History

The most famous of Dionysos' theatres, located in Athens on the side of the Acropolis. This is where the dramatic contests in the Greater Dionysia were held.

According to legend, theatre began in the late sixth century BCE, when a man named Thespis first had the idea to add speaking actors to performances of choral song and dance (hence the word 'thespians'). Plays were performed outdoors, in daylight, before audiences of 10,000 or more at festivals in honor of Dionysos. Comedy and tragedy flourished in Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. When the Romans conquered Greece they brought Greek literature back to Italy and set about making it their own. The Romans soon took over the existing theaters in Greece and began renovating and rebuilding them for their own spectacles. The remains of the Theater of Dionysos which we can see in Athens today date to Roman times and not the fifth century BCE. (from Didaskalia)

Plays and Playwrights

The most famous ancient playwrights are Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. Aeschylus wrote the most well-known rendition of the Oresteia. Sophocles is most known for his Oedipus cycle. Euripides wrote the only extant tragic play starring Dionysos, The Bacchae, among others. Aristophanes wrote comedies, such as The Clouds and The Frogs. For the texts to many of these plays online, go to the Perseus Project.

Masks

Masks played an important role in Greek drama. They gave the actors the ability to easily play more than one character in succession with a simple change of mask. They conveyed a kind of static emotion that must have created an atmosphere very different than our modern theater. They also challenged the actors to portray their characters' feelings in more subtle ways, with voice and body language, since they couldn't use facial expressions. Also, since all roles including female ones were played by male actors, masks allowed changes in gender as well. Ancient masks were made from clay, wood or cloth, and they had wide open mouths for easier speaking. The traditional comedy/tragedy masks, used now as a universal symbol for drama, also represent the two sides of Dionysos, as well as the effects of wine.

Music

Music was an important part of ancient theatre, the cult of Dionysos, and ancient Greek life in general. In drama, musicians accompanied the chorus onto stage, and set the music to which the chorus sang and danced. Ancient musical instruments included the frame drum, aulos (double-flute), and lyre. Dithyrambs were a form of hymn exclusively for Dionysos. They were more lyrical and sedate than his wild devotionals. Many scholars think that theatre developed by adding characters to the chorus that sang dithyrambs at festivals.

Technitai Dionusou

In ancient Teos (Asia Minor), an actors' guild formed, called the "Artists of Dionysos" (Technitai Dionusou or Dionusiakoi technitai in Greek, informally referred to as hoi technitai), which eventually expanded to include other artists and musicians (kitharists, auletes, aulodes, singers, composers, poets, costumers, etc.). They staged complete concerts and plays, taught music and travelled from town to town. They were treated as privileged and favored. The guildsmen also served Dionysos, and their duties included performing his liturgy and festivals. They were headed by a priest of the god. Later, they were known in Latin as Dionysiaci artifices. For several centuries they had great power. They were also, appropriately, regarded as rowdy troublemakers in parts, and were expelled from many places they visited. (For more info, see Music and Musicians in Ancient Greece by Warren D. Anderson). For a modern troupe of actors performing ancient plays, see the Actors of Dionysus.