Theater of Dionysus

This outdoor theater stood at the foot of the Acropolis.

Date: Sixth century b. c.e. to fifth century c. e.

Category: Theater and drama; music Locale: Athens, Greece

Summary The basic architectural components of the Theater of Dionysus, as of all Greek theaters, were the orchestra (dancing area), the theatron (viewing area), and the skene (stage building). These components, either individually or as a whole, were sometimes altered or rebuilt until the fifth century c. e., when the Theater of Dionysus received the form that its ruins still exhibit today. The exact dates and features of its various forms remain matters of scholarly disagreement, so that conjecture is necessarily involved in any reconstruction of its history. It is uncertain, for example, when a raised stage was introduced and when the orchestra was changed from a circle to a semicircle.

During the sixth century b. c.e., a terrace was constructed at the foot of the southeast slope ofthe Acropolis. Located within a precinct sacred to the god Dionysus, the terrace probably had an orchestra on which spectators located in a rudimentary theatron higher up the slope could view choral performances in honor of the god. In the fifth century b. c.e., the Theater of Dionysus became the site of major dramatic and choral competitions. This required the expansion of the theatron in a fan shape up the hillside, so that it would accommodate more seats (mostly still wooden) and form a semicircle around a circular orchestra. South of the orchestra, there was undoubtedly a wooden skene, to which paraskenia (side structures) may have been attached. In drama, the choruses performed in the orchestra, and the area immediately in front of the skene belonged to the actors.

By the end of the fourth century b. c.e., the Theater of Dionysus had been rebuilt completely in stone. The theatron now ascended the slope almost to the retaining wall of the upper Acropolis and could accommodate some 17,000 spectators seated in three sections of tiers. The second was separated from the one below by a horizontal walkway, and the uppermost from the other two by the avenue that encircled the Acropolis. The skene definitely includedparaskenia. Between 300 and 31 b. c.e., theparaskenia were modified and a stone stage was constructed that extended for the length of the skene behind it and raised the actors considerably above the level of the orchestra.

The Theater of Dionysus. (F. R. Niglutsch)

Significance In the first half of the fifth century b. c.e., the Theater of Dionysus became the venue for the dramatic and choral competitions that constituted a major feature of the City Dionysia, the great Athenian festival in honor of Dionysus. Dramatists who competed in the theater of wood included Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides in tragedy and Aristophanes in comedy. Revivals of their plays were popular in the theater of stone.

Further Reading

Connolly, Peter. The Ancient City. New York: Oxford University Press,

1998.

Pickard-Cambridge, A. W. The Theatre of Dionysus in Athens. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1946.

Travlos, John. Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Athens. New York: Praeger, 1971.

Hubert M. Martin, Jr.

See also: Aeschylus; Art and Architecture; Athens; Euripides; Performing Arts; Sophocles; Sports and Entertainment.