Ancient Greek theater. Structure of tragedy

Finally, it’s worth talking about one Greek language. Choosing, on the one hand, is very difficult, but on the other hand, it is very simple, because light hand two people separated by a large period of time, we know which Greek tragedy is the main one.

Aristotle's Poetics makes it clear that the best Greek tragedian of the three great tragedians is Sophocles, and the best Greek tragedy of all Greek tragedies is Oedipus Rex.

And this is one of the problems with the perception of Greek tragedy. The paradox is that Aristotle's opinion was apparently not shared by the Athenians of the 5th century BC, when Oedipus the King was produced. We know that Sophocles did not lose with this tragedy; the Athenian audience did not appreciate Oedipus the King the way Aristotle appreciated it.

Nevertheless, Aristotle, who says that Greek tragedy is a tragedy of two emotions, fear and compassion, writes about Oedipus the King that anyone who reads even a line from it will at the same time be afraid of what happened to the hero and have compassion for him.

Aristotle turned out to be right: almost all great thinkers paid attention to the question of the meaning of this tragedy, how we should perceive the main character, whether Oedipus is guilty or not guilty. About twenty years ago an article was published D. A. Hester. Oedipus and Jonah // Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society. Vol. 23. 1977. one American researcher, in which he scrupulously collected the opinions of everyone, starting with Hegel and Schelling, who said that Oedipus was guilty, who said that Oedipus was not guilty, who said that Oedipus, of course, was guilty, but involuntarily. As a result, he ended up with four main and three auxiliary groups of positions. And not so long ago, our compatriot, but in German, published a huge book called “The Search for Guilt” M. Lurje. Die Suche nach der Schuld. Sophokles' Oedipus Rex, Aristoteles' Poetik und das Tragödienverständnis der Neuzeit. Leipzig, 2004., which examines how Oedipus Rex has been interpreted over the centuries since its first production.

The second person, of course, was Sigmund Freud, who, for obvious reasons, also devoted many pages to Oedipus the King (although not as many as it would seem he should have) and called this tragedy an exemplary example of psychoanalysis - with this only difference that the psychoanalyst and the patient coincide in it: Oedipus acts both as a doctor and as a patient, since he analyzes himself. Freud wrote that this tragedy is the beginning of everything - religion, art, morality, literature, history, that this is a tragedy for all times.

Nevertheless, this tragedy, like all other ancient Greek tragedies, was staged at a specific time and in a specific place. Eternal problems - art, morality, literature, history, religion and everything else - were correlated in it with specific times and specific events.

Oedipus the King was produced between 429 and 425 BC. This is very important time in the life of Athens - the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, which will ultimately lead to the fall of the greatness of Athens and its defeat.

The tragedy opens, who comes to Oedipus, who rules in Thebes, and says that there is a pestilence in Thebes and the cause of this pestilence, according to the prophecy of Apollo, is the one who killed the former king of Thebes, Laius. In tragedy, it takes place in Thebes, but every tragedy is about Athens, since it is staged in Athens and for Athens. At that moment, a terrible plague had just passed through Athens, which wiped out many people, including absolutely outstanding ones - and this, of course, is an allusion to it. Also during this plague, Pericles, the political leader with whom the greatness and prosperity of Athens is associated, died.

One of the problems that preoccupies interpreters of the tragedy is whether Oedipus is associated with Pericles, if so, how, and what is Sophocles’ attitude to Oedipus, and therefore to Pericles. It seems that Oedipus is a terrible criminal, but at the same time he is the savior of the city both before and at the end of the tragedy. Volumes have also been written on this topic.

In Greek, the tragedy is literally called "Oedipus the Tyrant." The Greek word () from which it comes Russian word“tyrant” is deceptive: it cannot be translated as “tyrant” (it is never translated, as can be seen from all Russian - and not only Russian - versions of the tragedy), because initially this word did not have the negative connotations that it has in modern Russian language. But, apparently, in Athens of the 5th century it had these connotations - because Athens in the 5th century was proud of its, that there is no power of one, that all citizens equally decide who is the best tragedian and what is best for the state. In Athenian myth, the expulsion of tyrants from Athens, which occurred at the end of the 6th century BC, is one of the most important ideologies. And therefore the name “Oedipus the Tyrant” is rather negative.

Indeed, Oedipus in the tragedy behaves like a tyrant: he reproaches his brother-in-law Creon for a conspiracy that does not exist, and calls the soothsayer Tiresias bribed, who speaks of the terrible fate awaiting Oedipus.

By the way, when Oedipus and his wife and, as it later turns out, mother Jocasta talk about the imaginary nature of prophecies and their political engagement, this is also connected with the realities of Athens in the 5th century, where there was an element of political technology. Each political leader almost had his own soothsayers, who interpreted or even composed prophecies specifically for his tasks. So even such seemingly timeless problems as the relationship of people with gods through prophecies have a very specific political meaning.

One way or another, all this indicates that a tyrant is bad. On the other hand, we know from other sources, such as the history of Thucydides, that in the mid-5th century the allies called Athens a “tyranny” - meaning a powerful state that was governed in part by democratic processes and united around itself allies. That is, behind the concept of “tyranny” is the idea of power and organization.

It turns out that Oedipus is a symbol of the danger that powerful power carries and that lies in any political system. Thus, this is a political tragedy.

On the other hand, Oedipus the King is, of course, a tragedy of the most important themes. And the main one among them is the theme of knowledge and ignorance.

Oedipus is a sage who at one time saved Thebes from the terrible one (because the sphinx is a woman) by solving its riddle. It is as a sage that a chorus of Theban citizens, elders and youth, comes to him with a request to save the city. And like the sage, Oedipus declares the need to solve the mystery of the murder of the former king and solves it throughout the entire tragedy.

But at the same time he is also blind, not knowing the most important thing: who he is, who his father and mother are. In his quest to find out the truth, he ignores everything that others warn him about. Thus it turns out that he is a sage who is not wise.

The opposition of knowledge and ignorance is at the same time the opposition of vision and blindness. The blind prophet Tiresias, who at the beginning speaks with the seeing Oedipus, constantly tells him: “You are blind.” Oedipus at this moment sees, but does not know - unlike Tiresias, who knows, but does not see.

It is remarkable, by the way, that in Greek vision and knowledge are the same word. In Greek, to know and see is οἶδα (). This is the same root that, from the Greek point of view, is contained in the name of Oedipus, and this is played out many times.

In the end, having learned that it was he who killed his father and married his mother, Oedipus blinds himself - and thereby, having finally become a true sage, loses his sight. Before this, he says that the blind man, that is, Tiresias, was too sighted.

The tragedy is built on an extremely subtle game (including verbal, surrounding name Oedipus himself) of these two themes - knowledge and vision. Inside the tragedy they form a kind of counterpoint, constantly changing places. Thanks to this, Oedipus the King, being a tragedy of knowledge, becomes a tragedy for all times.

The meaning of the tragedy also turns out to be dual. On the one hand, Oedipus is the most unfortunate person, and the choir sings about this. He found himself plunged from complete happiness into misery. He will be expelled from his own city. He lost his own wife and mother, who committed suicide. His children are the product of incest. Everything is terrible.

On the other hand, paradoxically, Oedipus triumphs at the end of the tragedy. He wanted to know who his father was and who his mother was, and he found out. He wanted to find out who killed Lai, and he found out. He wanted to save the city from plague, from pestilence - and he did. The city was saved, Oedipus gained the most important thing for him - knowledge, albeit at the cost of incredible suffering, at the cost of losing his own vision.

By the way, Sophocles made changes to the well-known plot: Oedipus had not blinded himself before, and within Sophocles’ drama blindness is a natural ending, an expression of both defeat and victory.

This duality is the literary and political meaning of the tragedy, since it demonstrates the two-sidedness of power, the connection between power and knowledge. This is the key to the integrity and amazing structure of this tragedy at all levels, from plot to verbal. This is also the guarantee of its greatness, which has been preserved over the centuries.

Why did the Athenian public not appreciate Oedipus the King? Perhaps it was precisely the intellectualism of the tragedy, the very complex packaging of various themes within it that turned out to be too complex for the Athenian public of the 5th century. And it was precisely for this intellectualism that Aristotle probably valued Oedipus the King primarily.

One way or another, “Oedipus the King” embodied the main meaning and main message of the Greek tragedy. This is, first of all, intellectual experience, which is correlated with experience of a very different nature, from religious and literary to political. And the more closely these different meanings interact with each other, the more successful and important its meaning and the stronger its effect.

Ancient Greek tragedy- the oldest known form of tragedy.
Comes from ritual actions in honor of Dionysus. Participants in these actions wore masks with goat beards and horns, depicting Dionysus' companions - satyrs. Ritual performances took place during the Great and Lesser Dionysias (festivities in honor of Dionysus).
Songs in honor of Dionysus were called dithyrambs in Greece. The dithyramb, as Aristotle points out, is the basis of Greek tragedy, which at first retained all the features of the myth of Dionysus. The latter was gradually replaced by other myths about gods and heroes - powerful people, rulers - as cultural growth ancient Greek and his social consciousness.
From mimic praises telling about the sufferings of Dionysus, they gradually moved on to showing them in action. Thespis (a contemporary of Peisistratus), Phrynichus, and Kheril are considered the first playwrights. They introduced an actor (the second and third were then introduced by Aeschylus and Sophocles). The authors played the main roles (Aeschylus was a major actor, Sophocles also acted as an actor), wrote the music for the tragedies themselves, and directed the dances.
The three greatest tragedians of Greece - Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides - consistently reflected in their tragedies the psycho-ideology of the landowning aristocracy and commercial capital on various stages their development. The main motive of Aeschylus' tragedy is the idea of the omnipotence of fate and the doom of the fight against it. Social order was thought to be determined by superhuman forces, established once and for all. Even the rebellious titans cannot shake him (the tragedy “Chained Prometheus”).
These views expressed the protective tendencies of the ruling class - the aristocracy, whose ideology was determined by the consciousness of the need for unquestioning submission to this public order. Sophocles' tragedies reflect the era victorious war Greeks and Persians, which opened up great opportunities for trading capital.
In this regard, the authority of the aristocracy in the country fluctuates, and this accordingly affects the works of Sophocles. At the center of his tragedies is the conflict between tribal tradition and state authority. Sophocles believed reconciliation was possible social contradictions- a compromise between the trade elite and the aristocracy.
Euripides motivates the dramatic action with the real properties of the human psyche. The majestic, but spiritually simplified heroes of Aeschylus and Sophocles are replaced in the works of the younger tragedian by, if more prosaic, then complicated characters. Sophocles spoke of Euripides this way: “I portrayed people as they should be; Euripides depicts them as they really are.”
By the time of the Greco-Persian wars, it had become customary to stage three tragedies (trilogy) on the Dionysian holiday, developing one plot, and one satyr drama, repeating the plot of the tragedies in a cheerful, mocking tone, with pantomime dances. Sophocles already departed from this trilogical principle. True, at dramatic competitions he also performed with three tragedies, but each of them had its own plot. The tragedy of Sophocles is recognized as the canonical form of Greek tragedy. He introduces peripeteia for the first time. He slows down the rapidity of action that characterizes the tragedy of his predecessor Aeschylus.
The action in Sophocles seems to be increasing, approaching a catastrophe, followed by a denouement. This was facilitated by his introduction of a third actor. Classic structure tragedy (established by Sophocles) is as follows.

Ancient Greek tragedy- the oldest known form of tragedy

Comes from ritual actions in honor of Dionysus. Participants in these actions wore masks with goat beards and horns, depicting Dionysus' companions - satyrs. Ritual performances took place during the Great and Lesser Dionysias (festivities in honor of Dionysus).

Songs in honor of Dionysus were called dithyrambs in Greece. The dithyramb is the basis of Greek tragedy, which at first retained all the features of the myths about Dionysus.

From mimic praises telling about the sufferings of Dionysus, they gradually moved on to showing them in action. The authors played the main roles, wrote the music for the tragedies themselves, and directed the dances. The three greatest tragedians of Greece - Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides- consistently reflected in their tragedies the ideology of the landowning aristocracy at various stages of their development. Each of them had their own style and favorite themes. For example, the main motive of Aeschylus' tragedy is the idea of omnipotence of fate and the doom of the fight against it. Even the rebellious titans cannot shake him (the tragedy "Chained Prometheus"). These views expressed the protective tendencies of the ruling class - the aristocracy, whose ideology was determined by the consciousness of the need for unquestioning submission to a given social order.

The tragedies of Sophocles reflect the era of the victorious war between the Greeks and the Persians, which opened up great opportunities for trading capital.

In this regard, the authority of the aristocracy in the country fluctuates, and this accordingly affects the works of Sophocles. At the center of his tragedies is the conflict between tribal tradition and state authority. Sophocles' tragedies are characterized by dialogues of rare skill, dynamic action, and naturalness in untying complex dramatic knots. Sophocles considered it possible to reconcile social contradictions - a compromise between the trade elite and the aristocracy. The tragedy of Sophocles is recognized as the canonical form of Greek tragedy.

And finally, Euripides - a supporter of the victory of the trading stratum over the landowning aristocracy - already denies religion. His tragedy Bellerophon depicts a fighter who rebelled against the gods for patronizing treacherous aristocratic rulers. In the works of the atheistically inclined Euripides, the characters in the drama are exclusively people. If he introduces the gods, it is only in those cases when it is necessary to resolve some complex intrigue.

The structure of tragedy: The tragedy begins with a prologue, followed by the exit of the choir with a song, then episodies (episodes), which are interrupted by songs of the choir (stasims), the last part is the final stasim and the departure of the actors and choir. Choral songs thus divided the tragedy into parts, which in modern drama are called acts. The number of parts varied even among the same author. The chorus (at the time of Aeschylus 12 people, later 15) did not leave its place throughout the entire performance, as it constantly intervened in the action: it assisted the author in clarifying the meaning of the tragedy, revealed the emotional experiences of his heroes, and assessed their actions from the point of view of the prevailing morality. The presence of a choir, as well as the lack of scenery in the theater, made it impossible to transfer the action from one place to another. We must also add that the Greek theater did not have the ability to depict the change of day and night - the state of technology did not allow the use of lighting effects. This is where the three unities of Greek tragedy come from: place, action and time (the action could only take place from sunrise to sunset), which were supposed to strengthen the illusion of the reality of the action. Greek tragedy was greatly influenced by Homeric epic. Tragedians borrowed a lot of legends from him. The characters often used expressions borrowed from the Iliad.

For example, Sophocles' tragedy "Antigone":

"Antigone" is written on a mythological plot. In the tragedy "Antigone" Sophocles reveals one of the conflicts of his contemporary society - the conflict between generic unwritten laws and state laws.

Plot: Polyneices, brother of the determined Antigone, daughter of King Oedipus, who has enormous power freedom, betrayed his native Thebes and died in the fight with his brother, the defender of his homeland. King Creon forbade burying the traitor and ordered his body to be torn to pieces by birds and dogs. Creon does not take into account traditional tribal laws, unlike his sister's daughter. But Antigone performed the religious burial rite. For this, Creon ordered Antigone to be walled up in a cave. Antigone chose death over obedience to the king and committed suicide. After this, Antigone's fiancé, Creon's son, Haemon, pierced himself with a dagger, and in despair over the death of his son, Creon's wife Eurydice took her own life. These misfortunes led Creon to admit his insignificance and to humility before the gods.

Since ancient times, at festivals in honor of Dionysus, or Bacchus, the god of the vine and wine, villagers organized solemn processions to the temple and sacrificed goats to the god. They dressed up in goat skins, tied up their hooves, horns and tails, depicting the companions of Dionysus - goat-footed satyrs. In honor of God, the choir sang solemn chants (dithyrambs), accompanied by games and dancing. At the same time, a singer stood out from the choir, who portrayed Dionysus or some other mythical figure, and the singing was performed alternately by the choir and then by the singer. This is where the tragedy came from (“tragedy” in Greek means “song of the goats”). Initially, only the choir and the author himself participated in it as the only actor. The first tragedies set forth myths about Dionysus: about his suffering, death, resurrection, struggle and victory over his enemies. But then poets began to draw content for their works from other legends. In this regard, the choir began to portray not satyrs, but other mythical creatures or people depending on the content of the play.

The tragedy arose from solemn chants. She retained their majesty and seriousness; her heroes became strong personalities endowed with a strong-willed character and great passions. Greek tragedy always depicted some particularly difficult moments in the life of an entire state or an individual, terrible crimes, misfortunes and deep moral suffering. There was no place for jokes or laughter.

The tragedy reached its greatest flowering in the 5th century. BC e. in the works of three Athenian poets: Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.

Before Aeschylus, dramatic performances were still very primitive, since the participation of just one actor did not allow poets to present a complex action, show the struggle of ideas, views, moods, etc. Only after Aeschylus, the “father of tragedy,” introduced a second actor and moved the focus of the play from the chorus to the dialogue of the actors, the tragedy became a real dramatic performance. But still, in the tragedies of Aeschylus, the choir still played an important role. Only with the appearance of a third actor in the drama, whom Sophocles introduced, did the chorus gradually lose its significance, and from the end of the 4th century. BC e. tragedies are written without a chorus at all.

Thus, in ancient Greek tragedy there was singing, dancing and music. In this way it differed from the tragedy of a later time.

Plays with a chorus of satyrs stood out in special genre- a comic, cheerful performance, a “satyr drama.” For the festival of Dionysus, every poet in Athens who wanted to take part in a dramatic competition had to present three tragedies - a trilogy and one satyr drama.

The eldest of the three great tragedians was Aeschylus. He was born in 525 BC. e. in the town of Eleusis, near Athens. The time of his life coincides with the era of the Greco-Persian wars and the strengthening of the democratic system in Athens. As a hoplite (heavily armed infantry warrior), Aeschylus fought for the happiness and freedom of his homeland against the Persian invaders.

The ancients attributed 72 or 90 plays to Aeschylus, of which only seven tragedies have come down to us in their entirety: “The Petitioners”, “The Persians”, “Seven Against Thebes”, “Prometheus Bound” and the “Oresteia” trilogy consisting of tragedies: “Agamemnon” , "Choephori" ("Women pouring a funeral libation") and "Eumenides".

Among his contemporaries, Aeschylus enjoyed the fame of the greatest poet: 13 times he was the winner in dramatic competitions and his plays received the exclusive right to repeat productions. A monument was erected to the poet in Athens. Towards the end of his life, Aeschylus moved to Sicily, where he died in 456 BC. e. in the city of Gela. The inscription on the grave glorifies him as a valiant warrior.

The plots of all Aeschylus’ tragedies, except for “The Persians,” are ancient myths about gods and heroes, but the poet puts into these mythical tales the ideas, concepts and views of his time, reflecting political life Athenian society of the 5th century. BC e. A supporter of the Athenian democratic system, Aeschylus appears in his works as a fiery patriot, an enemy of tyranny and violence, firmly believing in the victory of reason and justice. Using examples heroic images ancient mythology Aeschylus raised his fellow citizens in the spirit of selfless devotion to the homeland, courage and honesty.

The idea of the advantages of a democratic system over monarchical despotism is expressed with great force by the poet in the tragedy “The Persians.” In it he glorifies brilliant victory Greeks over Persians at Salamis. The tragedy took place 8 years after this battle. It is easy to imagine the enormous impression “Persians” made on the audience, most of whom, like Aeschylus, were participants in the Greco-Persian War.

In ancient times of Greek history, myths arose about a curse that weighed down entire families. The tragedy of Aeschylus “Seven against Thebes” is dedicated to the ill-fated fate of the Lab-Dacid family; three tragedies by Sophocles: “Oedipus the King”, “Oedipus at Colonus” and “Antigone” - and the tragedies of Euripides: “The Phoenician Women” and partly “The Petitioners”. But while presenting the same myth, each of the poets interpreted it in his own way, depending on the goals that he pursued in his tragedies.

IN ancient myth it was said that the Theban king Oedipus from the Labdacid family committed terrible crimes in complete ignorance: he killed his own father Laius and married his mother Jocasta. Only after many years did the terrible truth reveal itself to his eyes. Horrified by the crimes he committed, Oedipus blinded himself. But the Labdacid family did not get rid of the curse. The sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polynnicus, attacked each other and both died in a fratricidal war.

The siege of the seven-gate Thebes by Polynnicos, who brought a foreign army led by six Argive commanders to his homeland, his battle with Eteocles and the death of both brothers are the plot of Aeschylus’s tragedy “Seven against Thebes.”

Aeschylus presents the struggle of two brothers for royal power in the tragedy as the struggle of the free Theban people against foreign invaders - the Argives, who came to enslave the city, betray it to fire and violence. Creating scary picture of a besieged city, the poet evokes in the audience’s memory sentiments similar to those that the Greeks experienced during the years of the Persian invasion. The ruler of Thebes, Eteocles, according to myth, is a blind instrument in the hands of the gods. In the tragedy, he is depicted as a decisive, reasonable and courageous military leader. This is a man of strong will, going into battle with his brother consciously, in the name of protecting his fatherland. The image of Eteocles combines everything best qualities Greek fighters, heroes of Marathon and Salamis. Thus, under the influence of contemporary events, Aeschylus processed the ancient legend.

The poet’s tragedy “Chained Prometheus” is world famous, in which he immortalized the image of the tyrant-hater Titan Prometheus, a fighter for freedom, happiness and culture of mankind.

Wanting to save the human race from destruction, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to people. He taught them to build houses and ships, tame animals, recognize medicinal plants; taught them the science of numbers and literacy, endowed people with consciousness and memory. For this, Zeus severely punished the titan. In response to Zeus' messenger Hermes, who threatened him with new torment, Prometheus proudly declares:

Know well that I would not exchange My sorrows for slavish service...

A fighter for truth and justice, Prometheus says that he hates all gods. This tragedy was one of Karl Marx's favorite works.

The powerful characters of the images of Aeschylus' tragedies made a huge impression. To express the feelings and thoughts of these heroic individuals, a particularly majestic and solemn style was required. Therefore, Aeschylus created poetic speech, full of bright hyperboles, metaphors, composed Difficult words, consisting of several roots and prefixes. In this regard, the understanding of his tragedies gradually became more and more difficult and interest in his work among later generations decreased.

However, the influence of Aeschylus on all subsequent world literature huge. Poets of all eras and movements were especially attracted by the image of Prometheus, which we find in the works of almost all famous poets XVII - XIX centuries: Calderon, Voltaire, Goethe, Shelley, Byron and others. The Russian poet revolutionary-democrat Ogarev wrote the poem “Prometheus”, in which he protested against the tyranny of Nicholas I. The work of Aeschylus also had a great influence on composers: Liszt, Wagner, Scriabin, Taneyev and others.

The work of Aeschylus' younger contemporaries - Sophocles and Euripides - dates back to the period of the highest economic and cultural prosperity of the Athenian democratic state.

After the victory over the Persians, Athens became scientific and cultural center throughout Greece - the “school of Hellas”. Scientists, artists, sculptors, and architects come there. Are being created greatest works arts, among which one of the first places is occupied by the temple of Athena - the Parthenon. Works are written on history, medicine, astronomy, music, etc. Particular interest is shown in the personality of the person himself. The beauty of the human body is depicted by the sculptors Phidias and Polykleitos. Inner world man, his moral experiences are revealed by the Greek tragedians Sophocles and Euripides. Like Aeschylus, they draw plots for their works from ancient mythological tales. But the heroes they created are no longer powerful, unshakable titans towering above mere mortals, but living people who evoke deep sympathy in the audience for their suffering. IN famous tragedy Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" focuses not on external events, but on the feelings that take possession of Oedipus as he learns about the crimes he has committed. From a happy, beloved and respected king by his people, Oedipus turns into an unhappy sufferer, dooming himself to eternal blindness and exile. Another remarkable tragedy of Sophocles, “Antigone,” tells about the death of Oedipus’s children.

Euripides, like Sophocles, with subtle observation depicts in his tragedies the changing feelings and moods of the characters. He brings the tragedy closer to life, introduces a lot of everyday traits from family life their heroes. Being one of the most advanced people of his time, Euripides puts into the mouths of the characters discussions about the injustice of slavery, the advantages of a democratic system, etc. The best of the tragedies that have come down to us is Eurshshda - “Medea”.

The works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides played a colossal role in the education of many generations. Defense of the Athenian democratic system, defense of human rights, the spirit of patriotism and irreconcilable hatred of tyranny and violence, love of freedom - this is what forms the basis of the ancient Greek tragedy.

The forms that the main source of the tragedy took.

a) Aristotle speaks of the origin of tragedy “from the singers of praise.” The dithyramb was indeed a choral song in honor of Dionysus. The tragedy, therefore, arose from the alternating singing of the lead singer and the choir: the lead singer gradually becomes an actor, and the choir was the very basis of the tragedy. Based on the three great Greek tragedians - Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides - one can quite clearly establish the evolution of the chorus in Greek classical drama. This evolution was a gradual decline in the importance of the chorus, starting from those tragedies of Aeschylus, where the chorus itself is actor, and ending with tragedies and was nothing more than a kind of musical intermission.

b) The same Aristotle speaks about the origin of the tragedy from the Satmra game. Satyrs are humanoid demons with strongly pronounced goat-like elements (horns, beard, hooves, unkempt fur), and sometimes with a horse's tail.

The goat, like the bull, was closely related to the cult of Dionysus. Dionysus was often represented as a goat, and goats were sacrificed to him. Here was the idea that God himself was torn to pieces so that people could taste the divinity of Dionysus himself under the guise of goat meat. The word tragedy itself, translated from Greek, literally means either “song of the goats” or “song of the goats” (tragos - goat and ode - song).

c) It is necessary to recognize the folklore origin of drama in general. Ethnographers and art historians have collected significant material from history different nations about primitive collective game, which was accompanied by singing and dancing, consisted of the parts of a lead singer and a choir or two choirs and had at the beginning magical meaning, because in this way the impact on nature was conceived.

d) It is quite natural that in primitive religious and labor rituals those elements that later led to the development individual species drama or to the twists and turns within one drama. Therefore, a mixture of the sublime and base, serious and humorous is one of the features of these primitive beginnings of drama, which later led to the origin of tragedy and comedy from the same Dionysian source.

e) In the city of Eleusis, mysteries were given, which depicted the abduction of her daughter Persephone from Demeter by Pluto. The dramatic element in Greek cults could not help but influence the development of drama in the dithyramb and could not help but contribute to the isolation of artistic and dramatic moments from religious rituals. Therefore, in science there is a firmly established theory about the influence of the Eleusinian mysteries on the development of the tragedy in Athens.

f) The theory of the origin of tragedy from the cult of the spirit of the dead, and in particular from the cult of heroes, has also been put forward. Of course, the cult of heroes could not be the only source of tragedy, but it had great importance for tragedy already in view of the fact that tragedy was almost exclusively based on heroic mythology.

g) Almost every tragedy contains scenes of mourning for certain heroes, so there was also a theory about the phrenetic origin of the tragedy (tbrenos - in Greek “funeral lament”). But frenos also could not be the only source of tragedy.

h) It was also pointed out that there was a mimic dance at the grave of the heroes. This point is also very important. i) At a certain stage of development, a serious tragedy separated from. funny satyr drama. And from mythological tragedy and satyr drama a non-mythological comedy was separated. This differentiation is a certain stage in the development of Greek drama.

Not a single tragedy has survived before Aeschylus. According to Aristotle, drama originated in the Peloponnese, among the Dorian population. However, drama received its development only in the much more advanced Attica, where tragedy and satyr drama were staged on the festival of the Great (or City) Dionysia (March - April), and on another festival of Dionysus, the so-called Lenaea (January - February) - mainly comedy; At the Rural Dionysia (December - January), plays that had already been performed in the city were staged. We know the name of the first Athenian tragedian and the date of the first production of the tragedy. It was Thespis who first staged the tragedy at the Great Dionysia in 534. A number of innovations and the titles of some tragedies are attributed to Thespis, but the reliability of this information is questionable. A contemporary of the famous Aeschylus was Phrynichus (approx. 511-476), to whom, among others, the tragedies “The Taking of Miletus” and “The Phoenician Women”, which gained great fame, are attributed. Later Pratin acted, becoming famous for his satyr dramas, of which he had more than tragedies. All these tragedians were eclipsed by Aeschylus.

4. The structure of the tragedy.

Aeschylus's tragedies are already distinguished by their complex structure. It began with a prologue, by which we must understand the beginning of the tragedy before the first performance of the choir. The first performance of the choir, or more precisely, the first part of the choir, is a parod of tragedy (parod in Greek means “performance”, “passage”). After the parod, the tragedy alternated between so-called episodies, that is, dialogical parts (episodies means “entry” - dialogue in relation to the choir was initially something secondary), and stasims, the so-called “standing songs of the choir”, “song of the choir in a motionless state” . The tragedy ended with an exodus, exodus, or final song of the choir. It is also necessary to point out the combined singing of the choir and actors, which could take place in different places of the tragedy and usually had an excited-crying character, which is why it was called kommos (copto in Greek means “I hit,” that is, in this case, “I hit myself in the chest.” "). These parts of the tragedy can be clearly traced in the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides that have come down to us.

5. Ancient Greek theater.

Theatrical performances, which grew out of the cult of Dionysus, have always had a mass and festive character in Greece. The ruins of ancient Greek theaters amaze with their capacity for several tens of thousands of visitors. The history of ancient Greek theater can be clearly seen in the so-called Theater of Dionysus in Athens, located under open air on the southeastern slope of the Acropolis and accommodated approximately 17 thousand spectators. Basically, the theater consisted of three main parts: a compacted platform (orchestras, from the Greek orhesis - “dance”) with an altar to Dionysus in the middle, seats for spectators (theater, that is, entertainment places), in the first row of which there was a chair for the priest of Dionysus, and skene , that is, the buildings behind the orchestra, in which the actors changed. At the end of the 6th century BC, the orchestra was a round, densely compacted platform, which was surrounded by wooden benches for spectators. At the beginning of the 5th century, wooden benches descended in a semicircle. along the slope of the Acropolis. The orchestra, on which there was a choir and actors, became horseshoe-shaped (it is possible that the actors played on a small elevation in front of the skene). adjacent to the skene - proskenium - with two projections on the sides, the so-called paraskenia, the theater was distinguished by excellent acoustics, so that thousands of people could easily hear the actors with strong voices. The seats for spectators covered the orchestra in a semicircle and were divided into 13 wedges. On the sides of the proscenium there were parods - passages for the audience, actors and choir. When staging the tragedy, the choir consisted first of 12, then of 15 people, led by a luminary - the head of the choir, dividing into two half-choirs, performing songs and dances, depicting persons close to the main characters, men or women, dressed in costumes corresponding to the action. The tragic actors, whose number gradually increased from one to three, played in extremely colorful, magnificent costumes, increasing their height with buskins (shoes with thick soles like stilts) and high headdresses. The size of the body was artificially increased, brightly colored masks of a certain type were put on their faces for heroes, old people, youths, women, and slaves. The masks testified to the cult origins of the theater, when a person could not perform in his usual form, but put on a kind of mask. In the huge theater, masks were convenient for the public to see and made it possible for one actor to play several roles. All female roles performed by men. The actors not only recited, but also sang and danced. In the course of the action, lifting machines were used, necessary for the appearance of the gods. There were so-called ekkiklems - platforms on wheels that were moved to the scene of action in order to show what happened inside the house. Machines were also used for noise and visual effects (thunder and lightning). At the front of the skene, usually depicting a palace, there were three doors through which the actors exited. This part of the screen was painted with various decorations, which gradually became more complex with the development of the theater. The public - all Athenian citizens - received from the end of the 5th century. BC. from the state special entertainment money for visiting the theater, in exchange for which metal numbers were issued indicating the place. Since the performances began in the morning and continued throughout the day (three tragedies and one satyr drama were staged for three days in a row), the audience came stocked with food.

A playwright who wrote a tetralogy or a separate drama asked the archon in charge of organizing the holiday for a choir. The archon entrusted a choreg chosen from among wealthy citizens, who was obliged, as a state duty, to recruit a choir, train it, pay it and arrange a feast at the end of the festival. Choregia was considered an honorable duty, but at the same time it was very burdensome, accessible only to a rich person.

Judges were elected from among the 10 Attic phyla. After three days of competition, five from this panel, chosen by lot, made the final decision. Three winners were confirmed and received a monetary reward, but ivy wreaths were awarded only to those who won the first victory. Actor-protagonist who played main role, enjoyed great honor and even carried out government assignments. The second and third actors were entirely dependent on the first and received payment from him. The names of poets, choregs and actor-protagonists were recorded in special acts and stored in state archive. From the 4th century BC. It was decided to carve the names of the winners on marble slabs - didascalia, the fragments of which have survived to this day. The information that we use from the works of Vitruvius and Pausanias relates mainly to the Hellenistic theater, so some aspects of the ancient state of theatrical buildings in Greece are not clear and definite.

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