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A tritagonist is the person who is third in importance, after the protagonist and deuteragonists, in an ancient Greek drama.

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Tritagonist definition, (in ancient Greece) the third member of an acting troupe, which always consisted of three actors. See more.

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Costumes, along with masks and props, helped indicate the social status, gender, and age of a character. Athenian characters wore more elaborate, decorated versions of everyday clothing, such as a tunic or undergarment (chitÃ´n or peplos), a cloak or over-garment (himation).

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Masks

Masks served several important purposes in Ancient Greek theater: their exaggerated expressions helped define the characters the actors were playing; they allowed actors to play more than one role (or gender); they helped audience members in the distant seats see and, by projecting sound somewhat like a small megaphone, even hear the characters better. In a tragedy, masks were more life-like; in a comedy or satyr play, masks were ugly and grotesque. Masks were constructed out of lightweight materials such as wood, linen, cork, and sometimes real hair. Unfortunately, they lacked durability, and none has survived.

Costumes

Costumes, along with masks and props, helped indicate the social status, gender, and age of a character. Athenian characters wore more elaborate, decorated versions of everyday clothing, such as a tunic or undergarment (chitÃ´n or peplos), a cloak or over-garment (himation). Costumes for characters that were non-Athenians were more outlandish. Tragic actors wore buskins (raised platform shoes) to symbolize superior status, while comic actors wore plain socks. When depicting women, actors wore body stockings, with a progastreda and a prosterneda to make their bodies appear feminine. Some plays even called for actors to wear animal costumes.

Props

In addition to masks, actors also used props to create a character. These could be a crown to represent a king; a lyre for a musician; a walking stick to suggest age; a caduceus for a messenger; spears and helmets to suggest military men. A "props-maker" (skeuopoios) would create and provide these to the actors. Props can also be used for symbolism, as in the red carpet Agamemnon walks on when he returns home from war, signifying the blood he spilled at Troy.

Special Props

EkkyklÃªma -Literally, "wheel out," a large wheeled platform that could be rolled out to display scenes that had taken place beyond the view of the spectators (usually the results of violent acts since those never took place on stage).

MÃªchanÃª/Krane -Literally, "machine," a crane-like device used to lift actors, allowing performers to appear in the air or to enter dramatically from behind the skene (which was a common method of portraying the gods).

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City Dionysia - Masks, Costumes and Props

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Masks Masks served several important purposes in Ancient Greek theater: their exaggerated expressions helped define the characters the actors were playing; they allowed actors to play more than one role (or gender); they helped audience members in the distant seats see and, by projecting sound somewhat like a small megaphone, even hear the characters better.

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The leading character, and could be a hero.

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Protagonist definition, the leading character, hero, or heroine of a drama or other literary work. See more.

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First European dramatist whose plays have been preserved. He is also the earliest of the great Greek tragedians, and more than any other he is concerned with the interrelationship of man and the gods. Aeschylus was born at the religious center of Eleusis. His father, Euphorion, was of a noble Athenian family.

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Aeschylus >The Greek playwright Aeschylus (524-456 B.C.) is the first European >dramatist whose plays have been preserved. He is also the earliest of the >great Greek tragedians, and more than any other he is concerned with the >interrelationship of man and the gods.

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the person second in importance to the protagonist in a drama.

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Deuteragonist definition, (in ancient Greece) the actor next in importance to the protagonist. See more.

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c.1600, "area in an ancient theater for the chorus," from Latin orchestra , from Greekorkhestra , semicircular space where the chorus of dancers performed, with suffix -tra denoting place + orkheisthai "to dance," intensive of erkhesthai "to go, come," from PIE *ergh- "to set in motion, stir up, raise" (cf.

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Orchestra definition, a group of performers on various musical instruments, including especially stringed instruments of the viol class, clarinets and flutes, cornets and trombones, drums, and cymbals, for playing music, as symphonies, operas, popular music, or other compositions. See more.

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Euripides was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom a significant number of plays have survived. Some ancient scholars attributed 95 plays to him but, according to the Suda, it was 92 at most.

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Euripides | Ancient Greek Tragedy & Plays

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Euripides was the last of classical Athens’s three great tragic dramatists, following Aeschylus and Sophocles. It is possible to reconstruct only the sketchiest biography of Euripides. His mother’s name was Cleito; his father’s name was Mnesarchus or Mnesarchides. One tradition states that his

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Sophocles was the younger contemporary of Aeschylus and the older contemporary of Euripides.

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The word referring to the seating area section of an ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine theater. The theatron is one of the earliest and most pronounced parts of ancient theaters.

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The theatron (plural theatra) is the word referring to the seating area section of an ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine theater. The theatron is one of the earliest and most pronounced parts of ancient theaters. In fact, some scholars argue it is the most significant part of Greek and Roman theatrical structures, the part that defines them. Theatra in Classical Greek and Roman theaters are spectacular forms of architecture, built of circular or semi-circular rows of seating in stone or marble, each row increasing in height.

The earliest Greek theaters date to the 6th to 5th centuries CE, and they included theatra in rectangular sections of seating made of wooden bleachers called ikria. Even in this rudimentary state, the theatron was a crucial part of a theater, drawing attention to the audience and providing a place where many people could be housed to be addressed or entertained. The Greek playwright Aristophanes mentions the theatron in each of his extant plays, particularly when the actors address the audience directly.

Other definitions of theatron include the people themselves. Like the word "church," which can refer to both an architectural structure or the people who use it, the theatron can mean both the seats and the seated. The word theatron also refers to seating or standing areas built over springs or cisterns, so spectators could come and view the waters and watch the mysterious vapors rise.

Whether or not you consider the theatron a defining part of a theater, the seating area is certainly why those ancient theaters are so recognizable to every one of us today.

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The theatron (plural theatra) is the word referring to the seating area section of an ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine theater. The theatron is one of the earliest and most pronounced parts of ancient theaters. In fact, some scholars argue it is the most significant part of Greek and Roman theatrical structures, the part that defines them.

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A small altar in the center of the orchestra in a theater.
Comes from the Greek word for the viewing of ritual ceremonies.

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Theatron (the seeing place) is the viewing area of a Greek theatre, where the audience sat to watch the performance of a Greek play. It derives from the Greek word for the viewing of ritual ceremonies.

Cavea [Greek: koilon, a hollow or cavity] the auditorium or banks of seats in a Greek theatre. The hollowing out of a suitably sited, naturally shaped hillside or the erection of a building with a similar shape to create an auditorium. Acoustic quality, that is the shaping of the Cavea as a segment of a horn or megaphone, was a critical feature of its design. In the early theatres the audience stood or sat on the grass of the hillside. Later seats were introduced made of wood called ikrea; later still benches were cut from the rock out of the hillside or were made from stone. Some such auditoria were also designed to collect rainwater to supply the local community with their water needs and had drainage channels for this purpose which led to underground cisterns.

Orchestra orkhestra , comes from the verb ὀρκέομαι, orkeomai , which means dancing; it marked the ground-level area where the chorus performed, where the ritualistic dancing and singing of the chorus took place. Originally it was rectangular, but laterr it became a circular or semicircular. It was the space located between the lower floor of the auditorium and the stage, and was the central space in a Greek theatre. Generally either at the centre of the Orchestra or to one side was situated the altar dedicated to Dionysus, known as the thymele.

Diazoma ( Greek: διάζωμα "belt") a term used to describe wide annular horizontal corridor or passageway which separated the lower bank of seats from the upper bank of seats, called the epitheatron, in the Cavea of an ancient Greek theatre.

Kerkis [latin Cuneus] were the wedge-shaped sections of banks of stone seats of the Cavea where the audience sat. separated by mounting staircases ( Klimakes) made from the same material.

Skene (the dressing room) was the Scene building the flat-roofed stage building, which might be a non-permanent one, placed at the rear of the orchestra. It could represent a palace or a cave. It generally had a door from which actors could emerge.

Proskene [Proscenium] the ground-level portion immediately in front of the skene was used as an acting area; in Hellenistic period, the proskenion was a raised platform in front of the skene; the skene eventually included two levels, a lower level with a roof (the Hellenistic logeion or stage) and the second story skene with openings for entrances ( thyromata)

Paraskenion side additions to the skene. These were one or two storey side wings on either side of the proskenion; which could have columns which supporting a frieze.

Parodos the two entrances on either side of the orchestra giving access to it were called the parodoi.

Periaktoi the 3-sided revolving mechanisms placed each side of the stage painted with scenery, which could change as the play unfolded.

Logeion [latin pulpitum or greek λογεῖον] The raised platform or stage behind the orchestra in front of the skene on which actors could speak; the roof of the proskenion could be used for this purpose

Thymele Of controversial position and function. Can refer to the mid-point of the Orchestra, which might be marked by a stone or platform. Or it can refer to a small, possibly moveable altar used to make sacrifices to Dionysus; both of these were called thymele. During the action of the play the chorus danced or stood around the thymele.

Side-Entrances and ΠΕΡΙΑΚΤΟΙ in the Hellenistic Theatre

Vol. 32, No. 3/4 (Jul. - Oct., 1938), pp. 205-210

Peter Nagy;(2013). World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: Volume 1: Europe. Routledge. pp. 422-. ISBN 978-1-136-40289-0

Article DOI: 10.2307/287689

Article DOI: 10.2307/288105

Article DOI: 10.2307/288072

The Journal of Hellenic Studies

Vol. 32, (1912), pp. 213-238

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The Parts and Architectural Layout of an Ancient Greek Theatre

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Theatron (the seeing place) is the viewing area of a Greek theatre, where the audience sat to watch the performance of a Greek play. It derives from the Greek word for the viewing of ritual ceremonies. Cavea [Greek: koilon, a hollow or cavity] the auditorium or banks of seats in a Greek theatre.

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Religious festivals of Dionysus - Weston

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Religious festivals of Dionysus - Weston

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Most greek Polis' worshiped Dionysus in festivals by drinking, When they felt the effects of the wine they thought it was Dionysus blessing them for their worship.
Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Semele, a daughter of Cadmus (king of Thebes).The Dionysia (/daɪəˈnaɪsiə/) was a large festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus, the central events of which were the theatrical performances of dramatic tragedies and, from 487 BC, comedies. It was the second-most importantfestival after the Panathenaia.

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Theatre of Dionysus | theatre, Athens, Greece

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Theatre of Dionysus: Theatre of Dionysus, prototype of Greek theatres, situated on the south side of the Acropolis in Athens, in which all extant classical Greek plays were first presented.

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He was a Greek poet and suposidly the first actor in greek drama. He was called the inventor of tragedy.

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Thespis: Thespis, Greek poet, said to have been born in the deme (district) of Icaria. According to ancient tradition, Thespis was the first actor in Greek drama. He was often called the inventor of tragedy, and his name was recorded as the first to stage a tragedy at the Great (or City) Dionysia (c.

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Skene is an ancient Greek theatre that was first used in 465 BC, Skene was originally a small wooden structure facing the circle of spectators. It developed into a two-story theatre decorated with columns, with three doors used for entrances and exits and the appearance of ghosts and gods.

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Skene: Skene, (from Greek skēnē, "scene-building"), in ancient Greek theatre, a building behind the playing area that was originally a hut for the changing of masks and costumes but eventually became the background before which the drama was enacted. First used c. 465 bc, the skene was originally a small