Greek Tragedy-160
 
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Typical parts of a Greek Tragedy


  • Prologue
  • Parodos
  • First Episode
  • First Stasimon
  • Second Episode
  • Second Stasimon
  • Third Episode
  • Third Stasimon
  • Fourth Episode
  • Fourth Stasimon
  • Exodos

    • Stage Management 


    theatron (visual space, theater)


    skênê (theater building, whose front was a painted area, whence "scenery")


    paraskênia (stone wall along sides of skene, supplementing skene)


    proskênion (proscaenium; columned area "before the skene" dividing actors from audience, a later addition; actors were often placed on the roof of the proskênion, viz., on the "logeion," to project their voices better to the audience)



    (click twice for largest size)
    Apulian Vase painting (Italic, 4th c. BCE) showing a woman eavesdropping. It is thought to be about a Euripidean tragedy. The vase either represents a painted stage scenery (painted on a flat board) that originally contained perspectival rendering or it represents a stage with perspectival projection added by the vase painter. In the first case, it tells us something about stage scenery at the time; in the second, it tells us about painting technique at the time. Either way, a very interesting artifact, especially since it is an early instance of perspectivism in art.





























    orchêstra (circular dancing space). Cf. Homer, Iliad, bk. 18, the shield description, upon which there is "a dancing-floor (orchêstra) like the one Daedalus made in the wise town of Cnossus" on which the dancers circle "like the wheel of a potter when he crouches and works it with his hands to see if it will run."


    logeion (raised "speaking space"; a later addition; atop the proskênion)


    prohedria ("front seating" for public officials, priests, dignitaries; marble, not wooden, benches)


    kerkides (wedges of seats; see diagram below)


    ekkuklêma (rolling platform, used for wheeling out corpses for display)


    mêchanê (crane, used for hoisting gods and others into and out of sight)






    parodos (entrances: two, left and right)



    Partial summary (based on a late (and very elaborate!) model of a Greek-style theater):



    A more realistic summary in diagram form (Hellenistic, post-Lycurgan):











    Note how the increasing distance between the speaking platform/stage (logeion) and the orchestra (dancing space of the chorus) created a detachment between actors and choristers; originally, these were in constant communication. Middle Comedy was partly to blame.



    A useful online tool for looking up terms of Greek tragedy is this Greek TheaterKnowledge Builder. (click on "Glossary" then go to the first letter of the word in question)