Theatre of Dionysus (c. 534 BC): Birthplace of Greek Tragedy

The Theatre of Dionysus is an open-air theatre on the south slope of the Acropolis in Athens, where Greek tragedy and comedy took shape. From around 534 BC the sanctuary of Dionysus hosted dramatic contests at the festival of the City Dionysia, and in the fifth century BC it saw the first performances of plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. Its ruins, rebuilt in stone in the fourth century BC, are often called the birthplace of Western theatre.

Origins: Dionysus and the first tragedies

The theatre grew out of a sanctuary of Dionysus Eleuthereus, the god of wine, fertility and ecstasy, whose cult statue was believed to have come to Athens from Eleutherae on the border with Boeotia. Each spring the statue was carried in procession and honoured with sacrifices, songs and dances.

According to tradition, the first tragedy contest at the City Dionysia was held around 534 BC, and the winner was Thespis, said to have been the first performer to step out from the chorus and speak as a character. The date comes from the Parian Marble, an ancient chronicle that places it between 536 and 532 BC. Greek actors are still called thespians after him.

This development happened under the tyranny of Pisistratus, who promoted the festival as part of a wider programme of civic display. Aristotle, in his Poetics, later traced tragedy back to the leaders of choral songs to Dionysus known as dithyrambs.

The early theatre

In the sixth and fifth centuries BC the theatre was simple. Spectators sat on the slope of the hill, perhaps on wooden benches called ikria, looking down on a flat dancing floor called the orchestra, where the chorus performed. Behind it stood a wooden stage building, the skene, which served as a backdrop and changing room and could represent a palace or temple.

Scholars disagree about the shape of the early orchestra. The German archaeologist Wilhelm Dörpfeld argued that it was a full circle, but some later researchers think it may have been more rectangular or trapezoidal. Very little of the fifth-century theatre survives under later rebuilding.

The City Dionysia

The City Dionysia was held in the month of Elaphebolion, roughly March–April, when the sailing season had begun and visitors from across the Greek world could attend. After the procession, the festival included contests in dithyramb for choruses of men and boys, and the dramatic competitions.

Three tragic playwrights were chosen each year. Each presented three tragedies and a satyr play, a short comic piece with a chorus of satyrs. Comedy was added as an official contest in 486 BC, usually with five poets competing. A wealthy citizen called a choregos paid for training and costuming each chorus, as a form of public service.

Winners were chosen by ten judges drawn by lot. Actors wore masks, and all roles, including women’s, were played by men. Before the plays, the city displayed tribute from its allies and paraded the sons of citizens killed in war, making the festival a statement of Athenian power as well as worship.

The great playwrights

• Aeschylus (c. 525–456 BC) won his first victory in 484 BC. His Persians (472 BC) was paid for by the young Pericles, and his trilogy the Oresteia won first prize in 458 BC.
• Sophocles (c. 496–406 BC) won his first victory in 468 BC, defeating Aeschylus, and is credited with 18 victories at the City Dionysia, with some ancient sources giving more. Oedipus the King, perhaps first staged in the 420s BC, famously did not win first prize.
• Euripides (c. 480–406 BC) first competed in 455 BC but won only four times in his lifetime. His Medea came third in 431 BC; the Bacchae won after his death, around 405 BC.
• Aristophanes (c. 446–386 BC) presented comedies including the Clouds (423 BC) and the Birds (414 BC) at the City Dionysia, though some of his plays, such as the Frogs, were produced at the Lenaia, another Athenian festival.

Only a fraction of their work survives: seven plays each by Aeschylus and Sophocles, about eighteen or nineteen by Euripides, and eleven by Aristophanes.

Rebuilding in stone

The theatre visible today owes its form mainly to the statesman Lycurgus, who controlled Athenian finances from about 338 to 326 BC. He had stone seating built in a great curve up the hillside, with a stone stage building. Estimates for its capacity range from about 14,000 to 17,000 people.

Bronze statues of the three great tragedians were set up at the same time, and official copies of their plays were made to protect the texts from actors’ changes. The front row was fitted with marble thrones for priests and officials; the central seat, for the priest of Dionysus Eleuthereus, is still in place.

Roman changes and rediscovery

Under Roman rule the theatre was altered several times. A new stage building was dedicated in the reign of Nero around AD 61, and in late antiquity an official named Phaedrus rebuilt the front of the stage, decorated with reliefs from the life of Dionysus that can still be seen. The orchestra was fenced with a barrier so that it could be used for gladiatorial or animal shows.

After antiquity the site was buried by soil washing down from the Acropolis. Excavation began in the nineteenth century, with major work by the German architects Heinrich Strack and Ernst Ziller in 1862 and later study by Dörpfeld. In recent decades Greek authorities have carried out restoration of the seating and stonework.

Myths and facts

• Myth: the ruins are the theatre where Sophocles watched his plays. The stone seats and stage remains visible today date mainly from the 330s–320s BC and from Roman rebuilding, a century or more after the great tragedians died. Their audiences sat in a simpler, partly wooden theatre on the same spot.
• Myth: Greek plays were performed in front of silent, reverent crowds. Ancient sources describe noisy audiences who shouted, applauded, hissed and even threw food at performers they disliked. Attendance was a lively civic event as well as a religious one.
• Myth: the masks were simply used to amplify voices. Masks allowed a few male actors to play many roles, including women and gods, and made characters recognisable at a distance. Whether they helped the voice carry is uncertain.
• Fact: the theatre was part of a sanctuary. Temples of Dionysus stood just south of the stage building, and every performance took place as an act of worship to the god.

Timeline

• c. 534 BC: Thespis wins the first recorded tragedy contest at the City Dionysia.
• 486 BC: Comedy becomes an official contest at the festival.
• 472 BC: Aeschylus’ Persians is staged, with Pericles as choregos.
• 458 BC: Aeschylus’ Oresteia wins first prize.
• 431 BC: Euripides’ Medea is performed.
• c. 405 BC: Euripides’ Bacchae wins posthumously.
• c. 338–326 BC: Lycurgus rebuilds the theatre in stone.
• c. AD 61: A new stage building is dedicated under Nero.
• 1862: Large-scale excavation of the theatre begins.

Why it matters

The Theatre of Dionysus was where tragedy and comedy, two of Europe’s most influential art forms, were created and refined before mass audiences of citizens. Its plays are still performed worldwide, and theatres from Epidaurus to the modern stage follow the basic plan worked out here. Standing beneath the Acropolis of Athens, it links the city’s religion, politics and art in a single place.