GREEK DRAMA: (B) HISTORY Tragedy.—Archilochus said that he could lead the dithyramb as well drunk as sober, which is not true of tragedy; and neither with him (c. 65o B.e.) nor with the (c. 600) chorus of 50 of Arion of Lesbos at Corinth can tragedy legitimately be considered to have begun. Ancient tradition, which there is no valid reason to challenge, states that in Attica, at the Dionysia of 534 B.C. one Thespis, of the Icarian deme, produced a chorus of which he was himself leader (Kopv4aios). But instead of merely exchang ing dialogue with the chorus he had included a person called the Answerer (inroKpirris, afterwards the word for actor—but the word is also interpreted as "the poet's spokesman," see Bywater's ed. of Arist. Poet., p. 136) with whom also he spoke. He now had the materials from which he constructed rude tragedies; narrative, and some very limited action were possible, but the entertainment was still chiefly lyrical. From his day the history of Greek tragedy is purely Attic. His chief successors, Choerilus, Pratinas and Phrynichus, produced plays of a similar character; Phry nichus is credited with the introduction of female characters, and with especially charming lyrics. His two most famous pieces, the Capture of Miletus and the Phoenician Women, dealt with con temporary events.
Greek tragedy enters upon its classical and greatest period with the appearance of Aeschylus (525-456) about 500 B.C. Under GREEK LITERATURE, and more briefly under CLASSICS will be found a study of the content and style of his plays and of those of his successors : further reference should be made to their respective biographies. Under THEATRE are discussed the various technical devices of the Greek stage—the "buskins," the masks, the scenery, etc. Here we shall merely indicate briefly the changes introduced by each of the more important authors. The greatest innovator of all was without doubt Aeschylus. He introduced a second answerer, or actor. Each actor might "double" parts as much as he could, so that, with the chorus and its leader taking an active part, a developed drama was now possible. The limita tions of a small cast were less felt than they would be to-day owing to the conditions of performance. The plays were pre sented out of doors at the Great Dionysia before unmanageably huge audiences, consisting of the whole population, citizens, slaves, women, children, visitors ; the writer had necessarily to rely very largely upon the music and upon the "mass effects" provided by the chorus. To the conditions of performance was due also the typical Aeschylean arrangement of the trilogy or tetralogy (though the words are of later, probably Alexandrian, date). The trilogy is the day's sequence of three plays, forming one vast play, though each section is a comprehensible and if necessary detach able unit. Of a trilogy we have one example, the Oresteia (Aga memnon, Cioephori, Eumenides) dealing with the story of Orestes. A tetralogy is the trilogy with the addition of a fourth play, the "satyric drama," which, as might be expected after so long a performance, was of a light character, contained much comic relief and had a happy ending. The one surviving example, Euripides' Cyclops (large parts of Sophocles' ltlzneutae have also recently been discovered) does not suggest that by the disappear ance of these dramas much has been lost. Aeschylus left a further profound trace on Greek drama by his lavish use of "Homer" for his subject matter, and his modelling of the lan guage of tragedy upon the solemnity of the Homeric verse. He called his plays "dry scraps from Homer's banquet." By "Homer" he meant not the Iliad and Odyssey so much as the vast mass of myth contained in the cyclic poems generally (see HOMERIC POEMS).
With Sophocles (495-405) the associate of Pericles, Greek tragedy reaches, if not its highest, at least its most characteristic development ; appreciation of his plays is a cultivated taste. He released Greek drama from certain of the limits accepted by Aeschylus. He provided a third actor, thus enlarging the author's field, he began to abandon the trilogical connection of plays, he increased the numbers of the chorus, and brought the language nearer to that of everyday life. He further introduced the use of scenery, states Aristotle (Poet. 1449a 18, cropaypackiav, the exact meaning of this has been somewhat fruitlessly disputed) . Euripides (480-406) increased still more the flexibility of the drama. He separated the chorus from the action—the first step to its com plete destruction—he used the prologue openly as an introduction and explanation to the play, and his language, subjects and senti ments seemed to his contemporaries excessively realistic. He was, however, charged with an intemperate use of the dens ex machina device, by which a god is brought in abruptly at the end of a play to set right a confusion which is beyond human powers.
These three great writers in their life-time and even more since have towered above all others. But there were many other play wrights, of whom Ion and Agathon appear to have been of out standing merit. The latter used a very florid style, invented his subjects if necessary, and allotted to his chorus embolima, "in serted numbers," which had no connection with the play. After them came numerous poets, all of whose works are also lost ; we may mention Euphorion, Aeschylus's son, Iophon the son of Sophocles, and Euripides, his namesake's nephew. The conquests of Alexander spread theatres all over the East, and shortly after wards the rise of Alexandria attracted from Athens to that city the remaining dramatic talent. The productions of this age are lost. There is little reason to believe that the loss is a very serious one, though the Alexandrian theatre survived till the days of the Roman empire.
Comedy.—The Thespis of comedy was Susarion of Megara (fl• 580-562 B.e.) who added broad jokes (possibly practical jokes) and rustic satire to the phallic song. Epicharmus (c. 500 B.e.) and Sophron (c. 43o B.e.) of Syracuse must also be counted among the earliest exponents of comedy, which thus appears to have a Dorian origin. The character of Epicharmus' comedies is uncertain : Sophron's mimes were dramatic recitations of every day Sicilian life, classed as for "male" or "female" characters (µ1µoc avhpe oc Kai yvvacee .m). But Athens soon asserted her dominion with the trinity of Eupolis atque Cratinus Aristophan esque poetae, of whom the last alone has had the fortune to survive. To these poets of the Old Comedy should be added the names of Magnes, Pherecrates, Crates, Phrynichus and Plato comicus. Comedies, though some were presented at the Great Dionysia, were chiefly played at the Lenaea, in Gamelion (the month January–February) at a time when the Athenians were isolated by winter and were free to indulge in the most intimate comedy and self-criticism. The poets presented but one comedy, and were not subject to the artistic restrictions of tragedy, or indeed, as for Old Comedy, to restrictions of matter at all. The phallic element survived ; the comedies were grossly indecent, either incidentally or as in the case of one of the best (Lysistrata), organically. Political attacks of the freest kind were permitted nearly till the end of the Peloponnesian War. Their chief vehicle was the parabasis, a break in the middle of the play when the chorus moved towards the audience (irapaj3aivc)), faced it and delivered a long speech in the name of the poet dealing with current events.
From 414, when a law was passed checking this free comment, Old Comedy was doomed and from the end of the century till about 338 (Macedonian conquest) we have what is convention ally called Middle Comedy. The Plutus of Aristophanes is an example of it. The vitality of comedy has been impaired, the parabasis has vanished, the chorus is dying and conventional types begin to appear. In reality, the division between Middle and New Comedy is an unhelpful one and one not countenanced by the Alexandrians. The characteristics of New Comedy (from 338 onwards) are merely exaggerations of the characteristics of Middle Comedy. The chorus has vanished, and the play is merely an imaginary story of the events occurring to certain typical figures— the Rich Miser and so forth. They may best be studied in the plays of Plautus and Terence, their imitators (see below). The reputation of Menander, the most famous of New Comedy writers, has been injured rather than enhanced by the recent discovery of considerable fragments. A successor of Sophron the mime writer may be found in the Alexandrian Herodas, whose Mimes are a purely literary production.
See A. E. Haigh, The Attic Theatre (rev. ed., i9o7) ; L. Matthaei, Studies in Greek Tragedy (1918) ; T. D. Goodell, Athenian Tragedy (New Haven, U.S.A., 192o) ; R. C. Flickinger, The Greek Theatre and its Drama (Chicago, 1 92 2) ; and the Cambridge Ancient History, vol. v., ch. v. (1927, bibl.). (R. W. P.)