A Greek chorus, or simply chorus ( Greek: , translit. Related Content Each episode ends with a stasis: choral ode in which the chorus can comment on or react to the previous episode. World History Encyclopedia. [43] In this play, Prometheus, the Titan god of forethought and the inventing fire, stole the inventing flame from Hephaestus and gave it to humanity. altar. [6]" Scodell notes that: The Greek word for actor is hypocrites, which means answerer or interpreter, but the word cannot tell us anything about tragedys origins, since we do not know when it came into use. Tragic heroes typically have heroic traits that earn them the sympathy of the audience, but also have flaws or make mistakes that ultimately lead to their own downfall. This innovation is credited to Thespis in c. 520 BCE. [39] The author gives an example of how a female chorus in Aeschylus' Seven against Thebes, is criticized for being bad for citizen morale. Subsequently, the actor changed costumes during the performance (using a small tent behind the scenes). The Agamemnon is a classic Greek tragedy written by Aeschylus in which he entails the continuation of the curse on the house of Atreus in the time period following the end of the Trojan War and the return of King Agamemnon. While the chorus could be comprised of 12 to 15 performers, no more than three actors appeared in a play. On the basis of this kind of stylistic distinction, the Aeneid, the epic poem of Virgil, Horaces contemporary, is called a tragedy by the fictional Virgil in Dantes Divine Comedy, on the grounds that the Aeneid treats only of lofty things. [39] The article notes how often the audience is incorporated as being representative of the expected demos, usually by having silent actors, or individuals who are part of the Tragedy, be seated with the audience, to ensure that the actor is engaging with the audience. Aeschylus' The Persians and Seven Against Thebes, for example, have no prologue. [39] With regard to gender distinctions, the author finds that despite the fact that females choruses existed within Greek plays in general, they, like other enslaved and foreign individuals lacked the same kind of status as male Greeks. Some scholars equate the two sources, assuming an error of Aristophanes, of 17 instead of 7. Moreover, Themistius, a writer of the 4th century AD, reports that Thespis invented the prologue as well as the spoken part (). These included Dactylo-epitrites and various Aeolic metres, sometimes interspersed with iambics. Moreover, the novel fits with the themes of a Greek Tragedy: the idea of conflict, sacrifice, retribution, knowledge, fate as well as the characteristics: hamartia, narration, language, unity. TheGreek tragedywas a form of popular drama that was performed in the theaters of ancient Greece from the late 6th century BC Existing plays represent a very short period of history. The dramatic structure of Oedipus Rex is intimately related to its status as a tragedy. Likewise, theTrojans,Electra,Andrmaca,Helena,Orestes,Iphigenia among the Taurus and the Phoeniciansare well remembered. Aristotle argued that tragedy originated from Dithyramb (see the Tragic Chorus in Ancient Literary and Philosophical Theory, and Dithyramb), and this may explain its pervasive presence, but tragic authors make the chorus allude to and perform in several other lyric genres (see Relation to . Greek tragedy was structured by alternating dialogue with song, usually in a repeating pattern. In the case of Aeschylus' tragedy The Persians, it was performed in 472 BC in Athens, eight years after the battle of Salamis, when the war with Persia was still in progress. The origin of Greek tragedy is one of the unsolved problems of classical scholarship.
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