GREEK COMEDY

• Comedy (from Greek komos, meaning “revel”) was

presented competitively in Athens from 486 BC at the
Lenea winter festival.
• It fused much earlier traditions of popular entertainment,
mime, phallic rites, and revelry in honor of Dionysus.
• Old Comedy, of which Aristophanes was the chief
exponent, was highly satirical.
• It was characterized by wildly imaginative material (in
which the chorus might represent birds, frogs, wasps, or
clouds) that was blended with a grotesque, vulgar, and
witty tone, which could still accommodate poetry of great
lyrical beauty
• Commentary on contemporary society, politics, literature,
and Peloponnesian War.
• Based on a "happy idea" - a private peace with
a warring power or a sex strike to stop war
• The bawdiness of the plays was emphasized
by the actors' costumes, which featured
jerkins with padded stomachs and large phalli.
• As in tragedy, masks were worn, though
exaggerated for comic effect.
• With the decline of tragedy after Euripides'
death in 406 BC and the defeat of Athens in
404 BC, comedy increased in popularity.
• It began to evolve through the transitional
Middle Comedy to the style known as New
Comedy, established about 320 BC during the
time of Alexander the Great.
• Only fragments by one writer, Menander,
survive from this period, but they indicate a
swing away from mythological subjects
toward a comedy of manners, concentrating
as they do on the erotic adventures of young
Athenians and centring on urban family life.
• The new, gentler style was reflected in the use
of more realistic costumes and masks and in
the increasing use of scenery.
 ARISTOPHANES
• He was born in Athens in 452 BC.
• He had been writing since he was an
adolescent but he was not allowed to
participate in the contests because of his
age.
• Therefore he participated with the alias
"Detalis" and he won the first prize with
"The Acharnians".
• He died in Aegina in 385 BC.
 PLAYS OF ARITOPHANES
– Acharnians (425 B.C.)
– Knights (424 B.C.)
– Clouds (423 B.C.)
– Wasps (422 B.C.)
– Peace (421 B.C.)
– Birds (414 B.C.)
– Frogs (405 B.C.)
– Plutus (388 B.C.)
– Lysistrata (411 B.C.)
– Women at the Thesmophoria (411 B.C.)
– Ecclesiazusae (c. 391 B.C.)
 MENANDER 342-291 B.C

• Very little has survived from this playwright from

Greece’s Late Comedy era, other than what later
comedy writers such as Plautus and Terence
adapted from Menander. He is said to have
written more than 100 plays, but only one
survives, Dyscolus, which wasn’t printed as a
modern text until 1958.
• Produced his first play: 321 B.C.
• Menander’s first win (Dyscolus): 316 B.C.
• Number of victories by Menander: 6
 Roman Empire:
4th and 5th Centuries B.C.E.

• Romans adopt Greek fascination with theatre

• Want more SPECTACLE
• Renovated Greek theatres (destroyed in war)
• add a story to tiring houses (more costumes,
props, and set construction)
• save slaves to perform live out death scenes.
 SETS
Greeks Romans
• mostly just one set • more elaborate sets
• actors with huge masks• still use masks
• few props • many props
• action on stage
 ROMAN PERIOD (100 BCE TO 300 CE)
• Theatre becomes hedonistic (vulgar):
– Gladiator contests
– Slaughter of humans (Christians and lions)
• Audiences only wanted to see vulgar performances:
– Moral decay of Rome=rise of Christian church=fall of Rome during
Dark Ages.
• Slaves used as actors until first Century
• Plays presented along with circuses
• Playwrights paid by acting companies
• Plautus, Terence, Seneca: Major playwrights
– Plautus:
• Comedy
– Terence:
• Known more for the way he presented characters
– Seneca:
• Senecan tragedy: gory tragedy. Violence takes place off stage.
Too traumatic to show on stage. Deaths are described in detail.
• After the fall of Rome, only wandering minstrels (dancing and
juggling) kept drama alive.