Greek Tragedy And The Morality Of Greek Culture Essay

Greek Tragedy and the Morality of Greek Culture Theater in ancient Greece was considered the climax of the days long cultural festival of The City Dionysia. At the festival, various types of plays were shown but one of the most popular was tragedy. These tragedies show the main character, usually a god or person of myth, going through human suffering and the terrible sequence of events that followed; and were produced in 472- 401 BCE. In order for a play to be performed at The City Dionysia festival; tragic playwrights would first have to appeal to the state official that was organizing the festival by submitting ideas to him and his committee. The ideas submitted were outlines of main themes and points of interest to be performed in the play. If a playwright was selected by the state official and his committee, then they received a financial backer and a chance to compete in the drama competition of the festival. The state official, or his committee, was likely pushing their own agenda and choose playwrights that matched their id eals. This is just one example of how theater in ancient Greece was used to influence the morality of Greek culture by using the stories of tragedies, like those of Euripides. The City Dionysia Festival was a celebration of the god Dionysus’ arrival in Athens in mythical times and was usually held annually between March and April. The festival and theater performances were ways of honoring the god Dionysus, who is the god of the grape harvest,Show MoreRelatedGreek And Roman Influence On Western Culture1063 Words   |  5 PagesGreek and Roman Contribution To Western Culture Greek and Roman culture are the most often thought of in history, and that is due to the many contributions it had to the future. Greeks were very philosophical and were constantly questioning morality. The Classical age of the Greeks, 479-323 B.C.E., is mentioned in reference to tragedies. 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