3/5/2026 - Week 8 / Meeting 16: Ancient Greece / The Athenian Chorus
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Unit: Ancient Greece
Theme: The Athenian Chorus
Introduction
In 5th -century BCE, Ancient Greece drama hosted its Athenian chorus, a group of 12–15 trained male citizen performers. The chorus acted as a collective character. Its function was to provide the audience with moral, emotional, and narrative commentary through song and dance. They entered during the parodos, the initial ode sung by the chorus as it first enters the acting area. The parodos typically followed the prologue, setting the tone, providing background, and introducing key themes. The chorus remained onstage throughout, and often represented community voices or divine perspectives.
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Learning Objectives
- Understand the importance of the Athenian Chorus
- Explain the meaning of the chorus within Ancient Greek drama
- Gain an awareness of the structure of the chorus performance
- Experience the staging of an excerpt from a classic Greek play
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Main Lesson
1
Minoan Crete
(7000 BCE - 1500 BCE)
The Minoan palaces show evidence of destruction by earthquake
c. 1700 BCE, after which they were rebuilt.
The palaces were well-appointed, monumental structures with large courts, colonnades, staircases, religious crypts, light-wells, drainage systems, extensive storage magazines for large ceramic pithoi containers, and even 'theatre' areas for public spectacles.
The complexity of these palaces, the sport of bull-leaping, the worship of bulls as indicated by the presence throughout of sacred bulls' horns and depictions of double axes (or labrys) all probably gave rise to the legend from Greek mythology of King Minos, ruler of Knossos, and the Athenian hero Theseus who killed the minotaur which dwelt in the labyrinth of the same city.
Other features of the Minoan religion besides bulls include the prominence of Nature and fertility goddesses, best seen in voluptuous faience figurines holding snakes.
A second wave of earthquakes and destructive fires occurred between 1500 BCE and 1450 BCE which seems to have definitively ended the Minoan presence on Crete.
Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/crete/
Question 1
What did we learn about the minotaur from previous classes?
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Mycenaean Civilization
The Mycenaean Civilization flourished in the Late Bronze Age (c. 1700-1100 BCE), peaking from the 15th to the 13th century BCE. The Mycenaeans extended their influence throughout the Peloponnese in Greece and across the Aegean from Crete to the Cycladic islands. The Mycenaeans were influenced by the earlier Minoan civilization.
Major
Mycenaean centres included Mycenae (traditional home of Agamemnon)
Tiryns (perhaps the oldest centre), Pylos (traditional home of Nestor),
Thebes, Midea, Gla, Orchomenos, Argos, Sparta, Nichoria, and probably
Athens.
Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/Mycenaean_Civilization/
Question 2
If Mycenaean Civilization flourished in the Late Bronze Age, what we assume about them in terms of technology?
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Athens
City State
Panathenaic Games
The Panathenaic Games were held every four years in Athens in Ancient Greece from 566 BC to the 3rd century AD. These Games incorporated religious festivals, ceremonies, athletic competitions, and cultural events hosted within a stadium.
Panathenaic Procession
Dionisia
City Dionysia was a large festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus, the central events of which were the theatrical performances of dramatic tragedies and, from 487 BC, comedies. It was the second-most important festival after the Panathenaia.
http://web.eecs.utk.edu/~bmaclenn/Classes/US210/City-Dionysia.html
Question 3
Compare and contrast the Panathaneic Games and City Dionisia.
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4
Macedon
Kingdom
Battle of Chaeronea
The Battle of Chaeronea was fought in 338 BC, near the city of Chaeronea in Boeotia, between the Macedonians led by Philip II of Macedon and an alliance of some of the Greek city-states led by Athens and Thebes. As a result of it, Macedon establishes hegemony over the majority of Southern Greece, except Sparta. It is here that the Athenian arts probably expanded into Southern Greece.
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon, born in 356 B.C., commonly known as Alexander the Great, son of Philip II. During his youth, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16. Alexander became king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon after his father was assassinated. In 334 BC he began a series of campaigns that lasted 10 years conquering most of the known world.
Legacy
Alexander's legacy includes the cultural diffusion and syncretism which his conquests allowed. Alexander's settlement of Greek colonists and the resulting spread of Greek culture resulted in the Hellenistic civilization, which through the Roman Empire turned into modern Western civilization.
The Greek language became the lingua franca of the region and was the predominant language of the Byzantine Empire up until its end in the mid-15th century AD.
Thus, the Hellenistic period spans the period of Mediterranean history between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt the following year.
Question 4
Why was Alexander the Great's legacy important for the world of his time?
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Ptolemaic Dynasty
The Ptolemaic dynasty, the Thirty-third dynasty of Egypt, sometimes referred to as the Lagid dynasty, was a Macedonian Greek royal dynasty which ruled the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Ancient Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 to 30 BC. Thus, by the time the Ptolemaic dynasty was installed in Egypt, the Greeks brought with them the cultural legacy of thousands of years. That legacy, added to that of Egypt and other colonies gave birth to the Hellenistic civilization.
Question 5
What important performance event, studied last class, was developed during the Ptolemaic dynasty?
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Question 6
What aspects of the Ancient Greek civilization are most related to performance?
Question 8
Which are the three ways that history has allowed us to know about Ancient Greece?
Question 9
What was the role of the Ancient Greek chorus?
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IV
A Note to Remember
The City Dionysia festival centered on Dionysus Eleuthereus ("Dionysus the Free"). A sacred wooden statue of the god was carried from outside the city to his temple near the Theater of Dionysus to symbolically preside over the events.
Question 10
What type of performance can we assume was used to carry the statue of Dionysis?
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Case Study
Question 11
According to Nicholas Rudall, how can one assemble a group of men and women in a chorus?
Question 12
According to Rudall, what is the role of the audience?
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Students use a tragedy text ( Agamemnon by Aeschylus ) to create a dance/theater piece performed in chorus style.
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/agamemnon/summary/
(Page 3)
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Oresteia_Trilogy/LOzDAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Agamemnon&printsec=frontcover
Chorus
Ten livelong years have rolled away
Since the twin lords of sceptred sway
By Zeus endowed with pride of place
The doughty chiefs of Atreus' race
Went forth of yore,
To plead with Priam, face to face,
Before the judgement-seat of war
Vocab
sway: rule; control
doughty: brave and persistent
yore: of long ago or former times
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Journaling
VII
Glossary
VIII
Sources
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STUDENTS' WORK
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