Greek & Roman Theater 600 BC-400 AD

The First Theatrical Event on Record

534 BCE

A contest for the best tragedy was held at a festival for Dionysus and the winner was a playwright by the name of Thespis (Brocket et al, 62). In this contest, three playwrights competed by submitting four plays; three tragedies and a satyr play. A satyr play was an early form of comedy that had actors posing as satyrs parodying Greek myths (Brocket et al, 63).

The First Theatrical Event on Record

534 BCE

The first theatrical event on record was a contest that took place at a festival of Dionysus (Brocket et al). Three playwrights submitted four plays, three tragedies and a satyr play A satyr play was the early form of comedy. They used actors pretending to be satyrs to parody Greek myths (Brocket et al 63). The winner of this contest was named Thespis (Brocket et al, 63).

First indoor theater

440 BCE

Athens was the home of the first indoor theater on record, the Odeum of Pericles (Britannica). It looked much more like the theaters we know today. It was smaller than amphitheaters you probably picture in ancient Greece. The Odeum of Pericles was a square building with seating on four sides and a preforming area in the center, and was probably used only for rehearsal after the much bigger Theater of Dionysus was built (Britannica).

Oedipus Rex was produced

430 BCE

"Oedipus Rex" was a very famous Greek tragedy and one of the few surviving works of Sophocles (Brocket et al, 64). The story of "Oedipus Rex" is about a man who unknowingly fulfilled a terrible prophecy made at his birth, and brings a curse upon his kingdom because of it. You might have heard of this play or at least it's title in psychology or history class, studying Sigmund Freud and his debunked "Oedipus Complex"

Oedipus Rex was produced

430 BCE

"Oedipus Rex", one of the few surviving works of the great Greek tragedy playwright Sophocles, was produced around 430 BC (Brocket et al 64). The story of "Oedipus Rex" is about a man who unknowingly fulfills a terrible prophecy made when he was born, and brings a curse down on his kingdom because of it. You may have heard of this play or its title when you studied history or psychology. Sigmund Freud's debunked "Oedipus complex" was named for it.

The Trojan Women is produced

415 BCE

"The Trojan Women", a play written Euripides, certainly lives up to it's genre of tragedy. The play is about the horrible treatment of the citizens of Troy after the Trojan war, especially the women and the surviving royal family (Britannica). The princes and young boys are killed and the women, even the queen and princesses, are carted off to be slaves in Greece (Britannica). There is no happy ending and there is no hope for the women of Troy.

Lysistrata premiers.

411 BCE

"Lysistrata" is a well known Greek comedy written in the style of "Old Comedy", which is a far-fetched or extreme idea being put into practice (Brocket et al 76). The plot of "Lysistrata" is that the women of Greece, tired of a long war that had been raging, created a sex strike, refusing to ever share a bed with their husbands unless their demands were met (Brocket et al 76).

The Dionysus Theater was built

330 BCE

In 330 BC the Theater of Dionysus was constructed, made of stone and built in a semi-circle state (Britannica). It had tiers of seats that ran up into the hillside with walkways in between (Britannica), strongly resembling today's modern stadiums. It's namesake, Dionysus, was the Greek god of wine, revelry, and parties. It's no surprise that theater was created in his honor

Romans import a Greek Playwright to write plays for them

240 BCE

When Rome took over Greece it admired the idea of Greek theater, but it also thought the content was beneath them, so they drafted Greek playwright Livius Andronicus to adapt Greek plays to Roman taste (Brocket, 77). However it wasn't very long before Roman writers started writing Roman plays for their own tastes.

Height of popularity for Roman theater

Period: 205 BCE to 159 BCE

Most Roman theater accounts focus on this time period because this is when famous Roman playwrights Plautus and Terence wrote the 26 surviving Roman comedies (Bocket et al 78). Roman comedies often focused more on social blunders, domestic troubles, confusion or mistaken identity of some kind (Brocket et al 80).

First Stone Roman Theater

55 BCE

Pompey the Great was the name of the first stone theater erected in Rome (Britannica). These looked very similar to Greek theaters, but they did have one difference. There was a covered colonnade that covered the top levels (Britannica).

Emergence of Christian Church kills off Roman theater.

400

For many reasons, the Christian Church disapproved of what Roman theater had become. Roman theater had over the centuries turned into obscene anti-religion pantomimes paired with bloodthirsty violent games earned the ire of the Catholic Church, as well as the worship of pagan gods theater encouraged (Brocket et al 84). This sort of opposition wore down the empire funding and the popularity of theater (Brocket et al 84).