Theater was invented by the Greeks some 2,500 years ago. Many words relating to theater are Greek origin, suach as theater itself, mime, pantomime, tragedy, comedy, and drama. Plays were put as part of a religious festivals, usually in honor of Dionysus, god of drama, wine, and the spring. These dramatic festivals were also competitions, with a prize awarded to the playwright. The actors, who were all men, wore masks, so that they had to rely on their voices and gestures to express feelings. Theaters were often huge, and the actors' gestures must have been exaggerated to be seen from a distance.
The chorus was a group of men in a theater who sang songs, danced, and spoke as one group. They questioned the actors, commented on the action, and helped explain the play to the audience.
Music played a big role in Greek Theaters. The most popular instrument was the auloi, or double pipes, which accompanied dance ans songs during the play. We know from descriptions that there were different styles of ancient Greek music. However, the Greeks did not write their music down, so we can only imagine what their music might have sounded like.
The best seats were beatifully carved seats in the front row of the Theater of Dionysus in Athens which are the oldest and theater in the world. One seat on the right, with the paws of a lion, belonged to the priest of Dionysus the god in whose honor the plays were performed. The others were reserved for important foreigh visitors, priests, and officials who had helped to organize the dramatic festival.
The sanctuary of Dodoni was as spiritual place in ancient Greece. It is the oldest of the Greek oracles and ancient people traveled great distances in order to consult the priests who foretold the future. Outside the temple of Zeus the priests gathered under the sacred Oak tree and listened to the sound of the leaves as they shivered in the breeze and glimpsed at the future. People from the entire known world would make the pilgrimage in ancient times in order to consult the future-telling Oak tree and to attend cultural festivals that took place regurarly at Dodoni. According to Herodotus, the Dodoni oracle, was established by two priestesses from Thebes in Egypt, who were abducted by Phoenicians, and turned into two black doves. After a long journey, one of the priestesses arrived in Dodoni, sat on a branch of the holy oak tree and, speaking in a human voice, demanded that an oracle be established there.
Sometimes there where three main actors performing in a Greek play. Yet thanks to the use of masks, each actor played numerous parts, male and female. The masks' exaggerated features also helped the members of the audience sitting far from the stage to recognize the different types of characters.
The playwright Euripides(484-406 BC) wrote tragedies that dealt with the sufferings of heroes and heroines drawn from myths. In his lifetime, Euripides was not very popular and won the prize for best play only four times. Yet after his death, he was recognized as one of the greatest Greek writers. His nineteen surviving plays are still performed today.
A Greek theater named Epidauros could hold up to 14,000 people, in 55 rows of seats rising up the hillside. Yet it was so well designed that even those in the highest row could get a clear view of the performance and hear every word spoken by the actors. The flat, circular area in the foreground was called the orchestra, which meant "dancing floor." Here the chorus danced to music, while the actors performed on a raised stage farther back.