Theater, Greek

Greek theater was dominated by the works of five playwrights. Many of the great tragedies extant today were prize-winning works by Aeschylus (525-24 b.c. to 456-55), Sophocles (497 b.c. to 406), and Euripides (circa 484 b.c. to 407-06) and the famous comedies by Aristophanes (circa 447 b.c. to somewhere between 386-80) and Menander (342-41 b.c. to 290), among others.

Although the exact origins of Greek drama cannot be known with absolute certainty, most scholars believe its roots can be traced to the worship of Dionysus, the god of fertility and wine. Members of the cult of Dionysus practiced assorted religious rituals, including the dithyramb, possibly as far back as 1200 b.c. Although scholars do not fully understand the dithyramb, they...