Greek To Us - Comedy, Tragedy and Satire Quiz

Answer: Ecstasy

Those participating in Dionysian rites were thought to achieve an altered awareness termed "ecstasis". The noun originally referred to displacement of an object but ultimately was used to describe a trance - a displacement of the mind.

Despite opposition of the more sedate members of Grecian society, the Dionysian celebrations spread south into Greece. As part of the Dionysian rites, choruses of as many as 50 men dressed as satyrs danced around a statue of Dionysus chanting and playing music. This became known as the dithyramb and ultimately involved stories that would turn into the earliest Greek dramas.

Answer: Goat song

That the word tragedy derived from the Greek "tragoedia" meaning "goat song" seems well accepted. It is uncertain whether this, in turn, relates to the traditional prize for the winners of the Dionysian drama competition (a goat) or perhaps references the goat legs of the satyr costumes that the chorus wore.

It would seem that one could even theorize that "tragedy" is related to the smell of goats. (Although, to my knowledge only the author of this quiz has done so.) Greek words derived from "tragos" (goat) often refer to a goat's smell. For instance, the Greek word "tragomaschlos" indicates that one's armpit smells like a goat!

Answer: Thespis

In the 6th century B.C. drama competitions were held at Athens in the precincts of the temple of Dionysus where a theater was carved out of the hillside. The first recorded competition was in 534 B.C., and its victor was Thespis. It is known that Thespis first included an actor (protagonist) that assumed the role of an individual character and engaged in conversation with the group of 12-15 young men that made up the chorus. The exact date and time of the performance are matters of legend and conjecture.

The Greek "agon" referred in Homeric times to a place of assembly. Because of the games that were conducted at these assemblies, the noun came to refer to a contest. The corresponding verb referred not only to competition in a contest but also came to mean "to fight". Therefore the first (pro) to compete (agonizo) became the protagonist. "Agonia" (agony) became a term for the intense mental and physical associated with strenuous competition and later came to be applied generally to the experience of anguish.

Aeschylus added a second actor (deuteragonistes) and Sophocles a third (tritagonistes) to Greek drama. The three actors in a play by Sophocles would play typically play multiple parts. The actors are thought not to have used costumes. The mask that the actor wore conveyed the actor's persona.

Answer: All of these

"Theatron" was literally "the place of seeing" and referred to the semicircle of raised seats from which the audience viewed the performance. The chorus of 15-20 men had evolved from the 50 man choruses of the Dionysian cult who ecstatically danced around the image of the god.

Hence, the term orchestra for the area in which the chorus performed derived from "orkheisthai", meaning "to dance" and was the area just in front of the Theatron. "Skene" was originally a tent behind the orchestra in which performers changed.

It later became the term for the building with doors behind the orchestra and its raised platform. The wall of the "skene" supported "scenery" and ultimately the word came to denote the scene of action.

Answer: Free admission to plays

In fifth century B.C. Athens, admission to the Dionysian tragedies was 2 obols, an amount equal to a day's wages for a laborer (an amount curiously close to the admission price for Shakespeare's plays in the Elizabethan era). Although begun as a fund to pay for the lower classes to attend plays, the theoric fund developed into a substantial social welfare program.

As the fund grew in size, so also the influence of the person administering the fund. In the fourth century, all excess state moneys were required to be placed into the fund except during time of war.

It could be argued that play tickets were the first item available under the western world's first welfare state.

Answer: A satyr play

The vulgar and cheeky satyrs appear early in "Cyclops" and signal the audience that what follows is a satyr play and not to been taken seriously. In order to compete in the Athenian Dionysia a playwright was required to submit a satyr play in addition to three tragedies. The satyr play provided comic relief. Usually a satyr play mocked a serious myth as Euripides did in "Cyclops". "Cyclops" is the only complete satyr play surviving from the era.

The meaning of the word "satire" was influenced by these early plays. The Latin "satura", originally used to describe a mixture, came to be applied to a medly of poems denouncing vice. In the middle ages, satire was thought to be associated with the ancient Greek satyr plays; and as a result the word came to have a second meaning of sarcastic wit applied to various human foibles. Dictionary.com summarizes the etymology in this way: "Altered in L. by infl. of Gk. satyr, on mistaken notion that the form is related to the Gk. satyr drama."

Satyr plays should not be confused with comedies. Satyr plays mocked heroes and gods, were shorter than full comedies or tragedies, and presumably bore a greater similarity to "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" than to "Saturday Night Live". Satyr plays notably lacked the references to and implied criticism of contemporary issues and personages that were common in comedies of the era.

Answer: Gerald Ford

For those not familiar with George Murphy, this former senator from the state of California also appeared in over 40 films in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. When an individual actor was first used in Greek dramas, his function was to answer the chorus. The original meaning of "hypokrites" was "one who answers". With time, the term came to be used to denote actors and eventually came to include dissemblers in other professions. Perhaps one could say that the politician is now more likely to be charged with hypocrisy than the actor.

Answer: Plato's Republic would not permit drama of any kind.

Plato's "Republic" concludes that not only drama but also poetry must be banned. Plato held that physical reality was inferior to the "forms" from which they derived. Poetry and drama (as opposed to philosophy) had an irrational origin; and because they misrepresented the world of forms and generated the wrong sort of emotion, plays and poetry could not be permitted in Plato's ideal state.

Interestingly, Plato's prize pupil, Aristotle, later argued that poetry and drama had a rational basis and that the emotional release they provided (catharsis) was beneficial.

The Platonic tradition of presuming to know what is best for other people was of course carried on by such diverse figures as Jacque Rousseau, Niccolo Machiavelli and Vladimir Lenin.

Answer: Aristophanes, writer of comedies

The ancient Greek comedy writer is credited with that 2500+ year old gem. Funny how seriously adults have come to take the comment over the years.

Some might draw parallels between the Athens of Aristophanes and our own time. There was unrest over ongoing wars. The public seemed to feel that their present leaders were only pale shadows of the great Pericles.

Aristophanes not only had the audacity to satirize such iconic figures as Socrates and Euripides, but Aristophanes even had the temerity to parody the tyrant Cleon. One account holds that Aristophanes himself performed the part of the dictator after the other members of his company refused to do so, fearing for their lives.

Answer: Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors"

Theatrehistory.com describes Old comedy as follows: "these comedies were the most extravagant of burlesque, in essence they were the most virulent of abuse and personal vilification." Any well-known figure - politician, playwright, philosopher - might be the target, as might any profession.

Menander was probably the most significant writer of the New Comedy. Menander strongly influenced Plautus who wrote two plays from which Shakespeares is felt to have taken his "Comedy of Errors".