The
ancient Greek theater is a part of our past and present. The
influence of the architecture of ancient theater in shaping today's
theaters are evident in cinemas and other places of public assembly
such as university auditoriums. So each day we live a little bit of
our ancient heritage, whether we are in Greece or not.
The
ancient theaters were everywhere, in every city and in every
sanctuary, of a certain size, were used for religious rituals,music
and poetry contests, plays, meetings of the municipality or
parliament of the city-state, they where even used as the market,
also known as “agora”. In fact, the theaters that existed in
ancient Greece exceed in number those been found and maybe ever to be
found. This is largely due to the way they where constructed during
the Archaic period. They used to be built in natural hollows of the
ground and formed with only minor interventions in space or
transportation of soil. Unlike stone structures, these theaters are
extremely difficult to identify in the archaeological excavations.
The
ancient theaters, architectural consisted of the orchestra, the
square where the actors also known as “hypocrites” and the dance
took place -in early periods of history- and the auditorium, where
the sloping piece was, and last the seats of the spectators. In the
5th century BC the composition of the theater added a
scene which started as a single-story and was used as backstage.
During the Early Hellenistic Period, the scene became two-storied,
with the roof from the ground floor protruding below the first floor
forming a balcony. From the 2nd century.
B.C. action of actors,
“hypocrites” was transferred onto this balcony, called a
“logeion”.
Many
of us know little about the importance of ancient Greek theaters. To
make up for this gap in knowledge we must take a look at our past.
Ancient
Theater of Epidaurus
The
ancient theater of Epidaurus is in the same space as Asklepios
Epidaurus near the village Lygourio. It is considered the finest
ancient Greek theater in terms of acoustics and aesthetics.
The
ancient theater was built between 340 BC and 330 BC by an architect
from Argos called Polykleitos the younger. The theater was built to
entertain the patients of Askleipeios and was also used for
theraputic reasons as it was believed that watching theatrical plays
had beneficial effects on mental and physical health of patients. The
cult of Asclepius was framed by athletic and artistic events and
performances such as drama. Thus, the events that took place in the
theater where considered an integral and essential part of the
festive happenings in honor of the doctor-god.
The
ancient theater had a capacity of 13,000 spectators. Divided into two
parts, the top 21 rows of seats for the people and the bottom with 34
rows of seats for the priests and rulers. The architectural form of
the stage of the theater of Epidaurus shows that it intended to
present dramas in a certain form that was finalized in Athens in the
5th century BC. Contrary to what happened in other theaters of the
classical or Hellenistic times, this theater did not undergo
reformation during Roman times and thus maintained its original form
until the end of the ancient era. The prevailing scientific view was
constructed in two phases. The first placed at the end of the 4th
century, somewhere at the end of the first prime era of Asklepios
accompanied by significant construction development, while the second
phase is placed at the middle of the 2nd BC century.
The
theater of Epidaurus was revealed after excavations carried out by
archaeologist P. Kavadias, under the auspices of the Athens
Archaeological Society during the period 1870-1926. A few years
later, in 1938 came the first performance at the ancient theater of
Epidaurus, Electra by Sophocles starring Katina Paxinou and Helen
Papadakis. The performances then stopped because of World War II. In
the early '50s, the theater underwent restoration work in order to
accept a large number of spectators and in 1955 the Epidaurus
Festival was inagurated which included performances at the ancient
theater every summer. As part of the “Epidavros Festival”
Epidavros has hosted many Greek and foreign actors and also the
famous Greek soprano Maria Callas.
References (for all tree parts):
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