestis, 438 bce). Archaeological evidence indicates that the satyr play was introduced into the festival program between 520 and 510 bce; the first a…

[German Version] I. Antiquity – II. Middle Ages to the Present …

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[German Version] I. Greco-Roman Antiquity – II. Drama and Religion – III. Drama and the Christian Tradition I. Greco-Roman Antiquity 1. Concept The noun δρᾶμα/ dráma, derived from the verb δρᾶν ( drán, “do, act”), seldom means “action, deed” in the general sense. Especially in the tragedies of Aeschylus, the verb and noun form the antithesis of παϑεῖν ( patheín, “suffer”) and πάϑος ( páthos, “suffering”), for example in Aesch. Ag. 533. Predominant is the special meaning “drama, play” (Theater), in which the aspect of staging and stage action stands out (e.g. Arist., Ranae 920). Derived from this is the metaphorical usage in the sense of “dramatically effective action” (Plato Apol. 35b 8) and “dramatic event” (Polybius 23.10.12). In ancient literary theory, drama is used as the general term for all dramatic genres (e.g. Arist. Pol. 3.1447a 26–29). The concept is used in the same way in document language and in the notations of dramatic productions. 2. Greece …

[German Version] I. History of Religion 1. Cultic originsa. a. Theatrical performances are attested long before the institutionalization of the dramatic genres in Athens (536/533: tragedy [I], 486: comic drama [I]): Dorian forerunners of tragedy in Sicyon and Corinth; 6th-century Attic vases testifying to the existence of animal choruses comparable to those of the 5th-century comedies. The roots of theater lie in the sacrificial rites (Sacrifice: II, 2) associated with the cult of Dionysus. The inhibition against killing that is overcome in sacrifice is mir…