Ancient Greek Theater

ORIGINS OF ANCIENT GREEK DRAMA The roots of ancient Greek theater lie in the religion of Dionysus, the god of wine, who was one of the Olympian deities honored at Athens and somewhere else in the Greek world. In myth, Dionysus' followers were satyrs, drunken half-animal, half-human creatures, and mainades, or "mad women". In ancient Greek times, Dionysus' followers sometimes understood these roles in their religious rituals, consequential in a great deal of dancing, drinking, …

…place in a picture frame. Greek theaters also had entrances for the audience called parodoi. The paradoi (plural of parados) were tall arches that came out from the sides of the stage, through which the audience entered. By the end of the 5th century BC, the skene, the back wall, was two stories high. The upper story was called the episkenion. Some theaters also had a raised speaking place on the orchestra called the logieon.