Greek Theatre History

Greek Theatre History

Euripides was born outside of Athens, Greece and as some say, was destined from the beginning to be a misunderstood poet. He was a pacifist, free thinker and a humanitarian in an age when such things were overshadowed by intolerance and violence. He was an "out of the box" type thinker; he forced his characters to confront personal and social issues as opposed to the typical questions of state.

Euripides was often the butt of many jokes, saying he was an easy target would be an understatement. He was a strange little man who secluded himself in a cave on an island reading book after book for entertainment. Not to say he never had friends, he did, but sadly they were all banished and murdered for their liberal views, as Euripides would have been, but he was saved by a technicality. His characters would expose the evils of society and state their risky liberal views, not him.

Euripides most famous works of his 92 plays included Trojan woman, The Cyclops and Helena.

From these 92 plays, he won only five awards, one of which after he was dead.

Aristophanes was a famous Greek comedy writer; his personal life remains a mystery, even his birthplace is unknown to this day. As for his works; a collection of forty plays that cover a period of about forty years.

The topics of his plays are daring and very random, keeping to his humorous nature. Topics include ridiculing the courts of justice, a woman's efforts for peace, personal attacks on other playwrights (including Euripides), communistic ideas and the list goes on. Some of his famous works include: The knights, The Clouds, The peace, The birds, Lysistrata and The Frogs.

Fans of Aristophanes works say that his eleven remaining products prove that as far as wit, humor, invention and skill in the use of language go, Aristophanes has never been surpassed.

Sophocles was clearly the most accomplished of all three poets. He has over 150 plays credited to his name, eighteen first prizes and several second prizes. He was considered a great innovator of theatre, credited to being the first to add the third actor on stage. Offering greater dramatic possibilities was what Sophocles was famous for; his tragedies matched no others during his time. His works were always action packed and very intriguing, his greatest

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