Greek/Roman Theatre

Priest of Dionysus

534 BCE

The priest of Dionysus also known as Thespis was one of the first actors in Greek drama. Thespis was known as the inventor of tragedy. He was an important innovator for the theatre, since he introduced such things as the independent actor, as opposed to the choir, as well as masks, make-up, and costumes.

Greeks Society

500 BCE

Theatre and Tragedies became part of society for the Greeks. They would use it to worship their god, Dionysus. But most of the tragedy plays would not survive and only a few would and some of those big writers include Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. For example, one of the Aeschylus plays that were a big hit was called The Persians. The Persians were particular about their defeat at the Battle of Salamis.

Comedy

486 BCE

Comedy was also another type of Theatre, but it mostly became a massive thing in 486 BCE. 486 BCE was the first year that competition began in Athens. But most of the plays created for comedy did not last besides some of Aristophanes, and he was considered a comedy genius of his time. One of the most popular plays he had created was The Wasps. The Wasps is the fourth in chronological order of the eleven surviving plays by Aristophanes, the master of an ancient genre of drama called 'Old Comedy'.

Greek tragedy "Oresteia"

458 BCE

458 BCE a man named Aeschylus created a play named Oresteia. The writing of Oresteia was an important event in history because today it is the only Greek tragedy as a trilogy that has survived, and Oresteia told a story of the house of Atreus.

"Oedipus Rex" the tragedy

430 BCE

The Oedipus Rex was created by Sophocles in 430 BCE. As I mentioned him for a brief second when I said he was one out of three big writers in tragedy. But Oedipus Rex would be his most popular and most remembered. Oedipus Rex is an exceptionally good example of a tragedy and that is what made him popular for this play. The play follows the story of King Oedipus of Thebes as he discovers that he has unwittingly killed his own father, Laius, and married his own mother, Jocasta.

Theatre of Dionysus

350 BCE

Athens had constructed the Theatre of Dionysus in 350 BCE. They had decided to build the theatre for performers to show their plays. They also built the theatre for honoring their god Dionysus, which is how it got the name Theatre of Dionysus. The theatre then could have held between 14,000 to 17,000 audience members.

Romans first play

240 BCE

The first roman play happened about 110 years later after they created the Theatre of Dionysus. Roman had gotten control of Greece and ended up adopting some of their traditions. One of those traditions happened to be Greek Theatre. They then decided to bring over Livius Andronicus, a Greek writer. Then in 240 BCE, the first Roman play was produced.

"Menaechmi" roman comedy

219 BCE

In 219 BCE a man named Plautus created Menaechmi it happened to be one of the most popular comedies of its time. But the actual date is unknown of when the comedy was performed. Menaechmi is a comedy about mistaken identity, involving a set of twins, Menaechmus of Epidaurus, and Menaechmus of Syracuse. It incorporates various Roman stock characters including the parasite, the comic courtesan, the comic servant, the domineering wife, the doddering father-in-law, and the quack doctor.

100 days

354

In 354 the year was called 100 Days of Theatre. This year would be considered especially important because in 240 BCE only one day throughout the entire year was given to the theatre.

The decrease of Roman theatre

400

By 354 AD it had grown to one hundred days devoted to the arts. Once 400 ADS hit The Decline of Roman Theatre had soon happened. The Christian Church showed their intolerance for theatre because of its connection to worshipping pagan gods, leading to the decline of Roman Theatre. So, which caused the theatre to decrease after The Christian Church did not agree.