Oedipus Web Quest

We're going to be reading some Greek drama, so you have a chance to do some exploring. Below, you will find a list of useful websites. All the questions come from these websites, but don't feel limited to these sites; you may search anywhere on the Internet you like.

Resources:

	Ancient Greek literature-- http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/literature/greeklit.htm Greek and Roman Theater terms-- http://www.whitman.edu/theatre/theatretour/glossary/glossary.htm Key Terms for the Context and Performance of Greek Tragedy-- http://www.temple.edu/classics/dramaterms.html
The structure of Greek plays-- http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110tech/Theater.html#structure Theater in Ancient Greece-- http://upge.wn.com/?t=ancientgreece/index15.txt Articles on Ancient Greek Theater-- http://www.theatrehistory.com/ancient/greek.html
	The Context of Ancient Theater, Parts One and Two-- http://classics.uc.edu/~johnson/tragedy/context.html http://classics.uc.edu/~johnson/tragedy/festival.html Theater Glossary (look for the tiny 1.2.3.4.5 in the upper right hand side to go to the later pages)-- http://filmplus.org/thr/dic1.html Greek Playwrights http://www.english.emory.edu/DRAMA/GreekPlays.html

Questions:

Fill in the blank

1. What time period was the height of theater in Greece (give years)? _______________

2. Theater developed as part of a celebration for which god? _______________

3. Who is known as the creator of Greek tragedy because legend says he is the first to step away from the chorus and speak or act the part of the main character? _______________

4. Before plays were acted out, these two famous pieces of literature would be read out loud by dramatic speakers during competitions to see who could make them sound most exciting. _______________ and _______________

5. The chorus could be quite large (up to 50 people although a traditional chorus usually had about 12 or 15), but in the classical plays, there were never more than how many actors on stage? _______________

6. Which playwright is known for making the chorus less important and adding a second actor? _______________

7. Which young upstart beat the famous Aeschylus in competition and forever changed drama by adding a third character to the stage and creating elaborate scenery? _______________

8. In his plays, he focused on morality and patriotism and included more women characters than other authors, but he was criticized for focusing too much on emotion and pretty words and not enough on having a strong structure to his play. _______________
   

Match the following terms with their definitions. Bold terms are ones you should memorize. You should keep a list of all of these out during the drama unit so you can follow the conversation and answer the questions.

Agon	Ananke	Deuteragonist	Deus ex machina
Choryphaeus (koryphaios)	Dithyramb	Exarchon	Hamartia
Hubris	Hypokrit	Melpomene	Moira
Oikos	Paraskenia	Peripeteia	Polis
Prohedria	Satyrs	Skene	Stichomythia
Thalia	Theatron

1. _______________ The most common form of tragic flaw, usually described as excessive pride or arrogance.

2. _______________ Greek term (which means "missing the mark") usually applied to the flaw or error in judgment that leads to the downfall of the tragic hero.

3. _______________ The songs, folk tales and dances offered to Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility and wine.

4. _______________ The leader of a dithyrambs

5. _______________ Literally, it means "watching place" but back then it meant the hill with a flattened section at the foot where the orchestra and chorus stood.

6. _______________ Stone seats set into a hillside on early theaters, these were reserved for the upper classes. Everyone else sat on the hill or on wooden benches.

7. _______________ A backdrop, tent, or wall with a scene painted on it. The actors would change costumes or hide props behind it

8. _______________ A long stone wall with sides that stuck out that served as the "back" of the stage.

9. _______________ These early plays are parodies of myths where the actor/actors overact and exaggerate the parts.

10. _______________ The muse of comedy

11. _______________ The muse of tragedy

12. _______________ Leader of the Greek chours; one function of the leader was to carry on a dialogue with the actors.

13. _______________ Greek term for an actor

14. _______________ The ancient Greek word for "city-state"; the primary political organization

15. _______________ The family unit, including its physical property; its needs are often in tension with the polis

16. _______________ The line-by-line debates or fast paced arguments done in dialogue. Often times (but not always), the debaters will repeat some portion of each other's words (You never loved me. I always loved you. But you never respected me.)

17. _______________ In general, "competition"; specifically, the debate or conflict of ideas and values in a drama

18. _______________ Greek term for "necessity" or "that which has to be;" it's the idea that fate is inevitable and what will happen will happen, no matter how one tries to change it

19. _______________ A secondary character who accompanies the main protagonist. In the oldest form of classical Greek drama, plays originally consisted of a single character standing on stage speaking with the chorus. Originally the deuteragonist was the second person who would wear different masks to represent all other characters.

20. _______________ Literally, "the god from the machine." The Greeks would use a crane to lower someone onto the stage to play a god descending from heaven. This also means an ending with a contrived, impractical solution appearing at the last minute (think Athena showing up at the last second to stop the civil war in Ithica).

21. _______________ Greek term for "fate" or "the sharer out." Customarily, fate was depicted as three sisters who spun out the thread of one's life. One spun the thread, the second determined its length, and the third (representing death) cut the thread.

22. _______________ The point in a tragedy where success turns to failure; a sudden change of events or reversal of circumstances.
    

Bonus Questions:

1. This guy was fined a thousand drachmas because he wrote a play that was so emotional that he made an entire audience cry. _______________

2. He was a vulgar and oftentimes offensive man who wrote plays that occasionally shocked people and were critical of current politicians, but when you take a second look, the meanings of his comedies tended to be traditional and encourage people to remain faithful to classic values and to their gods. _______________

3. What animals were often sacrificed at the beginning of the festival which would include theater competitions (in fact, 333 were sacrificed for the 240 BCE festival alone) _______________

Last Updated on 9-21-2007