Ancient Greek Theater: The Greek Chours

Greek Chorus

A Greek chorus, or simply chorus in the context of Ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, and modern works inspired by them, is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action.

Vocabulary

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Dionysus

the Olympian god of wine, vegetation, pleasure, festivity, madness and wild frenzy. He was depicted as either an older, bearded god or an effeminate, long-haired youth. His attributes included the thyrsos (a pine-cone tipped staff), a drinking cup and a crown of ivy.

Dithyrambs

 a wild choral hymn of ancient Greece, especially one dedicated to Dionysus.

Thespis

the first person ever to appear on stage as an actor playing a character in a play. In other sources, he is said to have introduced the first principal actor in addition to the chorus. Thespis was a singer of dithyrambs. 

Tragedy

a play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character.
  

Athens

 The city of Athens during the classical period of Ancient Greece was the major urban centre of the notable polis of the same name, located in Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League.

City Dionysia

The Dionysia was a large festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus, the central events of which were the theatrical performances of dramatic tragedies and, from 487 BC, comedies. It was the second-most important festival after the Panathenaia.
  

Catharsis
the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.
  

Oresteia

 The Oresteia is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BC, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of the curse on the House of Atreus and the pacification of the Erinyes.

 Ancient Greek Chorus

A Greek chorus, or simply chorus in the context of Ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, and modern works inspired by them, is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action.