We need to be reminded that Greek tragedy represents a radical development in the history of Western theater (Rehm 2003, 9). Tragedies began to be performed as part of the City Dionysia (sometimes called the Great Dionysia), an Athenian festival celebrated at the beginning of spring in honor of the god Dionysus, at some time in the latter half of the sixth century bce. Little is known for certain about the early stages of tragic production, and the first performances may in fact have taken place in the agora (civic center). However, by the time we reach the period some decades into the fifth century for which firmer evidence exists, we find a system whereby each year three tragic playwrights took part in a dramatic competition held in the specially developed Theater of Dionysus, producing three tragedies and a satyr-play each, which in all cases employed the two basic components of a chorus and actors. Tragedies were also performed to a more limited extent at the winter festival of the Lenaea, whose main emphasis was actually comedy, but it is on the City Dionysia that we will be focusing here.
The ‘‘production’’ of a tragedy effectively began from the day, some time in August, when the annually elected magistrate who gave his name to the year (the eponymous archon) chose the three playwrights who were to perform at the festival to be held in about six months’ time (Pickard-Cambridge 1988, 58). Details of the rehearsal process are almost entirely unknown, and what there is relates to the chorus for whose training the choregos (financial sponsor) might offer a large room in his own house or hire a gymnasium (Wilson 2000a, 71-86). Nothing at all is known about dress rehearsals, and it has even been denied that these would have taken place in the theater itself (Arnott 1989, 23-24). This seems highly unlikely, however, given all the complicated movements and technicalities of production that would need to be worked out (Rehm 2002, 42). A few days before the performances there took place the proagon, at which the playwrights and casts were publicly presented. Exactly what happened here, however, is again unclear. On the first day of performance, various ceremonies were carried out beforehand, ceremonies that have been seen as crucial in setting the civic context for the plays themselves (Goldhill 1990). Once the preliminaries were over, the plays themselves became ‘‘the thing.’’
World History
