THE THEATRON

The major parts of the Greek theater are labeled above. Where the altar was or what it was used for is debated -- I doubt it was in the center of the orchestra. But it is important to remember the role of Dionysus in the theater, as the Greek performances were part of their religious observances (despite the bawdy content of the comedies and satyr plays!). The central seat in the front row may have been reserved for the priest of Dionysus.

The whole space was known as the theatron or "seeing place" (note the emphasis on sight). Between 10,000 and 17,000 spectators would sit on the hill around the orchestra on wooden benches (the stone seating evolved around 338 BC). Athens had about 200,000 citizens, and they and all foreign diplomats, allies and visitors to Athens could purchase tickets. Slaves probably could not. Women, debatable. But we do have record that Pericles set aside 450 for poor Athenian citizens.

The orchestra, which translates to "dance-space", was where the choruses danced and sang. The dithyrambic contests (10 choruses of 50 men and 10 choruses of 50 boys. . . that's 1000 performers!) existed long before theater, and Aristotle asserts theater grew out of them. Because theaters were built based on natural geography, the orchestra space was perhaps varied in shape. There is even debate about the Theater of Dionysus, and if it had a round or rectangular orchestra. 

The skene or "scene" house was probably made out of wood and may have started as a sort of platform built for each year's performances. The plays tell us that the skene needed at least one door opening onto an acting area and that there was an upper acting area (for gods and such). We know little about scenery, but we do know that they did at times have painted sets. "Aristotle (writing in the late fourth century) credits Sophocles with introducing the decoration of the skene, while Vitruvius (first century BC) states that it originated in the time of Aeschylus" (Brockett, 33).

When the ekkylema (devise for revealing tableau -- like scenes of bodies killed offstage) and mechane (mechanism or crane for suspending gods and such. . . as echoed in the deus ex machina or "god from the machine") emerged is unclear.

Tragoidia was an Athenian art form. But few people who use the word tragedy today consider that the Greek word meant "goat song." "When Dionysos first appeared to the daughters of Eleuther, he was dressed in a black goat-skin (melanaigis), but they rejected him, and he therefore made them mad. To be cured, they had to worship him as Melanaigis, lord of the dead, which is why he was offered tragedies (trag-ôidia = goat-song) at this festival." (Bruce MacLennan, http://web.eecs.utk.edu/~mclennan/Classes/US210/City-Dionysia.html)

Random fact:
"Violence in the theater was punishable by death." But you could be noisy and yell at the actors. . .  (Brockett, 35)

Pages by Mrs. D

"One of the most admirable things about history is, that almost as a rule, we get as much information out of what it does not say as we get out of what it does say. . . . History is a frog; half of it is submerged, but he knows it is there, and he knows the shape of it."

"The Secret History of Eddypus", Mark Twain