UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS. CLST 1003: INTRODUCTION
TO CLASSICAL STUDIES: GREECE. D. B. LEVINE
MAJOR ATHENIAN DRAMATIC
FESTIVALS DEDICATED TO DIONYSUS
RURAL DIONYSIA (Dec./Jan.): Komos and Phallic Procession. No major play production.
LENAEA (Jan./Feb.): 3 days. Major festival for Comedy
ANTHESTERIA (end of Feb): 3 days (Old festival; discontinued in 5th cent.)
GREAT DIONYSIA (Mar/Apr): 8 days. Major festival for tragedy and comedy.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE THEATER OF DIONYSUS AT ATHENS
ca. 536 Thespis, the ‘first actor’. Primitive theater; circular orchestra
of beaten earth; no regular seats. use of hillside.
ca. 500 Possible wooden seats; possibly a rectangle
476 & 472 Phrynichus’ Phoenician Women and Aeschylus’ Persians,
use the tent of Xerxes as backdrop (skênê)
ca. 458 (Time of Aeschylus’ Oresteia) Wooden seats collapse during
a performance; were replaced by stone seats. Auditorium (cavea or
koile) now becomes semi-circular. The wooden skene building replaces
Xerxes’ tent. First row of seats (proedria) reserved for priests
and VIPs.
338-326 (time of Lycurgus) Theater remodeled extensively. Auditorium
enlarged; wooden skene replaced by stone; wings (paraskenia)
added to the sides of the skene. Statues of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides
put in the theater precinct.
250-200 BCE (Hellenistic period). Skene remodeled and a raised
stage (proskenion) introduced.
54-68 CE (time of Nero) Orchestra converted into arena for mock naval
battles (or not), gladiatorial combats and wild beast shows.
Mechanical Contrivances/Costume
1. Bronteion. Thunder Machine. (sheet metal with bags of stones)
2. Keraunoskopeion. Lightening machine (wooden carved lightening)
3. Distegia. Platform: actors could speak from heights (see Medea,
Prometheus Bound)
4. Mechane. ‘The Machine’ Crane to raise and lower people (deus
ex machina; see Hippolytus)
5. Theologeion. Flat roof of the skene; used by gods and
heroes.
6. Eccyclema. Platform on wheels to reveal things inside the skene.
7. Kothornos. Large boots with cork soles to raise actors’ stature.
8. Ongkos. projection of mask above the forehead (a big wig?)
9. Krepis. Special shoe introduced by Sophocles. Worn by tragic
chorus.
Many good links for ancient Greek Theater sites are here…