theatre of ancient Greece
Also known as ancient Greek drama, Greek drama, drama of ancient Greece
theatre tradition written and performed in ancient Greece
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Ancient Greek theatre was a tradition of written and performed plays that emerged in Greece thousands of years ago. It matters because it established foundational forms and storytelling techniques that influenced Western drama and entertainment for centuries to come.
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Bronze statue of a Greek actor, 150–100 BC. The half-mask over the eyes and nose identifies the figure as an actor. He wears a man's conical cap but female garments, following the Greek custom of men playing the roles of women. Later, slave women were brought in to play minor female characters and in comedy as well. A theatrical culture flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. At its centre was the city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and religious place during this period, and the theatre was institutionalised there as part of a festival called the Dionysia, which honoured the god Dionysus. Tragedy (late 500 BC), comedy (490 BC), and the satyr play were the three dramatic genres emerged there. Athens exported the festival to its numerous colonies. Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from the theatre of ancient Greece, from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres, and many of its themes, stock characters, and plot elements.
Etymology