Part of the reason plays were so
important is that originally plays were performed to honor
Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of harvest and wine. But over
time, many different gods got in the act, so to speak, especially
the 12 Olympians - the major gods of ancient Greece. The Greeks
were always weaving the gods into their stories.
Sophocles was a famous ancient
Greek playwright. He wrote 120 plays. But there were many Greek
playwrights because plays were so popular. There were three types
of plays.
Tragedies: The first
type they invented was the tragedy. In tragedies, one or more
major characters always suffered a disastrous end.
Comedies: Comedies
were invented next. In comedies, plays always had a happy end. The
third type was the satire.
Satires: Satires were
plays that made fun of mortal legends and of real people. In
ancient Greece, you did not poke fun at the gods - not in a play,
not in real life, not ever. But you could poke fun at your
leaders. And that was uniquely Greek. Satires in ancient Greece
were often political in nature, and could indeed affect people's
opinions about current events.
In Greek drama, the chorus or the
singers told the story, not the actors. Actors used gestures and
masks to act out their parts. Actors changed roles by changing
masks. Probably the most famous actor in ancient Greece was a man
named Thespis. Actors today are called thespians in his honor.
