Classical Greece · 472-330 BC

Greek theater: tragedy and comedy for the whole city

Every spring, Athens stopped work for a festival of plays in honor of Dionysus. Students visit the theater below the Acropolis, meet Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes, and work out why a democracy wanted its citizens to watch tragedies.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, 472 BC to 330 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Every spring, Athens stopped work for a festival of plays in honor of Dionysus. Students visit the theater below the Acropolis, meet Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes, and work out why a democracy wanted its citizens to watch tragedies.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Describe the City Dionysia festival and the parts of a Greek theater (orchestra, skene, seats).
  • Name the three great tragedians and one comic playwright, with one play each.
  • Explain why theater mattered to Athenian democracy.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

472 BC

The theater of Dionysus

Open the map in 472 BC on Athens. On the south slope of the Acropolis lay the theater of Dionysus. That year Aeschylus, who had fought at Salamis, staged "The Persians", the oldest play that survives. Zoom in: the audience sat on the hillside looking south toward the sea.

Open this view on the map
b

431 BC

Plays in wartime

Jump to 431 BC, the year Euripides staged "Medea" and the war with Sparta began. Turn on Historical Events (Natural Disasters) and find the "Plague of Athens" of 430 BC. The festivals went on through plague and war. Why would a city keep its theater open in a crisis?

Open this view on the map
c

330 BC

Epidaurus

Go to 330 BC and travel to Epidaurus in the Peloponnese, the sanctuary of the healing god Asclepius. Its theater, built around this time, seats about 14,000 and is so well designed that a whisper in the orchestra can be heard in the top row. Why build a theater at a hospital?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Tragedies retold old myths about kings who made terrible mistakes. Why would a democracy want thousands of citizens watching stories like that together?
  2. All actors were men, in masks, and a chorus sang and danced between scenes. What could a mask and a chorus do that a modern film cannot?
  3. Aristophanes mocked living politicians, including Pericles's successors, in front of the whole city. What does it say about Athens that it allowed this, and paid for it?
  4. Rich citizens had to pay for a chorus as a kind of tax, and later the city gave poor citizens money for tickets. Why did Athens treat theater as a public service?
  5. Greek theaters were built into hillsides with perfect sightlines and sound. What do today's stadiums owe to them?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Alexander the Great, who loved the plays of Euripides and took a copy of Homer on campaign. Discuss: why did Greek kings and conquerors want to be seen as lovers of theater and poetry?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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