What is a theater in ancient Greece?

Answer 1

In Ancient Greece, the most celebrated and popular theatre venue was the Theatre of Dionysus, which lie on the southeast side of the Acropolis, in central Athens.Consecrated first as the temenos of Dionysos Eleuthereus ("Dionysus Liberator"), what would become a grand masterpiece of Ancient Greek architecture, began as a more rudimentary construct, complete only with an altar and a circular playing area, around which the improvisational choral dithyramb competitions were held as prelude to a ritual sacrifices in honor of Dionysus, god of wine, drama and fertility.

Eventually, as many scholars conclude, the great pinnacle of antique dramatic literature, Athenian tragedy, evolved from the improvisations of the dithryambic choruses, adopting and changing the same circular performance space used by the choruses in competition and/or in simple ritual homage. This circular performance space would thus become known as the orchêstra, a space equivalent in diameter to about 20 metres.

For utilitarian reasons (i.e., the episodic nature of the theatre narrative called for entrances & exits, and changes in costume & scenery) the Ancient Greek Theatre added on what was at first a temporary enclosed rectangular wooden structure, called a skênê, meaning "hut" or "tent," which was raised on a platform about 4 metres high, at a length of about 12 metres. Upstage center of the skênê was supposed to have stood a double-leaf door used for entrances and exits.

Eventually the skênê grew larger and more ornate, with various accoutrements, such as the forbearer of the modern proscenium arch: the colonnaded proskênion.

It is not entirely certain if all theatres of the Ancient Greek construction had altars (or thymelê) in or on the orchêstra. It is readily debated by scholars whether the altars were permanent structures or whether they were carried on to stage as scenic devices (e.g., particularly for the recitation of the lyric choral odes in Ancient Greek tragedies), and whether they lay left or right of the orchêstra's playing space.

One certain fact is that the thymelê was not phallic in shape. As best as archeologists can conclude, the altars were either short stout column-heads or an ornate rectangular shape, both with a flat top upon which mock-sacrificial displays could be made, and where lyric odes would culminate in the coryphe's chanting of the epode.

Some archeologists and Classic Greek scholars believe that the thymelê's flat or concaved top could have held a bronze, or at best a large golden bowl-like chalice for tossing and sipping libations during the action of the plays which proceeded near or around it. The idea of a chalice for libations lends itself to the idea that the thymelê was not stationary but mobile, and could have been moved closer to the nearest audience members (who were often a select group of the most venerated priests, cleric and dignitaries), so that they too could join in the spilling of libations.