The scholarly sources covering the history of Greek Tragedy are many; there is controversy over origins much like those relating to staging, since much of the evidence is pieced together from fragments of different types. Our 'fast and dirty' brief overviews are intended as provisory introductions, something to provide a starting point for a bit more investigation in week one. Here, as in the other overviews, I've tried to pick out the most generally accepted 'facts'; however, don't be disconcerted or embarrassed or worried if you find information that disputes individual points in these introductions. The purpose of this exercise is to fill out this information, in terms of both elaboration and, where evident, controversy!

Therefore, I suggest that you read all of the four overviews in our activity, browse the activity tasks, and then begin the activity described at the bottom of this page, which will ask you to select, request, and then explore an article or website relating a specific point in one of our overviews and then come back to the classroom to summarize your findings in a brief text, noting any discrepancies or elaboration on the information below that seems significant.

If the history of the stage and staging is sketchy, being based on archaeological evidence that is inconclusive in many details, the 'true' history of the evolution of drama as a medium is even more speculative.

What we quote as 'fact' is mostly put together from individual statements or fragments within writings from ancient Greek authors, many of whom draw conclusions about earlier religious and cultural traditions, based on oral tradition. While this would seem to be a reliable source, the authors being relatively close to the times portrayed, it is necessary to keep in mind the legitimizing purpose of any culture's history, i.e., that in relating the past, the Greeks were not only interested in the past, but in creating and legitimizing their own cultural values, attitudes and beliefs.

To get at the problem of what drama is and what Greek drama might have been, we will think about two different areas of development: the relatively concrete, immediate roots of Greek Drama and its character as related by the Greeks; and also the religious, philosophical and artistic core of the dramatic or theatrical experience, theater as a medium of expression, or an attempt at portraying and experiencing significant meaning.

The former will take us to a very few of the aforementioned fragments from Greek writers, while the latter will takes us to ideas extracted from philosophical and theoretical writings.

To demonstrate the thin thread of historical documentation for the facts general summarized on numerous timelines and course syllabi, I'd like to have a bit of fun with some of the elements generally mentioned in overviews of tragedy.

One of the most common elements found in the discussion of origins are dithyrambs, a kind of ancient Greek song, dedicated to Dionysius, the god of wine and representative of the older Assyro-Babylonian earth and fertility gods and goddesses. Aristotle's Poetics, which we are also exploring in this introductory activity, is one of the main sources crediting the connection between the dithyramb and Greek Tragedy.

If we check a variety of sources, we'll generally find that dithyrambs were composed in 7th Century B.C., but were of a generally 'unknown'  inspiration. In some entries, we may hear that poets such as Simonides, Pindar, and Bacchylides wrote dithyrambs; however, we will also discover that only those of Bacchylides have 'survived,' meaning that we merely have indication in 'other documents' that Simonides or Pindar really wrote in this form. If we decide to jump over this small hump in the road regarding the potential controversy as to the early significance of this form in poetry, we perhaps decide to look more closely at its history in the theater. One common assumption is that the credit for turning the dithyramb into literary form belonged to Arion.

Reading about Arion, we will probably most often see him described as a 'legendary poet.' If we jump over the problem posed by the word 'legendary' we may find out that Arion's existence and his work were mentioned by Herodotus, who has sometimes called "the father of history."

However, when we read more about Herodotus, we will discover that he has also been called "the father of lies" and that while archeology has supported many of the facts recorded in his writings, he is also suspected of filling in where facts failed, by quoting generally accepted tradition.

A similar case arises in the case of Thespis and the origins of the stage.

In this case, the evidence comes even later and in typically fragmented form, here from the Roman poet Horace, who, in one of his own poems, had occasion to mention Thespis.

Thespis, inventor of the tragic art,
Carried his vagrant players in a cart:
High o'er the crowd the mimic tribe appeared,
And played and sung, with lees of wine besmeared. (Horace)

From this it has been conjectured that Thespis played from a traveling cart, reading and/or acting out poems, thus creating the first stage production.

The point of this fun is not to somehow show that what is commonly summarized as the history of tragedy is not true, but to demonstrate how tenuous a thread the coherency of this history really is. Much of the history is as much a testimony to our need to have a history as to the cries from the past to be understood. Thus, from our contemporary position, we look for roots and histories that make sense; we make sense of the evidence, based on our own prejudices and desires.

For our purposes, therefore, it is not important to memorize facts as much as begin to think about what drama is, based on the investigation of what is left to us as the most coherent record of tragedy, the archeological evidence of the theaters, the fragments of life and culture against which tragedy was performed, and the plays themselves.

Here are some of the items of history upon which many seem to agree:

Early Greek presentations probably included a dancing, chanting or singing group, as well as some kind of performance, whether a recitation or acting out of a mythical theme or event. The 'stage' might have been incorporated into a wagon and been mobile, the audience gathering around it informally.

'Ecstatic' religious rites, associated today with agricultural cultures from Assyro-Babylonian to Celtic realms and associated by the Greeks with Dionysius, probably relate back to earlier gods or goddesses of the earth and fertility. This connection has been studied not only from the standpoint of tragedy, but as the subject of philosophical, religious and cultural studies.

In The Birth of Tragedy, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche proposed that the Athenians were generally trying to 'tame' the violent destructiveness of the ecstatic religions, still followed in many nearby regions or cultural groups, and transform it into the more Apollonian view of the religious and artistic vision, one more in keeping with the tenor of the Greek democracy and culture. He therefore saw the play between the chorus and the actors, the music and the text, as a harmonious interaction between traditional Dionysian ecstasy or total unification with Nature (evident in the music and chanting) and the Apollonian vision of ordered aesthetic representation (evident in the structure and action of the play).

The tragedies, then, can also be seen as a presentation designed to legitimize the overthrow of earlier cultures and the institution of Greek values. An example of a specific value or practice where this might be true, lies in the Oedipus myth, suggested by some scholars in the area of mythology to reflect early practices in which the son overthrew the father and took his place beside the mother as ruler. (Graves) This is used to support the theory that prior to the Greeks, there were many agriculturally organized and matrilineal cultures which, although possibly run by males, maintained stability through the female line. (It is important to remember that, at this time, patrimony was always a question, a reason for the seclusion of women after marriage.)

Thus, when we see in the historical tradition that the chorus was thought to have dressed in goat skins or be smeared with wine, this was not necessarily merely because the goat and the wine were sacred to Dionysius and that therefore goats were "prizes" awarded for the best plays, but because these rituals represent deeper roots to cultures with different beliefs and customs, which were supported by early 'performance' but which the Greeks were attempting to 'tame.'

And therefore, aside from the purpose of the chorus from the standpoint of staging--their function as narrator of history or their function as expository tool--we have the tradition of the dance and the song as a religious and cultural tradition that is being incorporated into a new artistic form.

The three playwrights from Greek Tragedy whose works have been left to us are Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. All participated in the Dionysian competitions and all won in turn.

Aristotle records differences in the three with regard to their part in developing the dramatic form of tragedy.

Aeschylus, whom Athenians seem to have held in a special light, focuses on moral issues related to political and personal power, as well as the ideas of emotional temperance and reason. In the Oresteia, he examines the dangers of arrogance, the ancient rule of blood revenge, or the misuse of power.Aeschylus presents the divine world as the most exalted and portrays humans, even those who are far above average, as falling under the force and will of the gods.

Sophocles, on the other hand, is more focused on human response to fate or the harmony between the fate prescribed by the gods and that engendered by human behavior and character. He examines a problem and shows more closely the individual turmoil that accompanies the tragic protagonist's wrestling with 'fate,'  and although Sophocles still adheres to the tragic fate of those who go against the will of the gods, the suffering of his protagonists reveals a higher state, one allowing us to see the potential greatness of erring and learning.

Euripides, coming later, when all was not so right in Athens, demonstrates a cloudier relationship between fate and the human level of tragedy. The characters of Euripides not only unravel their fate but spend more of their time questioning it or questioning the values that have led to a fateful blow.

The Greek Tragedy portrays characters who are basically left alone with a problem. Whether from the standpoint of the divine or the all too human, the audience first sees the exposition of the problem and the wrestling of the character(s) with possible solutions. The context of tragedy may arise as a result of mistaken judgment, in which a character has misjudged a problem or situation in one respect or another; or it may arise as the result of conflicting principles. In Oedipus, we will see that Oedipus has misjudged or too rashly judged the source of misery in his realm; while in Antigone, we will see the main character caught between the ideas of civil justice and religious responsibility--two valid, but in this situation, conflicting principles.

Once the events are set in motion, the momentum builds relentlessly, building speed until the moment where everything comes crashing down on the head of the protagonist. In all cases, the tragic situation leads to the extreme suffering of the protagonist, whether this includes loss or ruin or death. However, there are often others who often suffer along with the protagonist, and these are often innocent victims. As in the reality of a social organization in which family and clan are a major part, whole groups of people are often 'taken down' with the tragic individual.

At the center, however, always lies the fateful decision introduced at the outset of the play.

Loss of harmony allows for the onset of destruction; the coherence of the family is the base of political stability. That humans err seems inevitable; tragedy shows the errors and thus the suffering of the great. If wisdom comes to late, it still comes, and with it a sense of things come back to a balance.

Athenian Society 5th Century B.C.
Greek Stage History
Aristotle's Poetics
Greek Tragedy Overview (this page)
 

After reviewing the tasks listed at the end of each of the above pages, select the task you'd like to complete by requesting it in the appropriate conference area of the classroom. (These will be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis.) 

When I've confirmed your request, explore the site(s) indicated in the task description.

After completing your investigation, write a 350-500 word response which answers the questions, providing concrete examples or descriptions as useful. Then upload your response to the presentation area created in the classroom for this purpose.