Talk:Theatre of ancient Greece
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[edit] Name Change
I would like to suggest that this article be renamed "Ancient Greek theatre" or perhaps "Theatre of Ancient Greece" as it only covers that subject. In addition, an article shoud be created that covers modern Greek Theatre, called "Theatre of Greece." What say you, loyal Wikipedians? Ganymead 05:24, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- I agree, in fact I just moved the article and even created a category for it.--Pharos 20:00, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- Nice to see that someone besides me gives a damn about this article.
[edit] Confusion of Aristotle's Poetic with the classical unities
I cut this paragraph because it is incorrect in every respect:
- Aristotle described Greek theatre as adhering to "Three Unities:" unity of time, unity of place, and unity of action. Greek plays normally took place in a single day, happened at a single location, and had one plot line without any subplots. Aristotle meant his Three Unities to be a description of the norm, not a prescription of an ideal. Not all Greek plays adhere rigidly to the Unities, but most come close.
See the classical unities article for a discussion of what Aristotle actually wrote and how it related to what Greek playwrights did. Gdr 15:21, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Women actors
Did women act in ancient Greek theatre?
Sure!!! The Singing Badger 18:34, 21 September 2005 (UTC)
However, there is a case that extras may have, occasionally, been goats
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- Later slavewomen were brought in to play minor female characters. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Erik the Red 2 (talk • contribs) 14:25, 21 February 2008 (UTC)
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[edit] Questions about Greek Theatre
Who went to go see these Greek theatre plays? What type of people were they? Did women also go to see these plays? Also, what's the difference between Greek theatre and the other types of theatre? I was also wondering just what was going on in the world, like...events...what events were happening in the world when Greek Theatre came to be? Any information would help. Thank you.
[edit] Phallus
OK, here's a challenge for you. Which participants in Greek drama wore the Phallus? Some sources say the actors (13th ed EB, I think), some say it was the chorus. Some sources, such as this one, appear to not mention it. If all those portraying male characters all did wear one doesn't that put all of ancient Greek drama in at least a slightly different light? Isn't that a good question to ask the literature teacher?
Wearing of a phallus was restricted to comedy and was worn by actors and, perhaps, choral members, no pun intended. In the "Acharnians," for instance, (someone help me here. I can't find my Aristophanes right now and my memory is failing) the major character (in the modern sense) says something like this to the young woman, "here grab this--there's till a bit of life left in this old rope yet!" clearly referring to the phallus he wore. Female characters wore appropriate padding as well. Though many deny this feature to the chorus, banter between the two choruses in Lysistrata could be used to argue that some choreutae did wear the phallus, though admittedly this is conjecture only. My bias would direct your question to a theater historian, not to a literature teacher.
[edit] Lost Works
The is a Lost works article that I am sure someone more up on this topic would be able to contribute to. It only has one greek play listed and I know there be plenty more (sadly) in that category. John 01:10, 30 December 2005 (UTC)
Let me direct you to some older scholars--Haigh, Norwood, Pickard-Cambridge--if you want to see most of the names of lost plays. Remembering the small number the "surviving" plays is particularly instructive. Of the "greats" Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, we possess less than 15% of their total output! Furthermore, these four poets an even smaller percentage of those who had to have competed. Frequently, poets treated the same stories, so it's not always possible to identify accurately a fragmentary reference at all. One example: The Libation Bearers of Aeschylus and the Electra's of Sophocles and Euripides treat the Orestes' return and revenge on Clytemnestra and Aegisthos.
[edit] open air - considerations
What were the implications of the open air theatre?
- It was part of the whole natural ambience, especially in deference to the wishes of the gods to affect fate and weather. I think the only time they postponed the play in vivo, was when it really started pouring rain. Roland Barthes writes that there is a singularity of the open-air performance. Also, p.120 of Wiles shows that the ancient Greek theatre was a sacred space, since it all started out as part of the temple complex as a religious ritual. Confer: Greek Theatre Performance: an Introduction by David Wiles (2000) http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=052164027X and http://www.rhul.ac.uk/Drama/staff/wiles_david. Confer also, Theatre of the Greeks by P.W. Buckham, (1827) -- (Bob) Wikiklrsc 08:05, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] help
i would really like to see the blue prints of a greek theater specially the one shown in the picture in the article about greek theaters.i would really aprreciate if anyone would give a link to me with the prints
would really appreciate it
[edit] Masks
is it just me, or does this article make no mention of the masks used in the ancient greek theatre? i may have missed it somewhere, i suppose, but it doesn't seem to. those masks were a key element in the performance of greek comedy and tragedy. 69.168.108.191 02:59, 9 May 2006 (UTC)
- I agree. More information on masks would be good indeed. JoJo McLeod 08:20, 8 June 2006 (UTC)
- Then stop agreeing and and the info!Kingkyle222 12:11, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Expansion options
I was really disappointed by the length of this article, so I added the expansion tag. I think that links to articles about important plays, a blueprint of a Greek stage, more discussion about performance styles, a section about the period's impact on later theatre, and some cleanup for coherence are in order. I would contribute, but I simply don't have the knowledge of the subject matter.--Cassmus 17:14, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
- Well, I think i have what you need (blueprint). Also, the "important plays" is started. There is something on performance styles, and it was the first theater ever. And of course, it will always be able to be improved ;-) --FlammingoParliament 16:55, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] copyvio?
If you were the one that recently updated Theatre of Ancient Greece, would you please take a look at WP:COPYVIO as Wikipedia can only accept public domain material or material that has been specifically released to the public domain (please see the referenced page for specifics). It looks like what was added is from http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/arts/Architec/AncientArchitectural/GreekArchitecture/GreekBuilding/Theater.htm John (Jwy) 16:29, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] More cowbell!
The opening paragraph says "Greeks also used an early form of the cowbell in many satyrs. Often times the cowbell represented insanity, or hyperactivity in the scene." - I would use the "Fact" tag here, but somehow this doesn't seem footnote-worthy. If someone could point me to the source of this (Google was no help), I'd appreciate it. Stev0 02:21, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Revise and protect
I'm going to revise this article to include more references and clean it up. I'm also going to sprotect it, as I have seen an lot of vandalism reverted (and reverted a bunch myself). I guess since a lot of high school students do research on this topic, it's a prime target. Roscius 01:41, 21 March 2007 (UTC)
- Agreed. This needs to be protected asap. Also, the First heading was lost during some of the reverts (not by me, someone else) GavinTing 17:49, 23 April 2007 (UTC)
I believe that the statement "It's in ancient Greece that the origin of western theatre is to be found." is partially incorrect as the Greek Theatre has its roots in Asian Theatre and I suggest the editing of the sentence so that it states: "It is in ancient Greece that the origin of western theatre is to be found, however, the Greek theatre began as an European practice of the Asian theatres that developed earlier." Feel free to reword it, that's just the basic idea I want to add. --Atommy 90 (talk) 20:43, 29 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Comedy additions
The new additions on March 21st were not properly referenced and didn't belong in the section where they were put. The facts are relevant, but they need to be cited and integrated into the article as a whole. I have reverted them for now, but if we can find some sources and restructure the article, we can put the info back in. Roscius 22:50, 22 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Vandals
Does anybody know why it is article that attracts so many vandals? Hartmut Haberland 13:15, 23 October 2007 (UTC)
[edit] omg thanks a break from vandals
I do not know why people come to this article, from all there are, to mess around, but now we all have a week to relax, it is semi-protected for a week. Maybe we may use the time to check for errors due to vandals (ie also edits lost in all the reverting), and maybe [question:] someone knows how to sp this indefinitivly, that is convince admins to do so? --FlammingoHey 00:16, 3 May 2007 (UTC)
What types of characters are in the plays? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.46.141.14 (talk) 22:09, 1 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] gnaw?
The comment on "gnaw" as somehow being related to "tragos" seems misplaced. Even if this is true, why mention it? Definitely, I want to remove the link to gnaw, since that article is utterly irrelevant to this one. Unless someone wants to offer a defense, I plan on changing this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.135.200.21 (talk) 06:49, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Table
In this version http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Theatre_of_ancient_Greece&oldid=203319010 there was a helpful timeline written down without layout; if someone is interested they might want to put it somewhere else like Dramas of ancient Greece.--FlammingoHey 10:06, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Etymology of "tragedy"
Although the article confidently asserts that the word "tragedy" is from τράγος + ῳδή, the OED says that that etymology is disputed: "As to the reason of the name many theories have been offered, some even disputing the connexion with ‘goat’. See L. H. Gray in Classical Quarterly VI. 60, and references there given.]" (OED s.v. tragedy). I might make that statement less definite.
And I agree with the above anonymous commentator: I'm not sure what the connection between τράγος and "gnaw" is. Neither the OED nor the LSJ cite a common IE root, although I suppose it's possible.
I'd also like a cite on that "very rare archaic translation as 'goat-men sacrifice song.'" I've never heard of such a translation, and if indeed some ancient made that connection I suspect it's very late (maybe in the Suda), and certainly not archaic. Dd42 (talk) 21:47, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
