Theatre History Timeline

Greek-Roman Theater

Period: 600 BCE to 400

The first record of theater in Athens

534 BCE

One of the first recorded instances of theater in Athens was a competition to find the best-written tragedy held during the Dionysia- an important religious festival celebrating Dyonisis. The winner of this competition was a writer named Thespis (Brockett, 62.) Thespis supposedly became the first actor in this competition by interacting with the chorus as if he were the character in the story being told earning himself much praise and many myths. ("HISTORY of THEATER")

The Acropolis is completed.

470 BCE

Sometime in the late fourth century BC, construction on the Acropolis-a major theater built to worship the god of wine, party, and sex; Dionysus-was completed. Originally, plays were conducted on a hillside in Athens but slowly people started to build up the area until it became a grand theater and temple. This theater/temple housed upwards of 17,000 people, it included a seating area, an orchestra, an altar, and a hut called the skene where actors could change or rest. (Brockett, 64)

Oedipus Rex is produced.

430 BCE

Oedipus Rex, a wildly successful and influential tragity that has survived to the modern day, was first produced and performed around 430 BC. This play acts as a great timestamp because we know that formal rules and regulations were in place and enforced by the time this play was written. These rules seemed mostly based on keeping competitions fair and did things like limit how many actors a play could use, set a number of chorus men (15,) and rules for winning the competition. (Brockett, 66.)

The end of Old Comedy, the start of New Comedy

404 BCE

Old Comedy was a style of Greek theater popular and important to Greek life. However, only 11 plays of this style have survived to the modern day, all of them by Aristophanes. Old Comedy was all about satire with elements from many other styles of comedy mixed in. (Brockett, 76) "Athens’ defeat in the Peloponnesian War signaled the end of Old Comedy" (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica) New comedy was similar but focused less on supernatural elements and was more down to earth in general.

Aristotle's Poetics written.

335 BCE

The Poetics, written by Aristotle in 335 BCE, is a text all about the rules and philosophy of Greek theater- specifically tragedy- from a first-hand observer (Sachs.) Supposedly, it is one of the earliest known examples of dramatic theory ever recorded. Aristotle claims that tragedy has five parts 1 A hero in a prosperous position 2 A fatal flaw is given to the hero 3 Fatal flaw causes a problem for the hero 4 The prosperous position is lost 5 The play wraps up. (Poetics by Aristotle)

Rome comes to power.

240 BCE

Although the conquest of Greece was not officially completed until 146 BC, some city-states had been taken as early as the 3rd century (World History Edu.) Nonetheless, by 240 BC Romans had "adopted" (stole) several parts of Greek culture, and the theater was no exception. Originally, they were seen as a novelty and altered slightly for Roman consumption. However, over time, Greek theater lost its appeal and Roman theater developed its own identity using Greek theater as a base (Brockett, 77-78)

The Theatre of Pompey built.

55 BCE

Rome relied exclusively on temporary theaters with minimal facilities until 55 BC. The first stone public theater ever built in the Roman Empire was the Theatre of Pompey. The theater was built as a publicity stunt by General Pompey the Great following a successful campaign. Pompey's ultimate goal was to amass public support by giving people a free, comfortable place of entertainment. (“Theatre Design - Renaissance | Britannica”) (Raddato) The Theater of Pompey is also where Ceaser died.

Only surviving Roman tragedy's written.

65

The Roman Empire also wrote many tragedies, however, only ten Roman tragedies survive. Nine of these tragedies were written by one man, named Seneca; the tenth play was written anonymously. Despite this, several prominent experts believe that these tragedies were not meant to be performed to the public, but instead performed for religious ceremonies. Roman tragedy included gratuitous violence and exaggerated emotions but the plays were almost always based on mythology. (Brockett 84) (Kelly)

Christan backlash against Theater.

400

Following the rapid Christianization of the Roman Empire, many aspects of Roman life were called into question, one of them being theater. Over time, Roman theater had shifted and evolved to reflect the interests of the Roman people and had begun to include blood sports, and, of course, the pagan gods were still being honored through theater leading to Christians fervently speaking out against theater as an institution. (Brockett, 84)(Schroeder)(James-Griffiths)

The fall of Rome (and theater).

476

The Roman Empire was weakening rampantly by the year 476 A.D. Unfortunately, it all came to a head when Rome was invaded that very year by Germanic tribes. These invasions (and the culmination of centuries of mismanagement and bad luck) caused eastern Rome to fall and subsequently shatter. Many things were lost, one of them being Theater; you see, without the Roman government providing money, there was no one else to sponsor theater, especially with the Christan outcry.(Campbell) (Brockett,84)